"So does that fairy trick usually make girls drop their panties or something?" Daisy was looking at me with something like scorn, maybe? But whatever it was, she was definitely unimpressed. "Because, I have to tell you, you might be losing your touch since I don't feel the slightest compulsion to rip off my clothes. While I may have succumbed to bad judgment twice with you, that is not happening a third time."
What?
Did I just hear her right?
I had just revealed myself as the King of the Fae, told Daisy she was my True Queen, and she accused me of using it as a trick? Worse, she thought I showed this to women on a regular basis to get them into bed with me? That was the reaction she had? I would have thought she'd have a million questions, at least maybe oohed and aahhed at the show of the fairies. I don't know exactly what I was expecting, I just know I was expecting more of a reaction from her.
"Tuairteála agus sruthán!" Crash and burn! I was tempted to start plucking wings off the little fuckers.
When exactly had this day gone to shit? Was there more to her anger than me crashing her date?
She hadn't seemed overly upset when I'd closed the bakery early. In fact, after ten minutes prepping in the kitchen for the next day, she'd left the bakery, a happy lilt in her voice as she called to let me know she was locking the back door. I was the one who was grumpy at the thought that she was heading to her place to get ready for a date. A date who wanted to ask her to move in, even if it was as friends, so he could help her with the baby. Fuck that noise.
I'd proceeded to pack up the leftover cookies, brownies, muffins -- whatever was left, I boxed it all up in the pink boxes Donna used. There were about ten boxes in all. Since I'd ridden my Harley to work this morning, I'd ordered an Uber after Googling the nearest women's shelter. The driver was nice and we talked about his six children all the way to the shelter. I'd never taken an Uber before, so it was a new experience. Vin, the driver, helped me carry the boxes to the door, and then he went back to sit in the car while I waited for the director of the shelter to answer the intercom I'd buzzed.
Before long, I heard a crackly voice on the intercom.
"Can I help you?"
"Yes," I said in my nicest, most non-threatening voice. "I'm dropping off some baked goods for the ladies here on behalf of Donna Camp of Nenn's Bakery. They're by the front door, and I just wanted to let you know before I take off."
The faceless voice thanked me, and I made my way back to the Uber. Vin drove me back to the bakery, and I tossed his extra tip into the front seat after he refused to take it. After thanking him for his help, I sketched a quick wave at the man before I headed for my bike.
Checking my watch, I saw I had less than an hour and a half before I had a date to crash. The fairies had filled me in on where the restaurant was and what time the guy was picking Daisy up. Hoping that signaled a change in their attitude toward me, I threw my leg over the bike seat and headed toward my rental.
Once I was home, I showered then threw on a shirt and some clean jeans, my mind on Daisy. How I'd never recognized that it had been on Daisy for a while I would just chalk up to my stupidity. I'd always been able to take Daisy's crush on me for granted; no matter what, no matter how long I'd been away from home, when I came back, there was Daisy with her big brown eyes and sweet smile, happy to welcome me home. Now? She'd somehow managed to not really speak to me -- at me, yes, but only when necessary -- but not really to me since I'd begun working at the bakery. I didn't have the first clue how to make anything I'd said or done right. An apology would be in order, but like Mom said, an apology was just words. After that, I needed to do, I needed actions.
I'd also asked the fae for an update on the boy I'd had them follow home and wasn't pleased with what they'd discovered. I was hoping the boy would come back tomorrow, wanting to sweep the sidewalk again, so I could talk to him some more.
When it was finally time to leave, I'd felt some relief. I'd never been happy sitting around thinking. I acted, which was why I felt more comfortable with actually crashing Daisy's date than thinking about what I could do to make it up to her.
I'd walked in and had seen the two of them immediately, and, not liking that Daisy was out with someone else, there was a quick flash of lightning outside, followed by a tremendous crash that startled everyone in the restaurant. Maybe my reaction was because this was the first time I'd ever had to worry about her being with someone else -- I knew from Harmony's rants when they were in high school that the guys were "too stupid" to see how wonderful Daisy was to ask her out. They'd apparently continued their stupidity, as I had, during the years following high school. Now, here in Hicksville, Arkansas, Daisy was bringing them out of the woodwork.
The hostess asked if she could help me, so I gave her a hundred dollar bill and told her to give me a minute with the people I was going to speak with and then tell me in front of them that my table wouldn't be ready for an hour. Thankfully, all of the tables surrounding Daisy and her date were full and they wouldn't question it.
"An é seo an aislingeach?" Is this the dreamy one? I'd asked them as I walked over to the table.
"Nach bhfuil chomh aislingeach." Not so dreamy, they told me. "Gread leat, Norm." Go away, Norm.
Interesting.
After I introduced myself to no-so-dreamy-Norm, the hostess came up, right on cue and told me the sad, but untrue, tale of my table. As I protested interrupting their date, I looked at Norm and compelled him to offer me a chair, which he did. He couldn't help himself.
My gift of compulsion was one I rarely utilized, and up until tonight, I had used it solely in the military when we were on a mission and had captured an enemy we'd needed to extract information from. My team thought I was a skilled interrogator, but I had just looked the prisoners in the eye and compelled them to answer my questions. A very useful skill in the military, and much quicker and less bloody than other methods of extracting the truth. It was a gift I didn't like to use in civilian life, but I figured since I was fighting for my True Queen, this counted as war.
After Daisy verbally poked at me a bit and I began my apologies, the fairies began their chattering. Very interesting chatter.
So I'd asked Norm if he'd ever messed up with a woman, and compelled the truth from him. Out it spewed from his mouth until, honest to god, I almost wanted him to shut up. For fuck's sake, he'd cheated on his wife with her sister, her cousin and her best friend and the idiot was wondering why his lame apology and a bouquet of flowers didn't cut it?
I thought about my mother's words.
Words are so easy, Oberon. They really are. People toss them out as if they're the magical, end-all, be-all and really, they aren't. They're just words when it comes down to it and anyone can say words, say I'm sorry.
I could tell Daisy wanted to bolt she was so disgusted with Norm, but I turned the topic and we made it through dinner. I watched to make sure Daisy was eating enough, and then she drove home with Norm -- I'm sure to tell him there would be no future dates.
Go away, Norm.
I'd pulled up to her place after Norm drove off, and she'd been waiting for me. Which brought me to this moment, wondering how the fuck she thought my revealing myself as King of the Fae and her as my True Queen was a trick to get her naked.
"Daisy, that's not what this was. I have never told anyone who I was or showed them the fairies. I wanted you to know why I was here. I'm here for you, for the baby and because you're my True Queen."
"And what does that mean, exactly, Burr?"
Until she'd stopped calling me Oberon, I had no idea how much I'd loved hearing my real name on her lips. It was tempting, really tempting, to compel her to call me Oberon, but my gift didn't work on family. If I'd been able to, I would have compelled Harmony to leave me the fuck alone when she'd tagged after my friends and me everywhere when we were growing up. Since Daisy was even closer than family, as my True Queen, my gift wouldn't work on her. Unfortunately.
That was a damn good question. What did it mean? I needed to answer fast because her crossed arms and steely glare didn't seem to signal good things ahead.
"Ah, it means that we're meant to be together. Like a family."
"Like a family," she repeated quietly, dangerously. "Like a family, but not really a family."
Men have this problem. It's genetic, apparently entwined in our DNA. And the problem is, we can tell we're walking into a trap. We can. But we're such stupid motherfuckers that we keep walking forward, right into it, sensing the danger all around us, but still plowing ahead instead of making a strategic retreat.
"Well, no. We'd be a real family."
"And how do we get to be this real family, Burr? Can you tell me that?"
At this point, the sirens were blaring and the lights were flashing and the robotic voice was calling out DANGER! over and over with increasing urgency, but did I stop to think? No. Of course not. Because...DNA.
"We get married, Daisy." I would have thought that would be the obvious answer.
And, for the record, I will argue until my death that this was the correct answer, but maybe just not the right time for it. Not if Daisy's nuclear reaction was anything to go by.
"We get married?" she exploded. "That's your response? We get married? So I suddenly go from a mistake that's never happening again; I suddenly go from being fat, plain and stupid; I suddenly go from unworthy of being by your side; I suddenly go from being the motherfucking DONKEY to your thoroughbred...to being your wife? Are you kidding me, Burr? Are you freaking kidding me? Please tell me this was a joke, and you did not just give me the worst proposal ever in the entire history of proposals since the beginning of time. Please, Fairy King, tell me you did not just do that to me on top of everything else you've done to me."
This would have been the time for that strategic retreat I mentioned, except I was already in the trap. And the only way out of the trap seemed to be by digging a deep hole to tunnel under it. Except, I was just focusing on the digging the hole deeper part.
"It's the logical thing to do, Daisy. We're meant to be together."
I'm pretty sure Daisy's eyes turned from brown to demon red, they were that scary. "Logical?" Her voice was so shrill I feared for the nearby windows. "What on earth is logical about us being together? You said it yourself, Burr, someone like you being with someone like me would be settling."
"Well, I was wrong! So fucking wrong! I didn't mean it!" I might have been yelling, too. "I said I was sorry and I am! I can't take my words back. I wish I could, but I can't! But I really don't think of you like that. I was just trying to get Nan off my back about you."
She froze. "And why was that?"
Shit!
"It doesn't matter anymore, Daisy. What matters now is that I want you beside me, as my True Queen, as the mother of my child."
She looked at me, her eyes fiery. "And can you tell me why you've had this sudden change of heart? Are you telling me you've suddenly fallen in love with me?"
I looked at her brown eyes and wished I could lie to her. "No, Daisy. But someday --"
"Someday," she gave a short laugh, but it was the most unamused sound I'd ever heard. "Someday you might resign yourself to being with someone like me. Someday you might have feelings for me. Someday you might find me less repulsive."
"Daisy, I don't find you repulsive. We just need to give us time --"
"Someday isn't good enough for me. I deserve more." Her voice was just a whisper, then she looked up at me, squared her shoulders and said again, in a louder voice, "I deserve more."
And then my queen turned and walked away, up the stairs and into her home, leaving me there, stunned and speechless. And angrier with and more disappointed in myself than I'd ever been before.
"Buachaill, shéid tú sin i ndáiríre." Boy, you really blew that.
No shit. "You could have helped me out there," I accused them. "Go calm her and soothe her."
"Wá a fhios againn cad atá le déanamh. Ní hé seo ár gcéad róid." We know what to do. This isn't our first rodeo.
Let me just say, being the King of these tiny, mouthy nightmares wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
And for the first time, I felt very, very unworthy of being their King. And even worse? For the first time, I not only felt unworthy of Daisy, I knew I was.