by Ivy Clyde
Stepping out of the bathroom, I found Holly waiting in the room for me. Get used to it, I told myself as a scream got choked in my throat. The brownie didn’t realize this but her childlike appearance made me feel weird. Another thing to get used to, my mind repeated.
“Eat,” she said, gesturing toward a large tray on a low table. “Since we are short on time, I will brush out your hair for you.” She pointed toward a chair with short legs. “Sit.”
Even though Holly looked like a nine-year-old kid, she could boss people around like a pro. I sat down on the chair and started lifting the lids from all the dishes on the tray while Holly started toweling my hair. There were pieces of a strange fruit in one of the bowls but my nose easily picked up the delicious scent of freshly baked bread. The thick slices were generously spread with butter and drizzled with honey. Picking one up, I took a bite.
“Mmm, so good,” I moaned. My tongue had never tasted anything so purely delicious. It was just bread and butter, but it trumped the taste of anything I’d ever eaten before.
While Holly patiently detangled and combed the long length of my hair, I busied myself eating the rest of the bread and fruity porridge on the tray. I wondered whether there was magic in the food here. Even the simplest dishes tasted amazing and left me feeling good.
“We are running out of time,” said Holly. “You should get dressed now.” Her small hands were about to untie my bathrobe but I moved out of her way.
“Could you wait outside, please?” I said.
“Hurry up, child,” she said with an irritated huff and marched out of the room. I guessed walking out of the door instead of teleporting herself out was part of making a dramatic scene.
Shaking my head, I hurriedly got dressed in a fresh uniform. Once I was done, I touched the strands of my hair. They were dry and silky to the touch now. Confidence like I hadn’t felt in years suffused in my chest, making me square my shoulders. I was ready to meet Lady Chantal and grab the second chance the universe threw my way.
Holly took me back to Lady Chantal’s office. Under the effects of daylight, I got a better look at the dark stone that made up the wall as well as the floor and staircase of the castle. Even though this was supposed to be a kind of school and rehabilitation center for fae kids, I didn’t catch sight of any students yet.
Holly knocked on the door and waited until Lady Chantal’s voice told her to come inside.
I followed her into the room. Unlike last night, the office was brightly lit up with the rays of sun streaming in through the windows. Looking around, I caught sight of Demitria as well as three tall figures.
“Rowan,” I whispered, recognizing the tall, handsome young man who’d rescued me from the vampire last night. A smile blossomed on my face. “Do you stay here as well?”
A soft chuckle escaped the young man to his left. “Well, well. Looks like you’re already intimate with her.”
I looked toward the blond-haired man who was staring at me with pale lavender-hued eyes. He was just as beautiful as Rowan but his luscious lips were stretched in a mocking grin.
“Shut up, Cade,” spat Rowan.
I gazed toward the third stranger before me. He stood as tall as his companions and was just as gorgeous with flame-red hair and piercing topaz eyes. He glanced toward his friends who were hissing at each other with murderous scowls on their faces.
While they were temporarily busy with each other, I sneaked a closer glance at them. All three of them wore uniforms similar to mine but their jackets seemed to have extra embellishments. Thick braids of gold ribbons and gold medallions adorned the front of their coats, giving them a distinguished look.
Each of these young men was powerfully built. Their tall, muscular stature couldn’t be hidden by the stiffness of their uniforms. Their faces seemed to have been carved by the gods themselves. I thought Artemis was handsome but compared to these three men, he was quite ordinary.
I felt a strange tug in my chest each time I looked at one of them. I wanted my focus to stay on Rowan but my eyes didn’t want to stop looking at the other two strangers.
“Come closer, Moira,” said Demitria, beckoning me with a wave of her hand. Feeling three pairs of eyes on me, I walked forward. Demitria placed her hands on my shoulders and turned me to face the three brooding young men. “One of you is destined to be her chosen mate,” she said.
“Rowan can have her,” said the guy with sunshine-gold hair immediately. “He already allows her to speak to him so casually. I wouldn’t want to be blamed for snatching my brother’s fated mate. No, no, no.”
“What are you talking about? What chosen mate?” I asked.
“You have been marked to be the fated mate of one of King Drustan’s sons,” said Demitria. “You’re lucky to receive a fortune others would kill to have.”
Cold washed over me at those words. My intuition warned me against this “fortune” at once.
“What do you mean when you say ‘mate’?” I asked her.
“It means you will marry my brother and live as a princess in the Sun Palace,” said the blond-haired guy. His lavender-hued eyes were gleaming with mirth.
“I told you to shut up, Cade,” said Rowan through clenched teeth. He tore his eyes away from his grinning brother and looked toward Lady Chantal. “Until last night, she didn’t even know she was a fae. The girl is absolutely clueless about our laws and our ways. She was banished by her own parents to be born from a human. How could you suggest that one of us marries this pathetic beggar who doesn’t have an ounce of magical power?”
His cold tone dug its claws into my heart. Why do I need to care about what he thinks? I thought to myself. He is just a stranger and I’m lucky no one is forcing me to marry him. However, deep inside, I felt the sense of a terrible loss.
“I am destined to sit on the throne after my father,” said Rowan. “Only the most powerful and worthy woman deserves to be by my side.” He gestured toward the two men by his side. “If she is really fated to one of us, my brothers should take her.”
“Is she really that bad in bed?” asked Cade with a cackle. “It’s the only reason you’ve ever used to reject a girl.”
“I’m standing right here,” I said at once, surprising both myself and Cade. “You can’t talk crap about me without even knowing me.”
Cade’s brows furrowed. “Did the chit just talk back to me?”
“Forgive her, Your Highness,” said Lady Chantal. “She knows nothing of our realm. Please give her some time to get acquainted with everything.”
Cade’s beautiful face crumpled into an expression of anger. “I can’t even stand to look at her. Even a Mauryan troll has more elegance than her.” He gestured toward his flame-haired brother. “I wouldn’t even want Leon to be her mate and bring this uncouth cow into our royal family.”
My heart squeezed painfully in my chest. Why did it matter what these handsome fae men thought of me? I didn’t know any of them. It was stupid to take offense at their words. Yet, I felt an overwhelming urge to rush out of there and hide somewhere their words couldn’t hurt me.
“Can we talk about more important stuff?” I asked, glancing toward Demitria. “Now that I’m here, when do I start to learn things? What do I do with myself here? Is there anyone who can teach me?”
“How dare you speak without permission?” shouted Cade. He glared at me, erasing all traces of humor from his gorgeous face.
Demitria stepped forward. “Forgive her, Your Highness,” said Demitria. Her fingers tightened on my shoulders. “There is something I would like all of you to consider. Moira was left in the human world without any assistance. Even her innate powers were sealed away. She is blessed with tremendous luck and intuitional magic to have survived through those limitations. It is extremely rare for one of our kind to survive in that realm for so long.”
Her words helped me feel slightly better. At the very least, I had someone taking my side.
“Her luck and fortune will take her mate to the
heights of his achievements,” said Demitria. “I have sensed it in her since the moment she stepped before me last night. That’s the reason Lady Chantal and I are presenting her to you before letting another male fae lay eyes on her. Don’t throw away a jewel just because it’s not cut and polished yet.”
A scoff escaped Rowan. His eyes darkened as they stared at me. “Luck and fortune? Last night, she was close to being drained by a pathetic night-walker. If it weren’t for me, she would be dead already.”
“The powerful Prince Rowan came to her rescue,” said Demitria in a soft voice. “I’d call that a stroke of extreme luck, Your Highness.”
“Whatever,” said Rowan in a cold tone. “Give her to my brothers. If this is all there is to the matter, I’ll take my leave.” He inclined his head toward Lady Chantal and strode out of the room.
“I hate to agree with Rowan more than anything else,” said Cade in an icy tone. His lavender-hued eyes seemed to want to shoot me to death with the rage in them. “But, I reject her as a potential mate too.” He walked out of the open door without a backward look.
“Prince Leon?” said Lady Chantal. Before she could say anything else, he put up a hand, silencing her. “I don’t want my brother’s rejects.” Turning away, he walked out of the room without even glancing at me.
A long breath escaped Lady Chantal. “That was stressful,” she said, walking around the desk and sinking into her chair. She wore the same white mermaid gown as yesterday. Even her hair was put up in a bun like last night. Demitria was the same. There was no change in their clothes or looks.
“It was our duty to give them the facts,” said Demitria, walking away to pour herself a drink from a crystal decanter on a nearby shelf. She took a sip and poured the liquid in another glass. Bringing the glasses with her, she placed one before Lady Chantal. “I’m sorry about the humiliation you just faced,” she said, gazing at me.
“It’s fine. If being a prince is as much of a big deal as in the human world, they are entitled to look down upon everyone else. I don’t know them. They don’t know me. I don’t have to take anything they say personally.”
Lady Chantal chuckled. “She is smart too.”
“It’s their loss,” said Demitria with another sip of her drink.
I stared at the two as they both lost their formal air. They began chatting freely.
I false-coughed loudly. “So, what now?” I asked them. “Who’s going to teach me the stuff I need to learn?”
Chantal and Demitria glanced at each other. “We’d hoped one of the princes would take responsibility for it but since they won’t, I will have you paired with a senior resident here,” said Chantal in a matter-of-fact tone. “It will be quicker to have someone teach you as you go about your day. As for harnessing your powers, I will look for a teacher who has both the time and patience to deal with an overgrown novice.”
Demitria pinched her arm.
Chantal frowned at her. Picking up the silver bell, she rang it hard. The door opened and Holly came back inside.
“Take her back to the guest bedroom. It will be a while before I know what to do with her.”
I opened my mouth to protest but Demitria shook her head at me. Leave for now, her voice spoke in my head even when her lips didn’t move. We need time to decide what is best for you.
My insides burned with frustration. First, it was the princes and now it was Chantal. I struggled to ignore the crushing feeling of being unwanted once again. This was supposed to have been a new start for me but it looked like the universe was dealing me the same cards all over again.
7
Moira
Holly left me in the guest bedroom. With nothing to do, I opened one of the windows and looked out into the distance. The castle was nestled in a valley surrounded by hills that were colored in the shades of fall. I breathed in the fresh breeze that wafted in, carrying with it the scents of roses and lavender.
The world of the solar fae was dazzlingly beautiful. Even nature looked more regal and wondrous here. There wasn’t a sight or sound of a car or anything mundane that reminded me of my city life. Birds and pixie-like creatures zoomed by the window from time to time, all absorbed in their own games.
I tried to stay distracted but I couldn’t forget the way the princes treated me. People behaved worse with me at Lost Sanctum High but it never felt as soul-crushing as the few cold, curt words thrown my way by Rowan and Cade. Leon hadn’t even bothered to say anything derogatory. He just refused to accept me because his brothers rejected me.
I told myself not to hang on to what they said about me but my mind kept going back to the scene in Lady Chantal’s office, repeating it over and over again. What’s the deal with fated mates anyway? I asked myself. We were fae, not werewolves. Only shifters were supposed to be obsessed with mates. Even the princes didn’t take two seconds to reject the stupid idea, said my mind. Why are you fixating on it so much?
Without a cell phone or watch, it was impossible to tell how much time passed. I wanted to go out and explore the grounds of the castle but Holly had already cast a spell that made it impossible for me to open the door. I was just about to walk toward the bed when a scuffle on the other side of the door made me look up. Next second, a stranger appeared at the threshold.
A young woman close to my own age walked inside the room. Her uniform put me at ease immediately as I guessed she was someone Chantal sent to meet me. She was kind of cute with her blond hair cut in a bob. “Hello?” she said in a hesitating tone. “Are you Moira?”
“Yeah,” I said, turning to face her. “Who are you?”
“I’m Isla. Lady Chantal told me to become your mentor.” A defeated sigh escaped her. She didn’t look happy about it at all.
“I’m sorry you’re stuck with me,” I said. “If you give me a list of books to read, I could learn from there and would bother you only if I didn’t understand something.”
Surprise flitted through her baby-blue eyes. “Hey, you’re not as stuck up as I thought you would be,” she said with a chuckle.
“Why would you think that?”
She shrugged. “Lady Chantal and Demitria were making a big deal out of it.” She moved closer and sat down at the edge of the bed. “So, what’s your story? Why didn’t they bring you to the Belenus Court as a child?”
“No one knew I was fae,” I explained. “A kind of enchantment locked all my magic away. Only recently, something made me go crazy and I ended up killing some people. That’s how Artemis was contacted and he brought me here.”
“Most fae and human come to the Court of Belenus when they are children. I was brought here when I was a baby.”
“Wait, what?”
Isla kicked off her shoes and climbed into the bed. Patting a pillow into shape, she leaned against it. “Get up here,” she said. “It’s going to take a while to explain things to a newcomer like you.”
I got onto the bed and sat down next to her. Curiosity welled up inside me, erasing the miserable memories of the morning. “Did your real parents leave you in the human world too?” I asked.
Isla shook her head. “I was human when they brought me here. You see, the fae kidnap children and bring them here. A long time ago, they would bring them here to be enslaved. Men were made to do heavy labor while the women were taken as concubines who would bear their children. Of course, it’s different now,” she said with a chuckle. “The truce between humans and fae forbid such activities now. They only bring a select number of children here.”
“But, why?” Even though I was technically not human, I couldn’t imagine the pain the parents must have felt at losing their children.
“Human females are able to bear children much faster. That’s one of the reasons why they bring us here. The other reason is that they can use us to act as ambassadors and spies in the human world. Unlike the fae, we are immune to iron, salt, and other pollutants. So, they need us here.”
“It is still so unfair,” I said. “I can’t believe th
ey would kidnap babies and children for their own use.”
Isla chuckled. “It’s not as bad as you’re thinking. Do I look like I am sad about any of it?” Spreading her arms wide, she gestured at herself. “We eat the fruits from Queen Maeve’s garden which stops us from aging after we turn eighteen. It lends us magical powers as well. It’s nowhere close to the powers of a full-blooded fae but it’s better than not having any.”
“Are you saying you like being here?” I asked, still unable to comprehend why anyone would want to leave their parents and stay in the strange, dangerous world of the fae.
She poked a finger at the side of my head. “Think,” she said. “Why would anyone want to live in the chaotic human realm when you could live here?”
“Do you even remember your parents?”
“I was taken as a baby, so I remember nothing, but I did go to see them. They belong to the British royal family and are absolutely loathsome people.”
“Did they never report you after losing you?”
“That’s the other thing,” said Isla. “The babies taken away are replaced by changelings. My parents have no idea they are raising someone else.” She chuckled as if the idea was hilarious.
“Don’t you wish you could be with them instead of strangers?”
“Nope. They are involved in trading with terrorists and rich oil companies who do nothing but pillage the earth. People like them are the reason we’re edging toward the brink of extinction.” Her expression turned grim. “I’m better off here where I have a choice to follow my own desires.” She huffed out a long breath and closed her eyes. “Of course, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. The rich and powerful still get to bully the weak.”
“Does the human population get abused?”
Isla popped open a blue eye to look at me. “Abused? No. But if you’re a noble or royal, you can piss over anyone anytime. It’s not because you have human origins. They would piss over anyone who is beneath them.” A bitter chuckle escaped her and she fell silent.
