"You know, amour, your eye is almost like a broken piece of the devil's mirror." The Prince said as I looked up at him with wide eyes. A warm hand cradled my face as I reached out for him. "Once upon a time, little devils created a dark evil mirror that only showed the ugly in the world. It could make a princess seem like a horrid witch. The little devils wanted to use this little mirror to show the ugliest things in the world to break the hearts of humans, but as they carried it up to block the sun, they dropped it."
"Shards of the glass fell into people's hearts and eyes. It made the human world such an ugly place. A faerie prince made of ice saw a girl crying one day. He asked her, 'what is wrong, ma fifille?' And she told him, 'No one will smile or laugh anymore because they see all that is horrible.' " His voice sounded deep and his whole chest vibrated as he held me. "The prince fell in love with her immediately because of her wisdom, but she was much too young, you see, and needed for her to grow up into the woman he knew she was destined to be."
"He should've swept her off her feet like in all those fairytales and took her far, far away from that world if it's so ugly." I said.
"There are no princes with beautiful faces. Only monsters."
"But aren't you-"
"MATTY!"
I jerked up from my bed to find Drake sitting at the foot of my bed. My blonde hair stuck to my face thanks to the sweat. "What?" Drake made for a great alarm clock sometimes.
"You were talking in your sleep again," he noted. "I thought after the incident," this is what Drake decided to call my meeting Eloy 'the incident', "last week, I thought your dreams wouldn't be so violent."
"What are they supposed to be?"
"I've only been with you for over a moon cycle and I don't think there has been a night when you didn't speak in your sleep. Maybe the undead has possessed you and tries to speak through you?" I wasn't sure how serious he was being, but the cold mask he wore wouldn't tell me.
I threw the comforter off of me and walked into the kitchen where I brewed some coffee.
"Well?" Drake's voice is high like a teacher waiting for a student to tell the truth.
"It's just nightmares of a screwed up childhood," I replied as I waited for the coffee to brew. Drake snorted as he flew around the room, landing on the counter.
It had been awhile since I dreamt of my purple-haired prince, but he wasn't really mine, was he? Maybe he was just a figment of my own imagination to protect me against all the madness faeries brought. What brought him up in my head though?
Oh right, Lowell wouldn't shut up about it for the last week since that party.
"Remind me to hit Lowell if he mentions the prince again."
"Hmph, you really are cranky without your coffee, aren't you?" Drake said as he folded his arms over his chest and walked over to me. The cloak he wore started to drag behind him as he walked.
I picked up one of the oranges and started peeling off the skin before ripping off a piece for Drake. He gladly ate it. I was never really sure what he ate, but he seemed to prefer fruit and the petals of roses.
"Most humans are," I said as I got my coffee and sipped it out of the mug. I sat on the counter and sat cross legged.
"What causes your nightmares?" Drake asked as he sat next to me and ate a piece of the orange.
"I told you."
"No really," he said.
"Just nightmares."
Drake snorted. "Humans lie and you always become more sarcastic when you're lying."
"How do you know that?" I gave him another piece of the orange.
"You're not complicated." He ate the orange. The dignified faerie looked like a mess with orange juice going down his chin.
"It's none of your business."
"Considering the fact that your nightmares have kept me up then yes it is important," Drake said, "and 'my business' as you put it."
Stupid faerie.
"It's just a fairytale."
"There's no such thing as just a faerie tale. Every story has a reason." Drake hummed at this. "Is it one of the fairytales you so despise?"
"What are you talking about?"
"The photos of fairytales that you make," Drake said, "they're always dark and bring out the worst emotion from the story."
"Ah, I guess I'm just tired of how humans look at faerie tales." I watched Drake from the corner of my eye. "Is there a prince in your world?"
"There are a lot of princes in our world," Drake said. He wore his neutral mask, but he was curious and I could tell by how he leaned forward to maybe catch something in my face or maybe in the tone of my voice.
"A purple haired prince?" I asked and tried to keep my voice neutral.
Drake tilted his head. "Yes, but he's of the Nightmare Court. Why are you dreaming of-"
"Who knows?" I wasn't going to tell him that it might have to do with my childhood. Courts rarely got a long. It was always a power struggle. A bit like human politics, but faeries were known for slay their opponents in a middle of a meeting.
"Don't avoid the questions-!"
The door opened suddenly and I was about to throw my coffee mug at the intruder when I stopped.
"Mom?" I asked.
Mom was a tall, blonde woman who liked to wear a lot of whites and pinks. There was something prim and proper about the look. Very Step Ford wife.
"Oh Matty, morning!" she said as I jumped off the counter. Drake looked at the woman and then back at me with slight confusion. "Oh honey, you need to do the dishes-"
"Mom, what are you doing here? And why do you have a key to my apartment?" I asked.
"I just wanted to make sure you were okay! Lowell said how he hasn't seen you for awhile and I was worried."
"You do realize that using Lowell as a babysitter is a really bad idea, right? I have to remind him to eat when finals come around." Also he was probably too busy sleeping with someone to really worry about me. He probably just mentioned that he hadn't seen me and mom over analyzed it.
"Well, you're my baby." Mom stopped and looked at the wall of photos on my wall. "Matty baby, these are beautiful."
"Thanks mom," I said.
"This is your mother?" Drake asked as he looked at me with wide eyes. "Not exactly what I was expecting."
"Uh, do you want some coffee?" I asked as her mother grinned at me. I wanted her to get out, but I felt mean for thinking that. Between my two parents, mom was the only one I really talked to. I poured her a cup and mom sat on the sofa before I joined her. This was weird. "Mom, were you just worried that I wasn't taking my medicine?"
"Oh I just..." Mom lingered and drummed her fingers on the cup. Mom always looked so clean and sharp with the white polo shirt. "I had a nightmare from when you were a child."
"Human mothers are that attuned to their children? Fascinating," Drake said.
"What about?"
She laughed. "Oh, nothing, nothing. I'm just being silly." She waved her hand about. I wonder if this is what her therapist said to her. "Tell me, how's work going? Meet anyone yet?" She winked at me.
"I met Eloy."
"That singer?" Mom put her hand over her mouth. "Oh my, he's a good looking man. I think he's better looking than Lowell." Mom waved her finger at me. "But don't you tell him that."
Drake sat on the kitchen table, staring at my mother with wide eyes. He kept looking between the two of us and I almost laughed at the sight. He sat near a plant I got for him and he looked a bit unearthly against it. Faeries come down the hill to celebrate the kill. Faeries sing and dance to songs about suns and flowers, but before they come down and disappear into the dawn.
"Matty, are you listening?"
I looked up at my mom. By the tone of her voice, it was obvious she was talking about some part of her life that I wasn't really involved in.
"Sorry mom, I dozed off. I just woke up."
My mom waved her manicured nails at my face. "Of course, darling."
"How's the gardening club going?" I asked her, smiling.
"Lovely, but we keep getting these ugly little bugs eating all the buds."
"Garden faeries, come at dawn. Bless the flower then they're gone," I quoted softly.
Mom went stiff as a board and I mirrored her for a moment. Shit. Mom lived a perfect little life and my scars barely made it in, but the faerie shit? Not so much.
Mom dropped her head into her hands. She sucked in a deep breath like she was about to burst into tears. I leaned down and rubbed her back to try to get her to come down. I just had to bring up faeries.
"The screaming after the hospital," she said.
"What?"
"The screaming at the hospital," she repeated. "That's what I was dreaming about. It wasn't fair. How was I the only one to make it out of the accident without a scratch, but you...?" Mom's eyes looked glassy and she rapidly blinked to keep her emotions in. "You kept screaming about a monster in the woods for weeks."
"Mom, it was just a nightmare," I said, patting her on the shoulder. Mom was going through the cycle of guilt and was now begging for forgiveness. This happened every year at some point. Mom looked at me. Her blue eyes mirrored mine, but mom's were brighter and lighter like a child's colored pencil.
"She's scared. She should be careful or some nightmare eater will be attracted to her," Drake said, "the guilt is so heavy around her. It must be suffocating."
Shut up.
"Honey," she said, "you know, I love you, right?"
Drake sighed and seemed almost annoyed before he began humming softly. "I couldn't help it, my dear. You see, the madness, is queer my darling." Mom relaxed a bit as if she could hear the song.
"Of course, mom." I said and resisted the urge to smack Drake.
"It eats me alive from inside my head and all I see is red. I've been bled too much, I believe. That's how I get such a madness, I believe." Drake whispered as mom relaxed and sighed. She put a hand over her heart.
She smiled. "Oh thank you, I better get going though," she said before she got up. She gave me a sticky kiss on the cheek before leaving. She floated out of the apartment.
I glared at Drake. "What did you do?"
"It was just a song to sooth the heart," Drake said.
"Your song was talking about madness!" I said.
Drake snorted. "It's talking about the madness of falling in love. And I wasn't sure what else I could do to calm her."
That was a first.
"I thought you knew everything."
"Now why would I?"
"You're Ser Drake of the Lunae Lux Court," I said, deepening my voice.
"That's a very bad impression, you know." He didn't sound that squeaky.
"Oooh, did I touch a sore spot?"
"I've gotten many a compliment on my voice, I'll have you know. Mostly by women."
I snorted as Drake glared at me.
__________
"How'd it go?"
I stole a glance at Rose who was looking at me from her spot in front of my camera. She was wearing a thin red dress that cost more than my apartment. She stood in a soft red background. Thanks to the lighting I was able to make sure she didn't blend into the background.
"How did what go?"
She put her hands on her hips and leaned forward, her hair tumbling over her shoulders. "The thing with Henry?"
"You mean before the fire?" I asked as she nodded. "Trust me, you don't want to know."
"That fire was freaky. Glad you're okay though," Rose said.
"Oh good, I'm glad to see you gave up on lying," Drake said from my shoulder. I flicked him off like I would a fly and Drake glared at me.
"It's just that he hasn't come back to town since that fire." Rose said. "No one's heard from him." Probably had to slink back to some moldy grave and sleep a decade away.
"It's hard to rebuild a place after a fire like that." I said.
"And you came to work with those bruises on your neck," she said.
"I didn't start it," I said.
Rose walked over to me and bent her knees to get to my level. "I'm not accusing you of anything, I'm just worried." She hugged her knees as she sat.
"No worrying about me," I said, sinking behind the camera. "We got work to do." Rose's lips twisted to the side. Annoyed, but maybe she would look away from me. "Now look at me like you would a new girlfriend."
"This look is for you," Rose said as she leaned forward and blinked.
"Oh come on, take this seriously!"
"I will once you tell me why you haven't replied to any of Eloy's requests to do a photo shoot with him and Cassandra."
How'd she know about that?
"I haven't learned to resist his charm to say the least." I said. Again, it was the truth. I haven't figured out a way to repel his charms on me. Maybe it's like drugs and the more I'm around him the more I'll grow used to it.
"He won't do any other photo shoots until you do his. And he's starting to pester Jorge."
Oh great.
"Jorge just wants you to focus on photos and that's why he hasn't told you. It's a big deal you know," Rose said.
"So?"
"So?" Rose asked as I looked behind me and saw Jorge. "It's a big deal and you need a break from being Jorge's bitch."
Rose stuck her tongue out at Jorge. Jorge sighed.
"Rose, how about you tell Matty why you haven't gone to Italy to take on that fashion show? It's a big deal." Jorge mimicked her voice. I had a feeling that Jorge's kids hadn't let him sleep the night before because of the dark circles under his eyes and he'd usually respond a bit more professionally to Rose's taunts.
"Matty knows why."
"You do?"
"I do?" I asked. "Dude, I figured you want to runaway and quickly as possible after...everything."
"Everything?" Jorge said.
"You do realize you're making things worse for him, don't you?" Drake asked, grinning.
I sighed and leaned forward.
"Jorge, please tell me I'm almost done."
"Yes, my slave," Jorge said and took a look at Rose, "you are done for the day. Enjoy having the next few days off."
I grinned and packed everything in my bag.
"A couple days to yourself, what will you do with the time?" Drake asked. "I don't think I've ever seen you relax."
"I'm going to edit my photos, drink cherry wine, and play video games!" I said. "I'm not leaving the apartment!"
________________________________________________________________________________
Author's Note:
Sorry guys, I know this is a bit late and a bit rushed out. It's kind of my anniversary with my husband so we've been busy doing stuff. This chapter is mostly set up for more stuff.
If you read the old version of this series, did you like the change I made to Matty's mother? If so, how come? If not, how come?
Thanks for everything guys and I might update again this weekend to make up for being late. See you later!