Betrayal (2 page)

Absconded by Kin.  Affinity to Pike.  Unconditionally loved by Ian.

My world is a complicated utopian fairy tale of confusion and birthright. But put that all aside and take a look at the bigger picture.  I, Grace Starmen, was a determined half human, half Fey attempting to survive in the human world not too long ago and am now attempting to defuse tension in the once thought make believe world I live in now. A boy, now a man who had ensouled me long ago, is my everything.  Ian truly loves me unconditionally for us to get this far.  He had too considering all the crap he went through for me. 

Gandhi said once, “The weak can never forgive.  Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”  Well, the weak can be made strong.

Being young and impressionable can sometimes bring bumps in the road.  Good bumps.  Bad bumps.  Only you can decide how it will affect future bumps.  One of my favored reading teachers once told me that.  I am still young and no doubt too impressionable sometimes, but I believe my life took a turn unlike most of my classmates from the human world and beyond.  I had to grow up fast and endure more than my share of bumpy, quick decisions than most.  Did I make good decisions?  Who can say.  But I know in my heart they were right for me. 

My teenage years are over.  My hopes and dreams didn’t turn out like I planned in the grand scheme of the typical high school graduate who sees college and career as a next step.  The career part just kind of...well it was prophesied.  See, not your typical road bump.

But it was for me.  Ian.  Good bump.  My life is not complete without him. 

Pike.  Kin.  I can’t continue down the road without them, but by the gods, I don’t know why.

My mom.  I miss her.

My life is based on a prophecy, but I chose its future either way.  And I choose what happens next no matter what they say!

Danella walked in reluctantly folding the last of my stack of clothes.  She was acting majorly grumpy today.  “Grace, I need you to open the gift lying on your bed.  Ian requested this and that it remain a secret between the two of you.”

I didn’t hesitate.  In the box was a new pair of my favorite brand of jeans and a wide spectrum of green made into a tie-dye green t-shirt.  The official trade defined icon associated with me, Grace Starmen, Summer Court Queen of the Fey.  The title sounds fancy, but really it’s a little more complicated than your average fairy tale.

I made a promise to not wear jeans in the court again as a sacrifice to the summer Fey that I was completely and solely devoted to them.  Why would Ian want me to go against that promise?

“But I—“

“No Miss Grace.  I do not know what is in that box and will not know.”  Her hand went up in defense and then shot to her mouth to stifle a giggle. Mad or not, Danella loved a good intrigue. “It’s not to be worn at court since your burn session stopped that obsession. Unofficial court business is just that, your business.”  She smiled wide—so wide—and didn't seem the least surprised at her own mess up.

I shot up in the bed suspicious and full of adrenaline knowing well I had gained some kind of super-nonhuman speed since coming to the court. I loved it. “What?  Why Danella?  What are we doing?”  I haven’t worn my jeans for weeks.  I knew Ian was the sweetest man for making me keep a secret set for something special he wasn’t telling me anything about.   The court expected a queen who complied with their values yet exemplified integrity.  So, for Ian to request this meant something good or at the least, adventurous.

“Do tell Danella.”  I was pathetic at waiting.

“No hints,” she smiled hiding something obvious, “but it’s something the two of you will love.”

  Danella didn’t smile that often out of pure instant joy so this meant great promise in my eyes.  I was up and moving fast, dressed, and messing with my hair when Danella requested it go up holding a ponytail out to me.  My thoughts went straight to one thing.  Oh boy!  So I was out the door like Wonder Woman meeting her Superman. 

Danella sent me to the edge of the court entrance and told me to stay against the jasmine wall with my two guards just inside the court.  This was a request never made of me.  I’d ALWAYS had my guards.  And I’d NEVER been told to stand alone outside the court.  I was at full attention doing a very Grace-like gesture with each of my thumbs in my pockets.  I had acquired my converse shoes recently, or rather brand new pink ones that I found wrapped in a pretty box and pink ribbons bought from my favorite store in my old mall.  No card, but I knew my Prince Charming had his hands all over that one.

Something sliced the air with the softest clicking sound breaking the silence the trees often held and I knew in the blink of an eye what, or who, it was.  Looking up, I found the same beautiful sight I’d come to appreciate courtesy of the little sprites that adorned the maples around our court.  They were always a welcome surprise with their ability to recognize beauty in the world and added a smile to my face.

I pinched a jasmine flower off the vine thinking of how its symbolic appearance was so obvious to the known eye but could make anything else completely unnoticed.  It really was a magical shield to the Fey hiding its deepest secrets.  I thought of Ian instantly.  He was like a jasmine flower.  He could pinch off its scent and hide from the world I lived in for so long hiding all his secrets from me.  Then, when one’s eyes are opened, or rather opened for them, the wall hiding the man behind reveals a lovely beautiful creature.  Oh, I’d never tell him I think of him as beautiful, but he was in a manly rough kind of way.  His edges were lined with a hard singularity that always surfaced around what he wanted.  I’m just glad that was me.

My eyes followed the movement of the leaves watching for anything as I dropped the now tainted flower.  The time passed slowly
only
because I was so anxious.  Suddenly a mouth watering drool worthy every girl’s dream man walked out of the trees in black Levis, a gray t-shirt fitted snugly in all the right places, and well-worn half-laced boots.  His jeans tuffed out on both feet with just the right amount of the tousled, unkempt look he tried to market. The gorgeous smile turned up sideways at my ogling eyes producing all kinds of planned mischief.  His green eyes were hidden behind black mirror image aviator sunglasses, but I sensed them nonetheless.  I followed his arms all the way from the pulled tight over his biceps shirtsleeves down to the fingers wrapped around keys in one hand and the helmet in the other.  My roller coaster thrill ride heart was pounding at a near one-eighty beats a minute without a second of cardio.  Ian was my cardio. 

“Want to go for a ride?” he situated something in his front pocket and pointed to his bike with the casual but sexy attitude of a predator.  The deeper than usual cadence of his voice lulled me into his trap reminding me he never had to try at being just plain hot.  His head dipped down looking somewhere across me, and let go just long enough to attempt gathering my fallen on the ground wits.  Where he looked on me, I did not know.  Maybe I should ask,
“Where did he not look on me?”
  I giggled.

I was most definitely pathetic, or I was going to at least admit to myself I was acting like a panting hormonal half human girl.  Oh wait, that’s really the honest to goodness truth.  I savored this for a second making this into a fantasy movie for some epic dreams to come.  It was a moment, a memory, a dream I wanted to relive over and over no matter how many years go by.

He waited patiently letting me look him up and down
several
times while also devouring me like a thirst for water he’s been denied.  He did that often lately.  Finally, I walked towards him and stopped a foot from where he stood.  He never moved as I removed his glasses with both hands so I could see his eyes.  “Depends!”

His cocky grin lifted and he raised the famous one eyebrow above where the lens would have been, “On?”

“Who’s taking me?”  The world could have burst into a million pieces before my eyes and I’d never know due to the dark angel before me. 

“Tall, dark stranger who wants to have his way with you.” His subtle wink left my stomach in a twist taking his own shades out of my hand.  I wasn’t positive it was completely an empty threat by the way he was being so forward.  It was so unlike his usual keen eye he kept on my virtue as he insisted on keeping.  I secretly liked it though.

“If that’s the case,” I turned halfway back around, “then I will follow
him
wherever this stranger wants me to go!” 

A thumb brushed across my right cheek.  His same grin slid open making me momentarily blinded as he folded a hand on my hip moving in slow measured deliberation.  He led me through the tall brush and hanging vines letting his hand slide up onto the center of my back causing me to inch closer and take his jeans belt loop in my hand like I’d always wanted to. For years.   When we were on the road, he purposefully sped up to force my grip tighter to his waist.  I didn’t mind.  I was the girl hit with the love sting of a cobra in action and following his patterned lead.  That’s when you know you know.  The
knowing
of how you feel about someone that your feelings were hidden deep and suddenly they were free.  You like someone for everything they do and say, good and bad.  They irritate you in all the right ways.  They make you melt in all the right ways.  Their skin feels like it’s inside out, exposed and raw.  But that person likes everything anyway and gets you one hundred percent.  I wanted to follow
him
wherever he went.  And I did.

After reliving every bike fantasy I had with Ian in my teenage years, I returned to reality when he pulled up to the Burger Giant.  Some fantasies do come true and others just get put on hold till further notice.

After settling in a booth parallel to him and waiting for our meal, I popped a burning question to Ian.  “So you were actually older all those years when I was young.  How did you act so much like a young person?”

“I did what was needed to keep you safe.”

I thought back to a few scenes in my head as a young girl.  Ian had always seemed older than he was.  It made sense now that he was always a step ahead.  And Pike and Kin too.

“And to think you’d dated people before me.  Isn’t that the least bit weird to you?”  Why was I asking this?

“Um, no.”  He watched the same waitress we always had set down our drinks and leave.  “I am a guy Grace.  I dated.  And they were mostly Fey anyway.  And long before I met you.  I only looked young to you, not to my court.”

Ugh!  I still didn’t know who the Fey girls were but after thinking back to certain events where I’d had the evil eye drill me to the ground by several jealous kill Grace eye darts, I could come up with some great conclusions. 

He may not be good at telling the way he feels sometimes in so many words, but he seems to get his point across nonetheless.  He was guarding himself on this subject, and he didn’t like talking about time before me.  It bothered me that he didn’t.

“Oh my gosh!  You so didn’t tell me you were coming to town.  I can’t believe your here...in the flesh.”  Caylie bounced through the door and over to our table before I could remove myself from the booth to hug her.  We stood in a half gripped tangle in mid air.  Ian didn’t move, but just watched.

“Oh, Caylie.  I missed you,” a tear sprang to my eye.  I really did miss her.  It’s a shame to keep her in the dark when she was always bluntly honest with me.  “How are you?” 

“Oh, you know.  Junior college and stuff.  Mostly stuff,” she giggled.  “How are you?” She keyed up her eyebrows with a hint of “Who’s been naughty?” like the old Caylie. Her eyes were aimed at Ian in a silent reference to her request.

“Right as rain,” I smiled giving her more to chew on.  I had to explain our being here when we should be at college like she just said herself.  “My mom brought us down for a little R and R.  We are reminiscing.”

As if natural, Ian smoothly leaned out and stood, held his hand out for Caylie to sit, and placed himself scooted right up against me on my side of the booth.  Caylie didn’t bat an eye, but only sat and proceeded to “catch us up” on the local gossip as we ate and she ordered food to take home.

Ian coughed once when Kin was mentioned as being seen riding his bike around town.  We both no doubt wondered why.  He made eye contact with me giving me the
we’ll talk later
look and pretended to smile at our girl talk lingo.

Caylie droned on and on about Pam and how she dropped out of the first class she’d taken only to end up getting a scholarship to the University of Texas.  She left two weeks ago. 

Ian whispered to me that time was up and I kindly smiled back giving him a peck on the cheek.  This was a very chaste kiss, but Caylie didn’t know the meaning of tactfulness. 
              “Get a room!”

I blushed.  “Get a boyfriend.”

“Hang a sock on the back of that bike I saw in the lot.”

“Get some couth.”  Only Caylie would see it that way.

“Girls, do you two ever stop?” Ian teased.  He was so good pretending to be human and yet at the same time, far from it.  His inner radar was sending me signals that he was doing a zoning safety search of the room while he listened to us.  I haven’t spent much time in the human world with Ian in the know of what he was, but I knew enough that his magical
talents
were at work.

“Ian, we haven’t seen each other,” I retorted searching quickly around to see if any “bad guys” were near.  Nothing that I saw.

He was so paranoid.

“Quit your caterwauling.  You two sound like cats during rutting time,” Caylie spat at the two of us playfully. 
What?
  She hadn’t changed.  My blush couldn’t be hidden.

After saying goodbye twenty times and a million hugs, Caylie drove off and we mounted the bike.  I’d never noticed his personalized plate.  Was it there before?  It read, “SHDW.”

His soft chuckle at me checking out his bike made me send him a dirty look.  “You checking out my bike is kind of, well, hot to watch.”

This was definitely not the Ian I was accustomed to.  My blush was far from hidden, but he let me climb on and hide my drooling face.

We drove around for a long time.  I had a feeling he just wanted to drive faster up the steep hills so I would pull tighter against him on the back of the bike.  Best day ever list.

We stopped in a secluded spot at the side of the forest we knew well from both worlds and made out on the bike.  Ian had a way of stopping it every time before it went too far, but not at my request.  Deep down, I knew he would always stop so I guessed that made me daring, but trusting.  With his shaky voice, he would groan, grab my wrists, and put way too much distance between us too fast.  Oh, virtuous Ian.  He was determined to drive me insane.

When we returned to where the bike would remain hidden and we would traipse through the woods back to the Seelie court, I asked him again a question I never really had answered.   This was a day for unanswered questions.   “Can you take me for a hike up to Devil’s Den?”