Page 19 of By the Fae

I sat to the left of August, Seth and the Other Five spread out in a huge U shape in front of us. No sign of Goldie. I had no idea where he was, and while part of me was thrilled he didn’t bother to show up, another, more uncomfortable part, was . . . worried?

Don’t be daft Holly, you’re not concerned for that odious man, surely.

“Reverse that,” said August, erecting herself in her chair. “You’re going to need to do more than simply deal with it. You need to accept it and treat Holly with the same respect you would show any of the guys, or me. There will be no more of this childish eye-rolling, or heaven help me, if I hear another one of you has given her fucking admin work”—she wasn’t shouting but she might as well have been—“your ass will be out of this company faster than you can say ‘Groovy Graham was the golden age of video games’. Get a grip guys, the youngest of you is three-hundred-and-thirty. It’s time you all started acting your bloody age.”

The room fell silent and deathly still. Already the shortest person there by a good eight inches, I desperately tried not to sink lower in my chair. Involuntarily, my shoulders curled in on themselves, my bum slipped forward on the seat pad.

“Have I made myself clear?”

There were stiff nods, a few murmured “hmms,” and one “yes, miss,” which may or may not have been petty. I couldn’t tell. August seemed not to have picked up on it.

“Good, because Holly has an important announcement to make later—”

The door swung inwards, and in slunk Goldie. For some reason, my heart threw itself against my oesophagus. I righted my posture.

“Sorry I’m late,” he mumbled. He had dark rings under his eyes. I’d never seen a fae with such a human imperfection before.

“Not at all. We were just getting started.” August indicated to the last remaining seat, next to Seth, and directly opposite me. Great.

The meeting began with August running through what I imagined was the usual agenda. Sales and revenue figures. Increases/decreases from the previous month. Targets met, targets missed. Recent developments. New appointments within the company. By this point, the earlier telling off had largely been forgotten and some of the guys had relaxed enough to make quips about the new employees and the ‘Golden rule’.

Goldie smiled, though it dropped instantly, and all the way through the meeting, I realised he was avoiding my eye. Looking mostly at the blank notepad in front of him, but never at me. I thought of my cardigan hanging behind his filing cabinet.

This hatred for me went far beyond any fae’s normal humanophobia, but I’d be darned if I knew his reasoning.

Eventually my boss moved onto the Glamour Games and Human X merger. Shocked gasps were emitted from the designers and a low buzzing gossipy chatter broke out. Except for Goldie. His face remained stony. He permitted himself one glance towards me, realised I was looking in his direction, and quickly cast his eyes downwards once again.

August explained about the changing demographics, and some guys threw me accusatory looks, as though I was personally responsible for the increase in human women gamers. Seth began gently elbowing Goldie in the ribs. August seemed not to notice.

“Anyway, that brings me to the final item,” she said. “As you all know, Holly is now part of FaeGames, and I’m sure you’ll agree, or at least by the end of today you will, that her presence in this company is invaluable.”

The guys were silent, no one daring to contradict the boss.

“You have each spent a few hours with her. And I must admit, I’ve been a little sneaky, and kept a few things from you,” August said. Goldie shifted in his seat, the only one not listening raptly. “Holly will now choose who she wants to shadow for the next two months. This is the remainder of her probation here. After that, I’ll give her her own office, and she’ll form her own team. It also happens to be more or less the time we have left until the AR Games Expo.”

A few of the guys shared sideways glances with each other.

“Each of you will design a brand-new game you think will appeal to our new target market.” She brandished a hand, as though demonstrating I was the target market. “So you can see now how having Holly working under you”—Goldie flinched—“would greatly benefit your endeavours.” She turned to me. “So, Holly, you’ve spent time with each of them. Learned about the types of games each designer makes, had a chance to get to know them. Who have you chosen?”

I swallowed and wiped my palms on my skirt. I cast my eyes around the room. And they met no one’s. Nobody wanted to make eye contact with me. Nobody wanted me working with them. All too keen for me to choose anyone but themselves. It was all well and good when they simply pretended I didn’t exist, but now that they were being forced to accept I was a person, not one of them could bring themselves to even look at me. Seth side-eyed Goldie, and Goldie scowled out the window at an innocent bird. If looks could kill, that pigeon would already be pie.

Was it all a mistake? Leaving Human X? Sure, August offered me double my salary, and the kind of benefits humans only dreamed of, but if I was to be treated like some stray, flea-infested dog, what was the point?

I glanced down into my hands wringing themselves in my lap.

No. I was a senior designer. I earned this position as much as any of them. They were simply jealous that it only took me a decade, as opposed to their thirty-years-plus. It was only two months. They could lump me for two months. Then I’d get my own office. My own view of Remy. My own team to help me build my own games.

Seth looked up then and caught my eye. Those dreamy chocolate brown eyes sinking into mine like hot cocoa on a chilly afternoon. To heck with it. I had already chosen him. Maybe he disliked me now, but two months spent working closely with him might change that. Perhaps he would grow to like me. Love me even.

I cleared my throat. The room fell into a vacuum of silence.

“I have chosen,” I began.

The guys were shooting each other glances, trying to avoid my gaze.

“Oh, before you announce who it is you’ve chosen to work with,” said August, smirking. Heads whipped up everywhere. “I just wanted to add that the person who presents the game with the most revenue potential at AR . . . will be offered tenure.”

“Tenure! What?” said about four guys at once.

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