Page 70
Story: Fake Dating a Human 101
Shayne Lyro and His Nightmares Wide Awake
There sat his heartless father, his wicked brothers, and other young fairies who had once called themselves his friends. They all looked back at Shayne as he stood in the great hall. His own blood ran down his arm and over the handle of his fairsaber, dripping off the end and soaking into the red carpet. He’d fought a Lyro guard on his way into his childling home. And he had that rude guard to thank for leaving him with an open wound in his arm. But even amidst the fighting, the running, the pattering of his feet over the cold floors into the great hall, he hadn’t uttered a word.
The twenty-four hours it took Shayne to get here were the longest of his life. And though he hadn’t come on a straight path, and many things had happened in those twenty-four hours, he had felt a certain emptiness that was deeper than any he’d faced before. It had been twenty-four hours without smiling. Twenty-four hours of denial. Every step had been a plea, an angry pursuit that had mimicked the pounding of his chest.
At the end of twenty-four hours, he looked into the faces of his past where his father and brothers sat in their chairs, unashamed of the works of their own hands. And Shayne said the first words he’d spoken since setting foot in this place.
“Give her back to me.”
A few whispers flittered through the room. Massie tilted his head like a cat, and Hans-Der squinted as if trying to figure out what Shayne meant, even though it was obvious what Shayne faeborn meant.
Jethwire was a different story—he was the only one smiling. His icy eyes and twisted mouth made Shayne’s insides curl with the story they told.
Lily was here in this room. At least, she had been recently. Shayne looked right and left, though he didn’t see a pretty human with tattooed arms and long blonde hair. He didn’t hear her rhythms, and though he could smell traces of her, she felt… He closed his eyes as he refused to acknowledge just how cold and far away she felt.
Queensbane, if she was dead…
Hans-Der leaned forward on his large chair and folded his hands before him. It was a posture he’d often used right before a righteous scolding. Shayne wasn’t having it. He raised his fairsaber toward his father—a threat, and a statement: Speak or die.
Lesser fairies inhaled and scurried back as if afraid they might get caught in the crossfire of a terrible Lyro fight right in the middle of the great hall.
“Givewhoback to you? That human?” Hans-Der guessed, feigning innocence, and Shayne’s jaw tightened.
“Yes,” he said through his teeth. “That human. She’s mine.”
From his seat, Massie snorted a quiet laugh and placed a fist over his mouth.
Hans-Der’s face spread into a smile, too. The look was infuriatingly charming and held a pinch of gloating. “I have no idea where she is,” he said.
“Don’t lie to me,” Shayne demanded. He took a step forward, and Jethwire stood from his seat. It was a motion to assure Shayne that if he made another move toward their father, Jethwire would do something about it. Which was laughable. “What are you going to do, Jethwire? Throw your little flute at me?” Shayne guessed.
Jethwire couldn’t find his stupid smile now.
Hans-Der chuckled as he relaxed against his chair. “My tongue would tingle if I was uttering falsehoods,” he said. “It doesn’t. I’m telling you the truth. I have no idea where that human is.”
Shayne’s fairsaber wavered. He stared at his father’s face; one he’d been reading since he was just a boy. One that told him that perhaps this horrid man was telling the truth… until the corner of his father’s mouth quirked.
“You’re still lying, Father. And it’s putting your throat dangerously close to being stabbed through with my fairsaber.” Shayne took another step forward, and this time, Jethwire took two steps down the dais, his cold eyes whispering threats of their own.
Hans-Der, on the other hand, was smiling now, showing his teeth. Almost like he wasproudShayne could see through the falsehood, like he was realizing all over again Shayne was capable of figuring that much out.
“Very well. You’re right, Shayne. I’m lying.” He folded his hands and rested them on his lap. “Move, Jethwire. Sit down and let him be,” he added.
Jethwire glanced back at Hans-Der with a look of question.
“Not only will Shayne refrain from killing us, he will also be taking his rightful place in the highest chair of this household tomorrow,” Hans-Der assured as he stood. He descended the dais slowly, and he came to stand before Shayne, ignoring the fairsaber raised at his neck.
“Why would I ever do that?” Shayne asked. He inhaled; Lily’s fragrance was everywhere—even in the carpet below his feet. He was sure if he just turned around, searched the House, he would find her.
Hans-Der reached up and pushed the fairsaber aside with the end of his finger. “Because once I tell you where that human is, I’m sure you won’t want her anymore,” he said, and Shayne’s skin cooled. “This is the cost of your choice to disobey. I never fail to punish disobedience. You know this.”
“Where is she?” Shayne thought to drop his fairsaber and grab his father’s throat with his bare hand before all these witnesses.
“Swear yourself in as heir of this House. Submit to me and to this household, take your chair, and I will tell you where that human has gone.” Hans-Der’s voice was level, and Shayne’s heart broke in his chest.
So, she was gone. Lost to the Ever Corners. Lily wasn’t really here in this House, despite all the leftover traces.
The fairsaber nearly slipped from Shayne’s fingers. Even if he set out immediately, he could spend years searching the Corners for a human, and he still might never find her. She could already be in the Silver Castle or in some other unreachable place, or she could be the property of the vilest fairies he’d only heard stories about. She could already have suffocated beneath the pressure of it all. She could already be dead.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70 (Reading here)
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100