Page 6 of By the Fae

I jumped. “I’m waiting for your answer,” I said, trying to force confidence into my voice.

Goldie still didn’t bother to open his eyes. “What do I need to say to get you to fuck off?”

I think the noise I made was, “Meep?”

He was a meanie. I already knew this about him. From personal experience, and from almost everyone else in the building as soon as they learned what department I worked in. Goldie had a reputation. For two things.

Being a rake, which was putting it mildly.

And being a jerk, which was putting itsupercharitably.

He laughed, evidently pleased with my reaction. And darn it if forcing his face into a smile didn’t make him ten times more attractive.

Don’t let them get away with being little s.h.i.t’s.August’s words floated around in my mind. Maybe I was throwing myself in at the deep end by visiting Goldie first, maybe I should have started with any of the other designers. All considerably less onerous than this guy. None of it mattered, though. The quicker I could get this ‘meeting’ over and done with, the quicker I could move onto the next one, and the quicker I could choose Seth. Even thinking about the summer fae seemed to calm my breathing.

“Actually,” I said, silently stomping my foot down in a bid to project my voice. “I’m not going to fluff off. Not until you’ve given me an hour of your time.” Or at least until I had enough to turn around to August and say, ‘I tried, but I simply can’t with him.’

Goldie waited a few seconds, then pushed himself into a seated position and trained those mesmeric eyes on me. So green. Like algae. Or toxic sludge.

He let his gaze travel from the top of my head, down to my boots. “Cute,” he said, but in a way that let me know he was being condescending.

I put my hand on my hip and pulled a face which I hoped expressed my indignation. But the jerk smiled. One sided, then just as quickly, he pursed his lips as though performing a hard shutdown on his emotions.

Oh, he thought I was funny. Cool, cool. Another guy that wouldn’t take me seriously. This was fun, and new.

I’d never considered myself a violent person before, but perhaps I’d be leaving Goldie’s office with one tick I never expected to check off.

‘Item 23: Land a perfect punch’

“August said I’m to spend a few hours with each designer so I can decide who I want to shadow.” I was pretty sure I’d told him that.

Goldie waited before replying, “And yet, you’ve already decided on Seth,”—I jolted, how did he know?—“So why are you wasting my time?”

I didn’t address the Seth comment. Was my pining really that obvious? I thought I’d been fairly subtle in my stalking. Or was there something else Goldie knew that I didn’t?

“I haven’t made up my mind yet,” I lied.

He closed his eyes, as though praying for patience, then pointedly looked at his wrist. For the first time, I noticed his watch and tried not to let my features betray me as my heart tumbled over itself. Goldie wore a pristine, rare vintage,Groovy Graham and Palsdigital face watch. I had that exact one as a kid. I still have it now, but I didn’t dare wear it anymore, for fear of further damaging the strap.

Next to the perfect, amazing GG&P timepiece, a few corded bracelets were tied to his wrist. Each with a different roughhewn gemstone threaded into the centre. A lot of the guys here wore similar accessories. A fae thing, no doubt. I made a mental note to work up the courage to ask one of them about their significance. Not Goldie, though. I wouldn’t ask him anything if I could help it. The sooner I could get out of his office, the better.

But I didn’t want to disappoint August by giving up so easily.

“Besides,” I said. “It looked to me like you don’t really have a lot on at the moment.” I spotted the smile that briefly ticked the corner of his mouth again. “Looked like you were taking a nap.”

“I’m having a reflective day.” Goldie’s voice was clipped, as though telling me he was inviting no further questions on the topic. Regardless, he moved a few inches over on the sofa, leaving space for me on the other cushion.

I sat down, wishing I had sewn spikes into the seat of my dungarees, and draped my cardigan over the arm where his head had recently been. My eyes must have adjusted to the darkness because I could make out the pictures on his walls. Huge, glossy adverts, like movie theatre promo posters in slick frames. Most of them depicted the various editions ofMagic Thief.His games. My heart flip-flopped inside my chest. When it came to those particular games, I had a very mixed set of emotions.

I grew up playingMagic Thief. An only child until Mum remarried when I was a teenager. Living in the overcrowded human-only tower blocks in Remy’s Westside district, these games gave me my only friends. Granted, they weren’t real. But the characters, Colin the human, and Spiritus the wizened fae, were there for me when no one else was. Mum and Phil were always busy at work, or with Abby. School was just one long stretch of being called dork, or nerd, or pancake-tits. The rest of our family, all my cousins and aunts and uncles, refused to leave the Human Realms.

In fact,Magic Thief Twowas the reason I wanted to become a games designer in the first place. Sixteen-year-old me played it every single day, for an entire summer. I was obsessed. By September, I had enrolled on a foundational design course at the local college.

I’d met him once before. Goldie. It was the most disappointing day of my life. It almost completely derailed my career goals. Booth three-hundred-and-twelve at Bordalis InterRealm Games Convention. I had taken my A4Magic Thief Twoposter for him to autograph. He’d seemed bored the whole time, maybe even high, barely looking at the patrons. He’d signed,‘To Human, stop stealing my magic, Goldie’.I still have the poster somewhere. Never threw it out despite the thousands of times I told myself to. Probably kept it as an instrument of self-torture.

I’d never tell him this, though. The meanie would no doubt relish learning he’d almost crushed my dreams.

There were other posters on his walls. Smaller ones. I could just about make outRune Dash, one of the other designer’s game, some retro platformers, and a few little figurines dotted about.

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