The Fae Book 2: Burr and Daisy

Chapter 22: Too Late

"You were constantly coming out here to think," my mother said from behind me as she opened the sliding glass door. She stepped through the open door onto the deck and joined me at the railing, her shoulder bumping my arm. "I always wondered what you were thinking when you came out here."

"It wasn't to think, usually. Just to...to be, mostly. To recharge. To quiet the fairies."

She touched my hand, and I turned my hand over to give her some energy. "I always worried about you, Oberon."

I laughed. With my personal guard, there was no cause for concern. "I was the last one you should have worried about. The fairies were always around to protect me."

"Yes, they were, and I didn't worry about your physical safety or your health, ever. But I worried that you were isolated. You were given a lot to handle and to understand at such a young age. Your Nan knew more than I did about it, so she was able to help you more."

"Isolated," I repeated thoughtfully, thinking about that concept, thinking that I'd never been alone in my life.

"Not with the fairies, but with humans," Mom explained. "The differences that made you you also set you apart. You are one of the few humans that moves between two worlds, and of those humans, you are the only one to command the fairies. All your life they whispered in your ear that you were their prince and then their king. Sometimes I felt that you belonged more to them than to me. I'd see your little head cocked to the side, listening to these otherworldly, magical beings -- it was intimidating, to be honest, and there were days when I hated having to share you. Days when I just wanted you to be mine."

"I knew I was different because of the fairies," I told her. "But I never thought about it from your point of view." Face it, asshole, you never thought about anything from any point of view but your own.

"Well, yes, the fairies were one of the reasons that you were special, but they aren't the only thing that made you special. It was what was inside of you, Oberon, all of the good qualities the fairies knew would one day make you a great king."

"Not such a great king, Mom. Try clueless, entitled, selfish. I took a lot for granted, and I took it as my due that people would fall all over me without having to do one damn thing to earn their regard." 

"That was true. I won't deny that," she admitted. "But you've been home seven weeks now, and I've seen the changes in you. I've seen the works all over Harbor's Edge that you've started. Your father told me you've been using your own money to fund most of it, but you want the company to help so you can do more, expand. We both think you're doing some wonderful things that are going to help so many people, Oberon."

"I wouldn't have done any of it if it weren't for Daisy. So it's not really me. It was her."

"Did she tell you to do it?"

"No. But when she told me about her childhood, things I hadn't really noticed because I was all wrapped up in wonderful me...well, I knew it was too late to do anything to help Daisy, but I could help other people in situations like hers."

King, king, king  the quiet chant, barely more than a whisper, rang in my head, and I felt relief they weren't on my case as much anymore.

I laughed in disgust at myself, still craving approval from my family, the fae...when really Daisy's approval was all that mattered. 

"Mom, I kept picturing Daisy when she was a little girl, in clothes that were a little too short, a little too small, a little too worn, with a hole in the toe  of her shoes. She would've been so fucking adorable with her dark hair in a ponytail...but then I realized she would have been home alone, trying to figure out how to make dinner for pennies. I didn't like that part of the picture, where this little girl had no choice but to grow up way too fast."