Fae Giveth, Fae Taketh #2
Fadric stepped back from me in shock, his mouth hanging open. “I…jeez. I don’t even… What the fuck just happened, Naci? I’ll buy you some new stuff if you’re mad about it. I was just so ready to—”
“I don’t care, Fadric. It’s fine. I’m going home,” I said, seething. Where had this anger even come from?
I wrapped my ruined shirt around me and bolted home, not even bothering to look back or finish my day's work at the bookshop. I stomped into my room—thankfully the monster duo wasn’t home to see me like this, and Nella wasn’t home yet from her job.
I shut the door before sinking to the floor and breaking down into tears that I didn’t even understand.
I was just so damn mad that Fadric could so carelessly ruin multiple pieces of my clothing when I had so little.
And of course, Mr. Gallant himself offered to replace them.
I didn’t need his pity. That was the worst part.
I wrapped my arms around my knees and let the tears fall, because I knew I was alone. No Cassius or Aemilia to mock me, no Nella to witness my weakness. No Fadric to see me…I didn’t know what.
Had I overreacted? I lifted my head and wiped my tears, vowing to apologize to the bookshop owner tomorrow and maybe smooth things over with Fadric if he stopped by. But I found I didn’t really care whether he did or didn’t.
I was detaching quickly from this life, more with each passing day.
I sat there on the hard floor, feeling shame wash over me.
Fadric wasn’t a bad guy. He just didn’t understand.
But how could he? It’s not like I talked to him about my shitty home life.
I didn’t talk to anyone about it, but especially not someone like Fadric whose family was well off.
He didn’t know hunger and suffering as I did, and I didn’t want his charity or his sympathy.
In that moment, I found I felt bad for myself. And I hated that feeling more than shame. I looked around my pitiful little room, and it hit me how powerless I felt to change my life. How very unlike that princess from the book I was. At least she was strong enough to save herself.
* * *
I woke up on my side, lying on the floor.
Apparently, I had fallen asleep for a while as the sun had set and evening darkness was falling outside my window.
I pushed myself to my feet just as I heard Cassius come in the front door.
Well, stumbled more like, so I assumed he was drunk as always on raffle day. And most other days too.
I didn’t hear Aemilia, which meant two things: one, he didn’t win, or else she would be obsessing over how he was going to spend the gold coin, and two, she must be out for the evening with gods knew which boys.
They all fawned over her. She was wicked, but she was charming and beautiful with her glossy straight hair, blue eyes, and generous curves.
She knew how to get anything she wanted from just about everyone.
But I saw through it to the black heart beating in her chest.
My stomach gave a loud rumble, and I realized I had never eaten lunch. I would have to go out to our kitchen for some food at some point, but there was no telling how long Cassius would be out there.
I shed the ripped remains of my shirt and slip, feeling a fresh wave of embarrassment at how I’d treated Fadric.
I donned a slightly dirty button up and waited as long as I could before cracking open my door, and I listened hard.
No sound, so maybe Cassius had gone to bed.
I tiptoed toward the small kitchen—not much more than a sink, a cupboard with a few chipped dishes, and a cold chest for food storage.
Another thing we relied on the fae’s magic for was having cold storage to keep our food supply from going bad.
As I rounded the corner, I found Cassius sitting at the table, face buried in his arm, breathing slow and deep. Passed out.
I crept by and opened the cold chest to find something, anything.
There was a small mound of cheese in it, and we had a half loaf of bread on the dirty counter.
I wondered if I should take the lot to share with Nella when she got home from the bakery, but they usually fed her at the end of her shift.
That was one good thing about her job. I, on the other hand, couldn’t eat books.
So I took only enough food for myself. After I broke off a meager amount of the cheese, I swore Cassius’s senses told him through his stupor that I was taking food that he hadn’t offered me.
“Taking from the kitchen, are we?” he grumbled, barely coherent.
“Just a little, Dad. I haven’t eaten yet today,” I mumbled, hoping I could avoid having to put it back.
Cassius just stared at me with glazed eyes, contemplating. I watched him, not daring to say anything else. What was that look he was giving me?