Such a joke.
I want her and can’t have her, and I brought this upon myself. Now I have nobody to blame for it, nobody at all…
Here I am, a King of Faerie, eating raw fish in the water, spitting out bones and glittering scales, grunting with relief like a wild animal as food finally hits my empty stomach. The fever has made me slow and clumsy and catching fish requires speed and accuracy.
It is what it is.
The wound in my tail isn’t healing. Not that I really expected it to. Still, yes, I’d hoped for improvement.
Hope is a dangerous thing.
It’s what led me to kiss the princess in the first place. Better than doing nothing and remaining stuck here forever, I had thought. You gain nothing without taking risks.
And here I am. Risk taken. Consequences accepted.
Why do I still think of her, though? Missing her. How can I miss a girl who duped me and walked away without a backward glance?
So pretty. She’s so pretty and so innocent and tasted like sunlight and warmth.
Spitting out a last fishbone, I swim to the shore.She owes you nothing, I remind myself.She’s not coming back. Don’t hold out any hope.
It doesn’t stop me from returning to that stretch of the shore every day and every night to check.
I haul myself up on the log, wincing as I look down at the long wound in my tail. If it gets worse… if I get worse, I may not have the strength to haul myself out of the lake any longer.
Then what will I do?
How do I end it?
My dark musings are broken by a slight noise. My head snaps up, and I see movement on the shore, behind a tree. My heart starts to boom in my chest, and I’m about to throw myself back into the water and swim to shore, when I realize what I’m seeing.
It’s not her. Not Selina.
It’s not even a human. No, the small, hunched-over creature that scampers down to the edge of the water is one of us.
A Lesser Fae. In this case, an old goblin with curved ram’s horns on his shaggy head and black woolly ram legs. His hooves beat dully on the pebbles and mud.
“Your Majesty, King Adaren of the Opal Court,” he says with a deep bow and a flourish. “What an honor to be in your exalted presence again, oh light of the world, sunray in the dark, shaft of—”
I sigh. “What do you want, Idrug?”
“Checking up on you, Your Majesty.” He straightens and laces his hands behind his back. His chest is a mass of black curls. I’m not sure he is wearing any garments.
That of course makes two of us. “You’re here to mock me,” I mutter. “Sent by your master to make sure I’m still here.”
“Indeed. Nothing escapes you, Sire.”
I wave a hand at him. “Enough with your taunts. Go away.”
“Your brother, His Majesty King Gadal, new ruler of the Opal Court, is concerned about your welfare.”
“His only concern is that I don’t escape this lake.” I close my eyes, riding a wave of dizziness. “Tell him not to worry. There is no such chance. I’m stuck here.”
“Oh goodness. Are you wounded, Sire? Had I known, I would have brought a healer with me.”
“Yeah. Of course you would have. Funny how you can’t lie to humans but you can lie to me.”
“Sire—”