Page 66 of Don't Fae With Dragons

He shakes his head. “I’d rather stay. I’m not sure about her.”

My eyes widen in genuine surprise. Aurora is a lot of things, but she wouldn’t harm anyone –least of all me. I grab his elbow gently and say, “You don’t have to worry about Aurora, Cory. She’s harmless.”

In response, he just shrugs. Whatever his reservations with Aurora are, he doesn’t seem willing to talk about it. As such, I give Cory and Port each a squeeze on the arm and head up to the cottage.

Once I’m inside, I see Aurora is sitting on the loveseat where we were last intimate. I grimace subconsciously, and she scowls at me.

“What, bad memories?” she mumbles. “You bedded Kar here last. I wondered for weeks if you left because of it –because of me. How selfish of me, isn’t it? You left for Ethelinda, or so the story goes, and I was worried about our ‘relationship.’”

“Aurora, it’s nothing to do with you,” I interject, quickly losing myself to my anxiety and the guilt of my past.

She barks out a harsh laugh and points at me. “Then the most precious faery in all of Ethelinda returns with three harlots on her hip! So, I have to wonder, how wrong could I really have been? Did you really leave for Ethelinda, or for them?”

The silence that follows her words threatens to swallow me whole. I open and close my mouth twice, begging myself to say something,anything, but no words come. I stand there until she walks over to me, and I pull back, suddenly struck with a real terror.

I’ve never been afraid of Aurora before, but something has changed. The realization that this Aurora is not the girl I left behind shocks me back to the present, and I steel myself.

“You may not speak about them that way. They’re my friends, my heroes. I care about them. Can’t you understand? We weren’thappy,Aurora. Not for a long time.” The words sting leaving my lips, as I’d pulled a dagger up through myself to free them.

Aurora bites back, “What about me? What if I was happy?”

“You weren’t,” I sigh, exasperated and growing exhausted. Aurora always brings out that in me, I realize –desperate tiredness.

“Well, we’re cursed then, aren’t we?” I try to respond, but she continues, “I’ve never been good enough for you. At least that hasn’t changed.”

“It’s not that, Aurora.”

She just scoffs in response, then walks to the bathroom to grab a small satchel. She slings it over her shoulder and walks past me to the door.

“I’ve found somewhere else to stay,” she growls. “You won’t have to know me anymore.”

“Aurora, it doesn’t have to be this way,” I exclaim as she walks out the door.

She walks off without looking back, and the Sun glints off her hair, turning it bright white. At the sight, a shiver runs down my spine, and Cory and Port quickly run to hold me. I let them envelop me in their arms and try to breathe through the fear, the sadness, and ... the relief.

CHAPTER 41: CORY

It’s been a fortnight since Aurora left to stay somewhere away from Mili, and our little motley crew has made the cottage our temporary home. I wish I could say I felt bad for Aurora –well, actually, I don’t wish that. I don’t feel bad, either. It would besillyto feel bad.

From what I could hear when Mili came back home, Aurora is not the nicest faery in the Realm. I didn’t like the smell of her, either; something in her energy reeked of pale, withered flowers. There was a hint of citrus and brightness, but it was suffocated by the dead floral scent – similar to the Moon man from all those weeks ago. Kar, Mili eventually said his name was.

Anyway, Aurora has stayed gone (blessed be) and Mili has been forcefully introducing Port, Max, and me to the community of Ethelindans. This has involved a lot of manual labor, which Max enjoys, as well as a lot of socialization. Max doesn’t like that part as much – or at all, really.

Today we’re off on another errand, still clearing the dead crops from the fields before we can help plant new crops. Thank the Realm’s Mother, this is the last field of withered plants, because it has been getting quite repetitive.

I’m watching Mili bent over plucking up a bunch of dead greens, studying the arch of her back and the curve of her ass,when I get an idea. I walk over to Port and Max, who have been nearly inseparable during this whole process (Port does the talking, and Max does the actual work) and pray that my growing hardness isn’t noticeable through my trousers.

“You two can finish this field off, can’t you?” I ask, feigning casual. “Mili wanted to harvest mushrooms later, but I’d like to begin before the Sun starts to fall.”

Port shrugs, oblivious, but Max narrows his eyes at me. “You seem mischievous,” he mutters.

I roll my eyes and turn to Port. “Will you two be okay?”

“I’ll keep him out of trouble,” he winks at Max. Max turns to him, blushing and scowling at once, and punches him in the shoulder. I smile at the two of them, and hurry over to Milica before Port catches on to my schemes.

“Mili,” I announce. “These two are going to finish up. Let’s go harvest those mushrooms.”

She turns to me with a curious grin, but I wink at her and she quickly nods. “Right! Let’s go, then,” she smiles.

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