Nova Theasphreyei

"Is Romeo coming again tonight?" Euclea wiggles her eyebrows at me and I thwack her arm.

"Romeo?" Hollis' eyes widen and she grins. "What the heck, Nova?! Who's Romeo??"

"It.. For fuck's sake Lea!" I groan and fall back onto the bed, pulling a pillow over my face.

"A faerie boy she found all bloodied and bruised and beaten up. She healed him and they fell for each other but then her parents locked him away and now they have him working here as a servant. But this little minx is still seeing him every night." The faerie smirks.

"That's a very romanticised version of events." I roll my eyes.

"It sounds so cute.. Why do your parents hate him so much?" She frowns and cocks her head.

"He's not from a True Clan..." I mumble.

Hollis' jaw drops. "No... How was he even here?!"

"Delivered by the gods in a box." Euclea sticks her tongue out at me.

"Yah! It wasn't like a postal service, he got nailed in and was literally drowning." I glare.

"I know, I'm the one who got him out, remember?" She kicks me playfully.

"You did?" Hollis beams at Lea who quickly clears her throat and tries to act like her heart didn't just skip a beat just from the look on the dryad's face.

"Mhmm.. I mean I helped a little.. you could say.. Kind of a.. crucial part of the whole.. rescue.. thing..." I'm genuinely having to pinch my arm to stop myself from laughing.

"Actually, we wouldn't be able to meet at night if it weren't for Lea." I add, gaining a very grateful smile from the faerie.

There's a knock on the door and I sigh.

"What, Orin?."

"A servant's here with the snacks you wanted from the kitchen." He pokes his head around the door.

"Okay, let them in."

"Also, I've been called elsewhere for the time being. Apparently, I'm needed at the perimeter for an hour or two."

Euclea whoops and I try to bite back a smile. "Very well. Knock on the door to notify me when you're back, please."

He nods curtly and pushes the servant through the door. A servant with mousey blonde hair and big brown eyes. A servant now giving me a cheeky grin as the door shuts.

"Tae?! You don't work in the kitchens!" I hiss, making sure Orin doesn't hear on his way out of my rooms.

"I called in a favour." He shrugs and I pull him into a kiss, wrapping my arms around his neck as he lifts me a few inches off the ground. Lea wolf-whistles and Taehyung immediately puts me down, blushing.

"So this is Romeo?" Hollis grins and wiggles her eyebrows at Euclea.

"R-Romeo?.." Taehyung blushes even more and looks at me, confused.

I throw a pillow at the two girls on my bed and pull Tae back towards me greedy for more.

"How long can you stay?" I pout, already anticipating him having to get back to his duties.

"I switched to all morning shifts. I had to skip breakfast but I'm all yours until tomorrow, baby." He grins his boxy smile and I slide my hands into his hair as our lips reconnect.

"Yup, he's definitely Romeo..." Euclea chuckles and Hollis squeals.

***

I moan softly and pull on his hair as his teeth pull at my bottom lip. His hands wander down my sides and I shiver at his gentle but calloused touch. I wrap my legs around his hips rolls us over so his back is to the bed. His grip on my hips tightens and he breaks the kiss, pushing me off abruptly and sitting up.

"Tae?" I frown, confused.

"Sorry.." He mumbles through gritted teeth.

"What's wrong, are you okay?" My eyes widen slightly as I recognise his telltale signs of being in pain.

"Yeah, fine."

"Is it your wing? I thought it had stopped hurting!" I pull at his shoulder in an attempt to turn him around but he quickly snatches my wrist and pulls it away.

"I'm fine."

"It is.. Taehyung, show me. I can make a pain reliever if nothing else." I raise my eyebrows.

His jaw clenches and unclenches repeatedly and I frown again. This doesn't seem like his wing, he never reacted this strongly to me seeing it.

"Show me." I order and I begrudgingly he complies.

The faerie turns and sits with his legs crossed underneath himself and my jaw drops. Long red lines rip down his back and over his wings. I count as many as fifteen before I begin to sick to the stomach at the thought of who hurt him. Or more specifically why they hurt him.

"Orin found out..." He translates the silence. "About us..."

"Why didn't you tell me?." I slip off the bed and walk across the room to find as much of my go-to healing balm as I can.

"Because you're blaming yourself, aren't you?" He turns and watches me from the bed.

"Yes. Because it's my fault." I glare.

"No, I got cocky. That's why he found out. I kept coming up here in the middle of the day and not coming out, and then thought no one would notice." He chuckles slightly and shakes his head.

"But it's because of who I am. If I was normal you wouldn't be-"

"If you were normal you wouldn't have been on the beach in the first place and I'd be dead, Nova." He looks into my eyes and I purse my lips.

I gently turn him away from me again. "But, Tae.. Your wings..." I stroke my hand over them gently and he flinches, both wings spasming slightly from pain.

"They don't work anyway, they're useless." He brushes it off but I can hear the slight crack in his voice, a clear sign of him trying to keep tears down. I kiss the torn skin and mottled colours of his once magnificently patterned butterfly wings. I see his shoulders shaking slightly and wrap my arms around his waist.

"How bad is it?.. Is it really hideous?" He sniffs and wipes his eyes.

"You're still stunning, Tae. You're the most stunning faerie I've ever seen. A few scars don't wreck your beauty, it just adds strength." I hold him for a moment, letting him cry until I begin to dab softly at the wounds. Most have dried up anyway so only a few have him hissing from the sting. "Tell me next time. That's not a request, it's an order." He nods silently and lets me do as I wish. I'm surprised Orin didn't tell my parents. Surprised but grateful. Maybe I've been thinking too little of him after all.

***

Hollis Merripip

I press myself even further into the wall, pleading the shadows to hide me.

"Back again?" The queen purses her lips.

"Yes, ma'am." Orin bows his head.

"That insolent child! She has no idea what she's doing." She begins to pace and I gulp, hoping she doesn't walk too far down the corridor and see me.

"Let her have her fun. What's the harm?" Kerokeis sighs from behind her.

"'What's the harm?' Are you seriously asking me that?. I suppose you think we should send her to that godforsaken school she keeps pleading to go to as well, hmm?" The queen turns and glares at her husband.

"Well, now you mention it, ye-"

"Kerokeis!"

"What?. You're selling her away to some Kalama for your own benefit, the least you could do is allow her a little freedom for the next year or two, for the time she has left." He grits his teeth.

"I'm not selling her. She's just.. been betrothed." The queen huffs.

"Same thing."

"Oh? How do you work that one out?." She glares at him.

"It feels like you own me." Kerokeis grits his teeth and trudges off down the hall.

The queen sighs and shakes her head. "Orin, keep up the good work. Notify me of any changes."

"Yes, ma'am. Oh, and there's something else." He leans in and whispers something in the queen's ear. Both their eyes turn to me.

Shit.