Page 16 of Adding Fuel To The Flames

"So, if we mate, it will help our people?" Rhys asked.

Ethan snorted, "As much as I want to protect and help our people, I could give a shit about that part right now. All I know is that you are our mate and we want our mate. We want you. The question is, do you want us?"

Rhys sat there fiddling with his cup as he looked down. Ethan was so scared. What if Rhys refused them? Ethan loved Day more than his own life, but he didn't know what he would do if Rhys refused their mating.

"As you both witnessed, my father and I don't exactly see eye to eye. We were never super close." Rhys scoffed before continuing, "Heck, I rarely ever saw my father. He was either in his lab working, or out and about doing errands for Uncle Destrain. I would be with a nanny in the court area and see Desdain...I mean Twix, playing with his fathers. Twix would be laughing with them and smiling as Clove and Destrain danced with him and played." Rhys raised his head with his eyes closed tightly. "By the Gods, I wanted that. I begged my father to play with me, but he would say he had to do something else and to remember to be a good boy and listen to my nanny. As I got older, the anger built inside me. Soon the nannies were gone and my father moved me to another section of the palace. This time the focus was on education. I was to learn every section, rule, and know the entire history of not just the pixies, but the fairies, and elves as well. There was to be no stone unturned."

Ethan's heart hurt just listening to the sadness and pain coming from Rhys. When he lifted his head and looked at Ethan and Day, tears were rolling down Rhys' cheeks. He went to move, but Day held him back.

Wiping his eyes, Rhys continued, "The first time my father came to my rooms, I was so excited. I thought, wow he's actually seeking me out. Finally, he wanted to be with me." Rhys let out a watery laugh. "I should have known better. That was the day I knew that my father never really loved me. Hell, he didn't even like me. He only came to test me. He drilled questions at me over and over, and I had only seconds to answer. If I got an answer wrong, he would scream and throw things."

Rhys set his cup down and stood up. "When I was sixteen, my father sent me to this realm. I had one guard and that was it. The man about wet himself when we got here and it didn't take him long to run home."

"Wait, you were sent here at sixteen and left alone? For how long? How did you survive?" Day asked barely holding back a growl.

Ethan could feel his mates anger and hurt just as Ethan knew Day could feel his.

Shrugging, Rhys replied, "I don't know...maybe a year."

"Why didn't you just use a portal to go home?" Ethan asked in confusion.

"Because I hadn't hit eighteen yet, Ethan. Pixies are much like shifters in that area. Where you must hit puberty, we have to be eighteen before our abilities start to come to us, and we are not guaranteed that creating portals is one of them."

Rhys went back to his seat and sat down. "Anyway, I did okay. This really nice person named Candy found me trying to find food and asked me how old I was. I told her I was sixteen and she took me to her place. Imagine my surprise when she pulled off her hair, and I found out Candy was really Carl."

"Oh, Rhys, she didn't hurt you, did she?" Ethan gasped.

Shaking his head, Rhys quickly replied, "Oh no, quite the contrary. In those days being gay was a serious not happening thing. Candy told me that men paid good money to have sex with men and that's how she paid for her home and food."

"She turned you into a hooker?" Ethan hissed in astonishment.

Rhys pursed his lips and his eyes turned down in anger. "Of course not! Why are you so keen on making her out to be such a dreadful person? Candy would work and I cleaned, cooked, and did laundry. She would let me try on her dresses and wigs and showed me how to put on makeup. She said when I was older, I'd be a natural."

Rhys became really quiet and Ethan could see him trying to swallow so he could talk. Rhys drew in a shaky breath and let it out slowly. "I really loved her. She was the only father, or mother, and friend I ever really had."

Day quietly asked, "What happened to her?"

Sighing heavily, Rhys rasped, "One night Candy didn't come home. I got worried so I went out to find her. I heard people whispering to each other about the vile creatures caught having sex and how wonderful it was that the people took care of disease like that. I asked what happened and I was told that Candy and one of her men got caught and they were both hanged at the church. I rushed there, and...and…"

Rhys quickly grabbed his cup and took a drink, then said, "Well, I went back to Candy's place. I rationed the food and used the money Candy had shown me she put away in case of emergencies. It wasn't until I ran out of money and the man who owned the place kicked me out that I got scared. Luckily by this time, Destrain had discovered I was alone and he came to get me."

"Destrain discovered you were alone? I don't understand," Ethan replied.

“Twix went to my father asking when I would return. My father told him that Dorstin and I would be returning when the time was right. Twix was confused by that answer, so he went to Destrain and asked if Dorstin would be returning with me, then why wasn't I back? Destrain supposedly rushed to my father and they called on Dorstin. When asked what he was doing there without me, he told them he had never stayed with me. He told my father that he had gone to his lab and explained he could not go to the other realm and he would need to find someone else. It seems my father either didn't hear him or didn't care."

"I am going to fucking kill that man the next time I see him," Day murmured under his breath.

Ethan hissed low, "Only if you can get to the bastard before me."

"Before I left, Uncle Destrain allowed me to get a bunch of supplies for my makeup and dresses and wigs. Father was pissed the first time he saw me dressed in women's apparel. He ordered me to remove it all immediately. That was the day I finally defied the man. I didn't care. It made me feel good. It…It..."

"It made you feel as if Candy was still with you," Ethan finished for him.

Rhys nodded. "Other than how I dressed and looked, things went back to how they were before. Alone, reading that tomb of books over and over again, for hours and hours. I wished for the times I had with Candy. I felt myself growing more and more despondent. I didn't want to get out of bed many days. I literally had to force myself to try and function. It was harder each and every day."

"You were in mourning, and then with the seclusion, deep depression set in," Ethan explained.

Shrugging, Rhys replied, "Maybe so. I don't know. However, it was my Uncle Clove that gave me hope. It was Twix's eighteenth birthday. I had gone to his rooms. I had painted him a picture I wanted him to have. My gift to him. We were laughing and talking when Uncle Clove came in and told Twix how proud he was to have a son so wonderful, but that now they had to talk about matings. I listened to every word he said. That's when I said, I wanted that. I wanted everything Clove was describing. I wanted someone that would love me for me. They wouldn't care if I wanted to wear makeup or have long hair. My mates would accept me as I am. I wanted the love he spoke of and the connection it would bring. I wanted to know that I would have people in my life that actually wanted me and would love me."

"We want you, Rhys. Hell, there isn't one thing I would change about you," Day whispered.

"Rhys, I can guarantee you I feel the exact same way, and although I can't say I love you now, I know I will be able to very soon. Hell, I'm over half way there already," Ethan replied.

Rhys looked at Ethan and then Day, rasping, "That's why I am trying to explain to you why I am the way I am. Why I went around kissing everyone. I was so desperate to find you both. There is no way I would deny my mates. I want my mates. Please, make me your mate."