His Little Fae

Faerie Hunting (I)

Still, I let her squirm for a moment before allowing my lips to pull into a slight smile. Slowly, I turned to her, my golden irises pinned to her form as I fully took her in. "I'll ask again. What do you want, Victoria?"

She visibly clenched her jaw, her eyes flickering away in frustration before returning to me. It took her a few long seconds to construct her response. "I wanted to... thank you."

"Oh?" I arched a brow. My attention briefly landing on the earring I had been putting on before she caught me cursing. Reaching for it, I pushed my hair to the side and tilted my head to put it on, my gaze returning to her. "What for?"

She glowered back, the nervousness oozing off her in waves. "You know what for. Stop trying to make me sweat."

I gave her an expectant look as I closed the earring in and threw the remainder of my hair over my shoulder. "It's not a real thank you if you're not sweating, no?"

She groaned, and angrily pinched the bridge of her nose, only to open her eyes and find me crossing one leg over the other, my gaze still not leaving her. "Thank you, Alexandria. For saving me," she admitted, her words stiff and strained.

"I didn't save you," I told her with a shake of my head.

Victoria rolled her pale eyes. "Oh come on, don't act all humble and shit. You made me leave. And they would've tried to kill me too if I stayed. You protected me."

I stared at her for a long moment, waiting for the sudden insult or the hidden jab, but there was nothing but sincerity written all over her face. So, I shrugged and picked out a strawberry from her little basket. "I did what I had to do."

"I thought you hated me."

"I do hate you."

She flinched as I suddenly stood up and came to stand in front of her, my eyes pinning her in place. "I haven't forgotten a word of what you said, Victoria. We both know that. But I'm not petty enough to want you dead. We've all been through enough these past weeks."

There wasn't even a sliver of the arrogance and rage I had seen flickering in her eyes a few weeks ago, instead, she loosed a breath, and unclenched her fists, her head dropping just enough for me to catch a glimpse of the shame just beneath the surface. "I'm... sorry, Alexandria."

I wanted this entire ordeal to be done and over with. All her insults had already settled in some ignored corner in my mind, but maybe it was time to acknowledge that the girl who had said them to me was not the same person standing in front of me now. And this apology, although it wasn't something I was desperate for, was still a significant step forward. It was a real ending to our disastrous meeting.

I was silent for a beat. I still hadn't forgiven her for all the shit she'd said, perhaps I never will, but I wasn't opposed to having her on my side. Her shame and remorse was obvious, and if there's anything I know about Victoria, it's that she never apologizes unless she knows she's done something wrong.

With a sigh, I extended a hand to her, initiating the same fake greeting she'd offered me the day we met, but this time it came as a real truce. "Maybe I'll start forgiving you when you start calling me Luna."

She was shocked for a moment, her eyes landing on my hand as though she wasn't quite sure what to do, but a second later she was finally clasping it, her sea-colored eyes swinging up to meet my own. "Like hell I will."

I snorted, my grip tightening just as she squeezed my fingers. "Fine, but I want more of those fuckin strawberries."

********************

Victoria's apology had come as a shock to me, but what had surprised me even more was her choosing to linger for the remainder of the morning.

It sure as hell made sneaking out a thousand times more difficult, especially since regardless of where we now stood, she'd always answer back to Livius when it came down to it.