“Not at all. You know I don’t enjoy fighting with you. I’m pointing out that you can easily keep your hands away from my dick, but you’ve got a perfect excuse for ‘accidentally’ forgetting that I prefer not to be groped in public.”
“You are teasing me.”
“You get a cute look on your face when you aren’t sure whether or not to react,” Renny told him with a wink. “I don’t think you’re as reckless as you think. Yes, you need someone like Drekkoril to help calm and curb certain impulses, but this idea that fairies are uncontrollable is another propaganda technique used in the Vol’Gon era to curb the rising fame of your parents.”
“The Vol’Gon era has nothing to recommend it.”
“Just remember that fairies and bemollos have strengths and weaknesses, and they might not line up in the columns the way you were taught.”
“I had terrible teachers who changed constantly. It was difficult to keep straight what I was supposed to learn. My parents found fault with so many, and it left me with a stunted education, I think.”
“Why do you think they had so many issues?”
“You know the law. I could not understand it before we met, but now, I realize it was because bemollos get to choose tutors. I knew Volzi and Gonisa wished me to go to school with the other children. My parents’ refusal led them to put little effort into finding good ones. Although I doubt they were all bad, my parents didn’t want them. They preferred to pick them, but it is against the rules.”
“I’m sorry they weren’t who you believed them to be,” Renny remarked quietly. Finished with his meal, Rorie scooted over to be closer to his v’airsell nioll.
“I grew up in chaos. I had no idea it was not as others were raised. I believed every child’s life must mirror mine.”
“That’s because you were so secluded. Did you ever have friends your age?”
“No, it was not permitted for other children to visit the castle, by Volzi and Gonisa’s order. I thought it most cruel as I was lonely, but now, I know it was likely to protect their innocence from the things my parents did and their wild beliefs so foreign to the Fae.”
“What I don’t understand is why they couldn’t do a better job of keeping your parents from causing trouble. They were their bemollos; their purpose was to keep fairies from going off track.”
“Might I tell you something?”
“Absolutely.”
“Until I came of age, I would take my meals in the dining room. I stopped the moment I earned the right to refuse.”
“Why?”
“I grew weary of them. Whenever there was an issue, and Gonisa admonished my mother, she would throw fits. Dishes would be smashed into walls, food thrown at Gonisa and Volzi and whoever else was around. She would scream herself hoarse, and afterward she would tell me it was hateful for Gonisa to drive her to such extremes. That she was a fairy and she should not be pushed to a point of no return.”
“Your parents fed the idea that fairies were rash and wild.”
“I grow angry quickly and I have a temper, but I refuse to sling the terrible accusations she would yell or destroy things around me. This was not a rare occurrence, Ren. If it did not happen once a week, it was because it had taken place three or four times.”
Chapter 23
Renny didn’t like the pain on Rorie’s face, but this entire dream had been such an awakening for his mate that he wanted him to work through all the dredged-up emotions. Without the opportunity to meet Tizisan, Morashi, or their bemollos, it left him with the shifting perspective of Rorie to hunt for clues to who they were as people. The picture created in his head was of a group of men and women who were concerned with what they wanted as individuals and nothing else. Nothing of the Vol’Gon era spoke of the Noble Protectors or Protectors giving a damn about the Fae. They sought to please themselves and to hell with the consequences.
“What happened to your grandparents? Their bemollos led the Fae before their deaths for many millennia. How did a bunch of immortal people die?”
“As you know, only two of the four had to be harmed for them to be dragged to the ebirlloba.”
“I get it, mates die together.”
“I am stalling.”
“I know.”
“I fear you will not believe me.”
“Why wouldn’t I believe you?” Renny asked, sweeping a hand down Rorie’s arm. “I trust you. There haven’t been that many Fae leaders, but there’s an extensive write-up about how they died. Mostly murdered, which led to the creation of new Dark Fae.”
“I am grateful for your trust. I have no idea how they came to die. It was a forbidden topic in the castle. I did not learn my grandparents’ names until we ventured into the library. I had learned of their bemollos since they were Noble Protectors, but I was not taught about their demise.”
