Page 81 of Fake Dating a Human 101

Shayne was engaged? Already? He gave himself to someone that fast? Someonehere?

She studied the fairy’s mouth, eyeing his tongue. He didn’t chew on it or make faces like it was prickling or numb.

Her eyes dragged back toward the hall. So this was the place Shayne had run off to when he left her in the forest. He’d been prancing around here, meeting a beautiful fairy, getting engaged, not worried about Lily or the people he left behind. It seemed like things were going well for him here.

“Did… Did he know I was here when he left?” Lily asked, because she had to. Because she needed to know, even though half of her regretted asking the question the moment it came out.

When the black-haired fairy didn’t answer right away, fear sailed in. Lily knew Shayne—she knew he cared about her—he’d admitted it by the fire the night he snuck away. But what if he’d changed his mind? What if he left this place on purpose after she arrived because she’d done the exact thing he’d warned her not to do? He’d had a plan, he set out to do it, and she’d gotten captured. Maybe he couldn’t veer from his plan regardless of what had happened to her. Maybe he was upset.

The black-haired fairy turned and settled his gaze on her. He squinted his eyes and tapped his chin for a moment. Then he said, “Yes, he knew you were here. And he ran away anyway.” He tilted his head. “It looked like he was trying to avoid you, Lily Baker.”

Lily’s hope dissolved like steam. She felt like a flower drying out, its life breaking off in brittle pieces. She sank to the floor, her knees coming against the cold tiles.

He. Knew. You. Were. Here. And…

“…he ran away.”

So that was why Shayne never came. All that time she’d spent in his childhood home, he never showed up to try and get her out. He’d chosen to keep his course and had forgotten about all the times they’d spent together in the human realm, about every moment he’d interjected himself into Lily’s life, about every locked gaze or heart flutter or whisper he’d given her when no one else was looking. Frankly, she thought he cared about her more than he’d even let on by the fire that night when he’d kissed her. But he was a fairy, and now that Lily had experienced the Ever Corners firsthand, she realized that fairies were never what they seemed. Shayne must have been prancing around the human realm all that time just for fun. He’d only kissed her to enchant her, and now he couldn’t stand to be around her. Maybe from guilt that she was stuck here, and he didn’t plan to help her at all.

Still though. Still, she asked in a small voice, “Why would he leave if he knew I was here?”

The fairy shrugged. “I’m not sure,” he admitted. “Maybe he didn’t want to see you dance for us.” The fairy took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “But enough chatter. I’m here to ensure you’re ready for our first great Yule Celebration on tomorrow’s eve. You and I will dance the night away, I think. Until I get bored and decide to make you entertain the House.” He put a finger in the air, then added, “And I should introduce myself since I already know your name. I’m Cosmo Flora, nephew of the High Lord of the House of Riothin.” He reached into his coat and drew out a handful of what looked like peanuts, but Lily knew they weren’t ordinary food. A thick tear trailed down her cheek.

“Please don’t make me eat those,” she begged. It would break her—she’d be done. She couldn’t suffer through forgetting who she was again, skipping from place to place until her feet were sore and she wanted to collapse. Waiting around for a fairy she now knew wasn’t coming.

No, Lily wasn’t a survivor. She’d been denying the truth for too long.

She knew it for sure when the fairy walked over, slid a hand into the hair behind her head to hold her still, pushed the peanuts toward her mouth, and said, “Lily Baker, eat.”

The sea was spinning. The human was sinking in it.

Breakfast was berries and meat.

Lunch was apples and blossoms sprinkled with sugar.

Dinner was… well, by that point, she could no longer tell what she was eating.

A large mirror was placed before her—or maybe she was placed before it—and she saw the fuzzy silhouette of a dazzling young woman with tattoos on her arms she didn’t recognize. There was a window at her back, and she briefly thought she spotted twinkling stars and a heavy white moon through it in the reflection.

Garland was wrapped around her head in a wreath, and bright red lipstick was carefully dragged over her mouth. She was tossed with gold sparkles and silver tinsel and fashioned with a set of small antlers. Her feet were strapped into golden heels with ivy laces that wound up her calves, and bells were attached to her ankles, making noise wherever she went.

In the blink of an eye, she found herself in a bright room with abundant noise. People swooshed by her in blurs, the colours all melting together while the floor felt like the ceiling and the ceiling felt like it might have become the floor.

Someone strapped a basket of fruit to her head between the antlers. She was pushed to a wall, and she stared into the haze at figures who appeared to be lifting bows and shooting arrows at the fruit. It fell around her whenever someone hit one. Voices burst into cheers when a large, bearded man shot the whole basket right off her head.

“Lily Baker!” a guy with black hair called to her every now and again. His hands found her arms, her hips, her waist as he pulled her around and around, pausing every now and then to tell her to do things.

“The High Lord wants a show,” he whispered in her ear after a while. He shoved a slice of carrot into her mouth, then he pushed her away.

The human tripped and found herself in the middle of an empty floor. All the people that had been moving only a second ago were at the edges of the room now. Many eyes were upon her. The carrot—at least that’s what she thought it was—rolled around on her tongue. It was sweet like candy, and she wanted to swallow it.

She couldn’t climb to her feet; she tried and fell over again. The people standing around laughed, and when the black-haired guy returned to help her up, he called to a heavy-set man with a beard sitting on a throne at the far end of the room—the same one who’d shot the basket off her head. “I think I fed her a little too much,” he admitted. “Shall I make her vomit?” He spun the human around and pressed her back tightly against him like he was about to thrust his palm hard against her stomach.

But the strangest thing happened. Without thinking, the human grabbed his forearm, and she flipped him over her shoulder, dropping him to the floor where he landed flat on his back. Gasps and chuckles erupted around the room as the human blinked down at the guy.

Self defense. That’s what she’d just done. Though, she wasn’t sure how she knew how to do it. And it didn’t quite feel likeenoughfor some reason.

She spat the carrot on him. He shrieked and rolled away as it hit his face.

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