Page 4

Iris

F ather’s ringed hand came into contact with my cheek. The slap echoed through the empty foyer. My damp skin made it hurt ten times worse.

“I know this was you,” he hissed. The room was already engulfed in red. The anger threatened to choke me.

“There was a fire?—”

“Don’t lie to me! You have a duty, you ungrateful child! Our entire family line is dependent upon?—”

I forced his words to the background again and let my mind wander to what could be. Love. Warmth. A family who understands me. All I wanted was someone to see me and not the perfect shell of a McMillan daughter who only knew how to obey her daddy. The perfect housewife. Perfect baby maker.

But it was no use. How many times would I continue to fight? How many times would I continue to fail?

For years, I had been losing the fight. And what remained, I’d spent pulling that fire alarm.

“I’m sorry, Father,” I said in a meek voice, interrupting his ramblings. “The next one, I swear. This one wasn’t good enough for our family name.”

Father let out a scoff.

“As if you know what’s good for our family,” he hissed. His grubby finger was in my face, his eyes narrowed. “I warned you you wouldn’t like what came after. I meant it. Tomorrow night. At ten, in the foyer. Doll yourself up.”

He tugged at his suit jacket with a huff, an annoyed tic of his.

My blood froze when I digested the meaning of his words. It was enough for me to snap back into my body and for tears to prick my eyes.

This isn’t a standard meeting.

All the others had been during the day and outside. Whoever I was meeting… I was already worried about what my father had promised them.

* * *

The next day, I waited down in the foyer for him wearing the same dress I always did when meeting these men.

It was a red off-the-shoulder dress with a neckline lower than I usually felt comfortable with. The dress was made of a flowy yet thin fabric that melded to my body, giving them a look at the only thing they really wanted to see.

My mind had gone through scenario after scenario all night long. My anxiety was through the roof. I had an inkling of what he had promised the man and I didn’t know what would be worse.

His promise, or what would happen if I ran off on yet another one.

It was twenty past ten when I started to worry. I checked my phone again, my eyes drifting to the door. I hadn’t heard my parents welcome him yet.

Did he run off? Or heard of my reputation?

I was scared of what my father would say. Of what the consequences would be if I managed to chase off another suitor.

Yet a different part of me, one that I normally hid behind locked doors in the recesses of my mind, felt relief that I wouldn’t have to entertain another man.

How long is this going to go on?

I thought about it often, but I knew. This would never end. Not until my belly was heavy with some random man’s kid that would someday take my family’s name.

There was suddenly a burst of color coming from the corner of the room, and it caused me to jump. My head swiveled to it, only to come face-to-face with something I’d only seen in my nightmares.

She was crawling over the couch toward me, long hair white as snow, large bloodred wings spreading behind her. If the wings or her red eyes didn’t tell me she was otherworldly, the long horns that curled back around her head would have been more than enough.

Pink flowed from her, along with fragments of yellow and green, all of them painting a picture of her thoughts about me.

I jerked back, trying to get as far away from her as possible, but her hand snapped out to grab my ankle. It was cold and claw-tipped. The talons on her fingers were sharp and brushed against my skin gently, but the threat of what they could do to me was loud and clear.

I held in my shriek, not wanting to draw attention to this room.

This is not real. I’m just so stressed I’m hallucinating.

Obviously, that was the true answer. Yes. All the stress of being passed around from man to man was making me see things.

Right. That’s it. I’m seeing shit.

I needed to stop daydreaming about being saved from my reality by being whisked away to another world, or else seeing random demon fairies was going to be the consequence.

I tried to blink rapidly to dispel the image in front of me, but nothing I did worked. I even pinched the meaty part of my thigh, but the thing was still there, her red eyes watching me intently.

Then she inhaled deeply through her nose, a small humming noise coming from her throat.

“You’ll do perfectly,” she said with a purr.

“I think you’re mistaken,” I squeaked out.

Why isn’t she disappearing? Better question is, why am I talking to a hallucination?

“Oh no,” she said with a chuckle. “I can smell the power from you. You’ll fetch a pretty large sum. I just know it.”

I swallowed thickly and attempted to jerk my ankle from her.

I should scream. If I scream, Father will rush in and… save me, right?

Or he would realize just how insane I truly was.

“I have money,” I said quickly. “I can give it to you?—”

“Aw, you’re pleading?” she asked, her tongue coming out to dart across her lips. The action gave me a perfect view of the rows of sharp teeth in her mouth.

“Yes,” I said quickly. “I don’t get why you’re here, but if this is about money, I have more than enough?—”

“Human money is useless to me,” she replied, cocking her head. “Unless you’re offering your body—then I might be willing to bargain with you. It’s been a while since I enjoyed a human.”

Fear clawed at me, and I used my hands to try and push her away.

Fuck this.

“Let go of me?—”

“Pity,” she said, a smile spreading across her face.

Light burst forward from her chest, and I was pushed backward into a darkening void, the now playful yellow of her emotions following me into a dreamless sleep.