TWO #3
"Human flesh. Especially brains. It makes for really interesting, albeit bloody and disgusting, movies."
Movies.
I knew the term, but had never seen one myself.
The way she talked about them, the way she talked about the human realm as a whole, everything about her animated and excited, it almost made me want to do the unthinkable- cross out of The Green.
I wasn't exactly raised with the disdain for humans that the Winters obviously had.
My culture was small, secluded, rich in tradition, and wholly insulated even from other fae.
Because the other fae thought us extinct and if they knew we weren't, we'd likely be hunted and imprisoned in masse.
So we had always, in a way, lumped humans in with all the other types of fae, believing they might have been interesting, but knowing they were likely dangerous to us and our way of life.
"You liked your time in their world." It wasn't a question, but she answered anyway.
"What I got to see of it, yes. I didn't exactly have any more freedom than I do here.
I had a tutor, guards, and a nanny whenever I was there.
We stayed in this big building surrounded by walls, keeping the 'dangerous humans' away from me.
After countless years of begging, I finally got my tutor and nanny to agree to let me have some human things like a television and some of their food instead of things the guards got every night by going into The Green to forage. "
Another tower she was locked up in.
Even to me, someone who had spent a good chunk of his life in chains, I found that incredibly sad.
"When you get back to the human realm and have all the freedom, what do you want to do?"
To that, her face fell a bit, her lips parting, her brows drawing together, like it never occurred to her to think that far. Or maybe it was more accurate to say that she wasn't sure what freedom was, so she didn't even know how to think about.
"I have no idea," she admitted, shaking her head. "But I have human money. And, from what I can tell, it's enough to find a place to stay and keep me fed and such. I guess... I guess then I have to find a job."
Jobs were jobs. Human or fae, you had to work in life.
Though, for most common fae, work was generally of the sort that kept you and yours fed, clothed, and sheltered.
The fae who lived in more populated areas occasionally went to markets and sold their goods which was likely more what a human job would be like.
Somehow, I couldn't imagine Amethyst doing that kind of work.
Maybe it was simply because she came from a family that was important in The Green, had old wealth and respect, and therefore... no one ever needed to work.
"What?" she asked, smiling a little. "You don't think I can work? I can work. I mean... I don't know what skills of mine would be useful in the human realm. I think my sister made sculptures to pay her way."
"And Jasper?"
Her brows knitted at that, her green eyes going a little sad. "I have no idea."
I felt myself wince slightly, knowing Jasper and Jade were likely sore spots for her, knowing she had older siblings, but never being allowed to know them, to learn from them, to play with them as kids, or stir trouble with them as teens.
I had my own siblings I hadn't been able to see in years. I could relate to that piece of yourself that smarted when it got pressed.
"Well, I'm sure you will figure out your place in their realm," I assured her, seeing the slip in confidence, knowing her spirits needed to stay up if she was going to get through the next couple of days of cold and pain and, possibly, hunger if we weren't careful.
"Come on, let's keep moving. We need to get as much distance between us as possible by nightfall. "
"Hey, Drake?" she called, making my stomach do a strange dropping thing at hearing it.
First, just my name. It had been so long since someone used it that it almost sounded foreign to me.
It was always draca, the word spat like an insult.
Second, though, I maybe liked it a little too much how her sweet voice curved over the sounds of it.
"Yeah?" I asked, turning back, feeling oddly tense.
"Do you know how to get to the human realm?"
No, I fucking didn't.
Not exactly anyway.
That being said, there was always a strange tug inside when you got close to the borders, something inside telling you to turn back, that you weren't welcome. I hadn't felt it in too many years to count, but it was distinct. I would know it when it happened.
And this tiny little slip of a woman was looking up at me with those big green eyes, barely knowing me at all, but somehow seeming to put a vast amount of trust in me to take care of her anyway.
I couldn't let her down.
I couldn't tell her I was just as lost as she was.
For her, I would find the goddamn human realm.
I would even escort her into it myself to make sure she was safe.
I owed her that.
"Of course I do."
With that, I quickly turned, hoping she didn't see or hear the lie in my voice.