“That’s because you’ve been a bad boy Rhy, or so I hear,“ my sister started mixing sugar in her coffee with a provocative grin.
“You haven’t seen anything yet,” Rhylan replied and shifted his attention back to her. “If you’ll let me, I can show you all the various ways I can be bad. I assure you, you’ll like them.” He threw her that piercing gaze that would freeze the desert. “A lot,” he added as if Cressi's panties hadn’t already reacted to his voice.
“Urgh, are you going to be like this every time, Rhy?” I mocked his nickname. “Does your small ego need self-inflating every day so it grows just a tiny bit bigger?” I asked and squeezed a granola flake in between my fingernails for emphasis.
“Don’t provoke me, princess,” he retorted and turned his attention to the orange juice.
“Princess?” I huffed. “What happened to sprout?” I always hated Rhylan’s need for nicknames but I'd much preferred his original one than this princess business.
“You don’t like to be called a princess?” he raised his gaze at me again, curiosity piquing through his adamant coldness.
“I do,” Cressi beamed and shimmied in her chair with excitement.
“Not particularly, and especially not from you,” I retorted, ignoring my friend. “I don’t see myself as a princess.”
“If you play your cards right, you can become a queen,” Rhylan replied and proceeded to take a bite out of his toast.
Day 7
I’d been seated at the laptop in my cosy nook in the garden through the afternoon, organising the association and passing workload, responsibilities, arranged payrolls and extra capital, readying for my departure on Autumn Solstice.
I did not know how long it would take me to return, and if Ansgar could return with me, but I had to keep the organisation alive. I still didn't trust Rhylan and tried to search his room and every location of the house that he occupied for longer than an hour every time Cressi took him places. No sign of anything, no clothes, no phone, not even a strand of hair out of place, even his bed covers remained spotless, as if he took all traces with him when he departed.
On the positive side, Cressi gave the impression she was starting to get bored with playing the tour guide and taking him sightseeing. When she called me with updates, she did not talk about him for hours on end or even with the same excitement. I felt relieved. Guilty that I wasted her time in such a way when all my searches and investigation lead nowhere, but happy she did not find the fire fae as charming as she initially did.
Mom, on the other hand, did not waste an opportunity to arrange plans for me and Rhylan to spend time together without Cressida, but I escaped most of them with any kind of excuse I could find. I faked period pains for the past three days, just to avoid garden walks with Rhylan. She kept insisting that Rhylan was such a good man and that I shouldn’t offer him on a silver plate to Cressida, making arguments in favour of me keeping him and pinpointing relationship steps I didn't plan on having.
There was no use explaining to her that I didn't feel romantically inclined towards the man and it was just a business partnership between us, she kept insisting that a mother knows best and arguing the way he looked at me. “So protective and loving, like he would give you the world if you only asked.”
I only want him to give me my boyfriend back, I wanted to retort but didn't want to get into a story about a man who disappeared but didn’t, whom I loved with all my heart.
“Working hard, princess?” Rhylan’s voice startled me from the financial report I double-checked before approving a couple million just to excavate the ground.
“Stuck with that, are we?” I replied begrudgingly and slapped the laptop shut, preventing him from eyeing the screen.
“Keeping something from me?” the fae retorted but took the seat opposite mine, with the wooden carved table separating us. He grabbed a glass and served himself some of the mocktail I had in ajug full of ice.
“I hope you do not expect me to ever trust you again,” I retorted and refilled my empty glass as well.
Rhylan took a generous sip then grimaced at the taste, struggling to hold it down and swallow.
“What on earth is this disgusting mixture?” he asked after the big gulp struggled down his throat.
“Kale, cucumber, some mint, and lime, I think,” I stopped to mentally check the ingredient list. “And seltzer. You know, plants that are good for you. Plants that are protected by the earthlings and without whom no life on earth would exist?”
We hadn’t talked about it in a week, hiding behind dinners, events and Cressida, but I could not hold it down anymore. I had no reason to.
“Earthlings, yes, I believe you are very acquainted with some of them. One especially,” he grinned and tantalised me further.
“I need a copy of my contract,” I demanded plainly, keeping my voice in tone. One of the things Cressi initially advised me was to get a copy for myself.
With a wave of a hand, the parchment I signed a week ago appeared on the table. “It’s the only copy, but you are welcome to keep it,” Rhylan responded nonchalantly and made a gesture to grab the glass for another sip, then thought better of it.
“Aren’t you supposed to go places and enjoy life? Isn't that what you wanted?”
“Among all the things I want, princess, enjoying life is very low on the list. I’ve had many years to do it, and humans aren’t as inventive as you might think. It's always the same things that keep you entertained, scandal, drugs, and sex, in no particular order,” he sighed with disappointment like he had expected the journey to be different from what turned out to be.
“I would say I'm sorry to disappoint, but I am actually glad you are not having as much fun as you might have wanted. Join in the misery,” I smiled sarcastically and reopened the laptop, silently dismissing him.
