Page 79 of Defy the Fae

That time I challenged Juniper and Cypress to an archery contest, he’d averted his gaze while she and I shared a heated look.

And when Juniper and I got trapped in the Fae ring, Cypress had ridden in with deadly fury strung across his face, not only because Juniper was in danger, but because he’d caught our kin beating me.

Every time Cypress had gazed my way. Every time we laughed together.

I should have seen it. But being a satyr and a fucking idiot, I hadn’t.

My friend’s expression crinkles, as if pained. He turns away, the scrolled longbow and quiver of glowing arrows trembling with his movements. He takes a moment, then his baritone comes out as firm as stones. “You were not supposed to find out.”

It’s a moot point that I’d normally tease him for. That is, if we were talking about anything else.

My chest caves. I murmur, “How long?”

I hear him swallow, the confession leaking out as slowly as sap. “The year we met.”

“Fables.” I thrust a hand through my hair. “Cypress, I…”

“You were no different than every woodland Solitary,” he reminisces, a sad grin shaping his words. “Except in one capacity: You had an earnest heart. You told me of your wishes to be part of a family, to raise one of your own, so very unlike the casual whims of a satyr. Yet you hid this yearning well. I admired your ability to soak up the pleasures of life, despite what it denied you.

“Then one day, you boosted the confidence of a young Fae named Tinder, a runt who idolized you but failed to defend himself when a crew of leprechauns mocked him.”

“I remember that day,” I say. “You were there when I pulled Tinder aside.”

“I was,” he replies. “And I have never forgotten how you knelt and tousled his hair, how your words stoked light back into his eyes.” Cypress huffs. “I cannot stand that nuisance of a Fae, but I could not look away as you encouraged him. You were not merely a debauched satyr but a leader with the instincts of a father. Under that coltish smirk, you were selfless and honorable.

“It was not the thought of your touch that stole my heart. It was how you touched someone else, made them feel valid and valuable. In that moment, I treasured you. The passion was unlike anything I had known before, and I would have done anything to stay by your side.”

My throat contorts. “And you did.”

After a pause, his voice frays. “I did.”

All this time, he’s been there.

All this time, he either listened to stories about me sticking my cock into countless other Faeries or literally stood guard during the orgies.

All this time, he watched me with Juniper, watched me fall hard for her.

All this time, he wanted me. All this time, he stayed quiet.

All this time, he never left.

I think about the canvas he’d painted of the place we met, which hangs in the cabin.

I think about that night at home, when Juniper had baked Cypress a pie and explained it was “comfort food.”

She knows. At some point, Juniper had found out.

I’d had a feeling they were keeping a secret, but I trusted that whatever it was, it was between them. Plus, I had wanted them to like each other because Cypress is my family, too.

I shake my head. The motion emits a tinkling sound from my earrings, which shivers across the glen. Hearing it, Cypress’s shoulder blades pinch inward, as though the noise stings.

Has it always been this obvious? Was I always that fucking blind?

The sight of him crushes my chest. I’m an asshole for tearing my friend apart.

But I won’t insult or break Cypress by saying I’m sorry. Outside of my brothers, he’s the last Fae I’d want to hurt.

“I don’t know what to say,” I admit. “I’m…I don’t know what to say.”

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