Fae (14 page)

He worked hard to be as human as possible.

Shoving his feet into some Converse, he focused on the great hall and tried not to think about Fae. Just a few hours and he could come back – and now he really wanted to come back. Wanted to sit and talk with her and explain himself.

He just hoped she was still here when he did.

Chapter Nine

Seattle, Washington

As soon as she was sure he’d really left, Fae started to wander his apartment. She wasn’t exactly sure what she was looking for – answers on why he had helped her? A secret room full of torture devices? Sadistic trophies earned over a lifetime of rampant killing and pillaging? A manifesto outlining his evil plan?

She didn’t find anything interesting.

It was sparse and extremely well organized, a place for everything, and everything in its place. Bookshelves full of normal books. Pantry full of normal food. Pristine, modern desk with a neat stack of unopened envelopes – all irritatingly addressed to
Resident
.

In all her thousands of years serving, Fae had never known a man to be this precise. This tidy. The order was unnerving. And not at all what she'd expected to see from a Laochra.

Everything was perfect, except for his bed, which was a chaotic knot of sheets.

Fae had even taken a few steps out his front door and into the hallway before going back inside. It was pointless to go out right now. She had no idea what kind of city Seattle was, she had no money, and she wasn’t exactly dressed to walk around in public without attracting attention. So, now Fae was on the couch with her legs tucked under her, staring at another animated movie on the television.

This
was her grand dream of escape come to life. Sitting in a Laochra’s apartment like a good little girl, waiting for him to return, and watching movies.

For the past
seven
hours.

According to the Laochra, ‘
not being gone long
’ meant hours and hours. She was frustrated with herself because she hadn’t even asked his name before he’d left, then again she
had
tried her best to kill him, and he - he was so… odd. She had watched him reach for the axe, a heavy weapon that would have been hard to defend against with the strength he would be able to put behind it, but he hadn’t taken it off the wall. To push him, she’d tried to go for a harder attack, but her sword had lodged itself in the damaged wood of the little table. Then he’d disarmed her and put her on the floor.

“Idiot,” she grumbled to herself, chastising herself for the tenth time since he’d left. For her
weakness
. He could have done whatever he wanted with her on the floor under him, and having those pitch black eyes above her had brought back memories of the battlefield. She’d lost it, cursing him and his kind, and called him a son of Gormahn. Well, more accurately, a filthy bastard son of Gormahn, but
that
had been what set him off. Not her attacking him with a sword, not the kick she’d landed.

Fae dropped her head back on the couch and blew out a breath.

“Why did that set you off? Of all things?” She laid her arm over her eyes and groaned. “And why, Mr.
Resident
, did you even fucking rescue me?”

And beyond that, why had he left her, alone, in what was obviously his home, with a lot of very sharp weapons?

Her fingers trailed over the hilt of the sword on the couch beside her as the questions whirled around in her head. Too many unanswered questions after a day that had already been a nightmare.

At least the movies were entertaining
.

She knew about television, and she’d even had the chance to watch it sometimes, but she’d never had the opportunity to just immerse herself in it and in all the little worlds the screen displayed. She was as attached to the characters in the movies as she usually got to characters in books. The little Stitch character in the current movie was a chaotic little blue thing, but he was sweet and was currently trying to save the little girl, Lilo, from aliens. It seemed silly to be so emotional about it, but Fae was totally invested.

To her right was a strange whooshing sound, and where there had been empty space one moment, the next he was standing next to his desk shuffling a bunch of paper and plastic shopping bags in his hands. She jumped, tensing as she dragged the sword back onto her lap to be ready.

“Fae! It’s me, I’m back.” He was loud, rustling the bags and calling out to her.

“I can see you.” She rolled her eyes.

“Oh, uh, hi. Listen, I brought –” The Laochra started talking and she shushed him, cutting him off.

“You’ve been gone for eight hours, whatever you want to tell me can wait ten minutes for me to finish this.” Fae was irritated with him as she pointed at the television screen, because she couldn’t hear it over all the noise he was making. She noticed his eyes fall to the sword before stepping toward the television to see Stitch attacking a spaceship. His eyebrows went up and he looked back at her, his mouth opening and then shutting. With a shrug, he dropped the bags by the television and walked into the kitchen.

“You know that’s for kids, right?”

Fae shushed him again and he went quiet, opening and shutting cabinets. She watched the end of the movie, once more drawn in by the way that everything came together so perfectly. The bad guys lost, the little blue alien had a family –
Ohana
.
Nobody gets left behind
.
Happily ever after
.

The real world never worked like that.

As the credits started rolling to the music, the Laochra appeared in the doorway to his kitchen. Fae untucked her legs and kept her grip on the sword as he stood still holding a glass of water. His eyes went to the sword again and he pointed at it. “Are you really going to hold onto that the entire time you’re here?”

“Yes.”

He shrugged and stepped into the living room, nudging the bags with the toe of his shoe. “Listen, I’m sorry it took me so long to get back. I had to act like everything was normal, and that meant drinking with them until they started to pass out. Which took a while.” The Laochra took a drink of the water. “But I stopped at some stores and grabbed you some clothes.”

“Playing dress up with me already?” Fae was irritated, frustrated with not knowing what he wanted from her. She wasn’t stupid, and she was pretty sure this act would end soon enough.

“Uh, no? I just figured you wouldn’t want to stay in that.” He sighed. “If you don’t want the clothes you don’t have to take them. I was just trying to help.” She narrowed her eyes at him for a moment, waiting for there to be some flicker of that other side of him, some alternate reason for him to bring her clothes. Then Fae looked down at the dress Nikola had made her wear, the same style she’d worn for three years in his house. A shudder went through her as she remembered him standing over Juliet, and she clenched her jaw.

No, she didn’t want to stay in this any longer than she had to.

She stood up and let the blanket fall off her lap, but she kept the sword in her hand. “Okay. I’ll change, and then you’ll explain what you want?”

His brow furrowed and he started to look around the room, eventually looking out the window behind his desk. “I don’t
want
anything, but we do need to talk. You can use my room to change. I’ll stay out here.” Fae stepped towards the bags and he moved back to give her room. She started to grab the bags and had to tuck the sword under one arm to grab them all. The Laochra suddenly reached forward and gently touched her arm, and she jumped. She was about to rip her arm out of his hand when his thumb traced lightly over the bruises. “I did that, didn’t I?”

“Yes,” Fae replied in confusion as she watched him stare at the pale little bruises on the sides of her wrist. Before his touch could make her any more uncomfortable, she spoke up again. “I’ve had worse, and to be honest, I think you might have more bruises than me.” She smiled a bit, and he didn’t argue with that as his eyes lifted to hers. Then he seemed to realize he was touching her and he jerked his hand back like she’d burned him.

“Well, I’m sorry. For your wrists, and your neck. I should have never – I wouldn’t have -”

“It’s okay, I
was
trying to kill you.” Fae shifted her weight from one foot to the other, uncomfortable with his apology and the weird, surreal reality of talking to a Laochra like he was a normal person. She was about to reach for the clothes again, when she stopped herself. “One thing though… So, you know who I am, but before I go change could you tell me what
your
name is?” The Laochra’s eyes widened and he looked up at her as if he just realized he hadn’t introduced himself.

What an idiot
.

“It’s Kiernan, just call me Kiernan.” He stumbled through the sentence when he talked and then took another sip of water, giving her a half smile.

“Kiernan,” she repeated, “Got it.” Fae nodded and grabbed the bags of clothes, tucking the sword under her arm. Then she walked backwards a few steps toward the hallway to his room. When he didn’t start to follow her she turned and walked the rest of the way to his room where she shut and locked the door.

“Kiernan.” Fae muttered the name to herself as she dropped the bags to the floor. It was a nice name, and it fit him. She was confused for a moment as she started to pull the clothes out. She’d expected dresses, short skirts, and items that barely counted as garments at all. Instead she pulled out jeans in a couple of sizes, some soft sweaters, some normal long-sleeved shirts, and a whole bag of socks and undergarments. In one of the bags were three boxes of shoes in different sizes, she found a pair that was a little loose but she was able to get the laces tight enough that they wouldn’t slide off. The shoes matched the ones he wore.

“He must only know where to find this kind,” she muttered to herself and then took them back off to get dressed. After slipping on a pair of jeans she tugged a dark gray sweater on and instantly felt warmer.

She stepped into his bathroom and was surprised at how normal she looked. Slaves didn’t dress like this or look like this.
People
looked like this. Normal people. She tugged her fingers through her tangled hair, and then gave up as she was only making it frizzy. Sitting down on the floor she decided to put on the shoes again in case she wanted to leave, because whether or not she had a temporary peace with this Laochra, this
Kiernan
– she’d made no promises to stay after their conversation.

With a deep breath she grabbed the sword again and walked back into the living room, Kiernan had flipped the TV off and was sitting in a big black chair to the side. He was still drinking the water and rubbing his head when he noticed her coming in and looked up. His mouth opened a little and he stared at her like he had that morning when he’d first appeared near her in the snow.

“You look -” Kiernan stopped himself and cleared his throat, sitting up in the chair before saying, “I mean, they fit? It all fits?” Fae nodded and shifted in the shoes a little before she sat down on the couch as far from him as possible.

“The shoes are a little big, but everything else works.” Fae leaned the sword against her leg and stared at him. “So, start. Explain all this to me.”

Kiernan shoved his hand through his hair.

Now that she had a moment, she looked him over. His hair was a dark brown and cut in a modern style, and he kept himself clean-shaven and dressed casually. Right now he was in jeans, a pair of black shoes that matched hers, and a long-sleeved blue shirt that read, ‘My other shirt is chainmail’. She almost smiled at that because she imagined he owned chainmail somewhere judging by the weapons he had decorating his walls.

“Yeah, I don’t really know how to do that.” Kiernan sat back and sighed. Fae lifted an eyebrow at him, a little annoyed that now that it was time to talk he seemed to be avoiding it.

“Let’s start with, how did you know where I was?”

“I can see any of my charges in this observation glass I have.” He motioned over her shoulder to the desk by the window. “It’s over there, in a box.” Fae’s heart pounded in her chest as she turned around.

“You can see other Faeoihn?” She asked, looking back at him. Kiernan nodded and Fae stood up and walked over to the desk, and he jumped up and walked after her. “Show me.” Her hands were shaking as she opened the lid of the box and looked at the concave disc of glass inside that was about six inches across. It was nestled inside the wood box on some cloth, but nothing was visible in it.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Fae.” His voice was somber, but it just irritated her.

“Why? I haven’t seen one of my sisters in a millennium and you think it’s a
bad
idea?” Fae shoved the box towards him across the desk. “Make it work.”

“Listen, you don’t know what could be happening, you don’t want to see that.” His words brought up a lot of images in flashes that made her stomach twist, but it didn’t deter her. Whatever was happening with her sisters, she wanted to see one of them. She had to.

“Do it.” Fae adjusted her grip on the hilt of the sword and pointed at the box. Kiernan grumbled and placed a finger on the edge of the glass. The center lit up for a second and then suddenly it was like Fae was looking through a window at a young woman. Her light hair was pulled up into a bun and she was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, but Fae still recognized her. Aleine. She could see her talking, but she couldn’t hear her. “I can’t hear anything, make it so I can hear it.”