Fae Fiefdom - M. Sinclair Page 0,95

years. I had been struggling so fucking hard for control and finally, when I really felt like I was losing her, I just broke. I broke because the thought of not having Ophelia in my life made me sick to my stomach on a good day and homicidal on a bad day. She was just part of who I was and part of my life, it wasn’t complicated to me despite it seeming odd to everyone else.

Right now, Ophelia had passed out her wings melting back into her skin as gold dust rested on her skin. She looked exhausted and it made me happy to see Koa sleeping as well because I knew he hadn’t been getting a lot of sleep lately. Fuck, I wish we could leave this stupid fucking town. But I had a feeling the problem had just started and wherever my girl went I would be there with her, even if it took years to figure this out.

I narrowed my eyes at Merrick, not particularly thrilled with the fucking pixie dust that was on Ophelia. I understood more than most the type of possessive feelings the woman brought forward but that type of outright ownership had me wanting to bite into her soft skin.

I ran my tongue over my teeth as Merrick turned over so that he was the bookend to Koa in her large bed. I tilted my head back, wanting to join them but not trusting fucking Denise not to pull some shit when she was supposed to be sleeping. Well, technically is sleeping.

Ophelia made a small whimper and my head snapped towards where she was tensed up. I knew she had terrible nightmares most nights and yeah, I wasn’t afraid to admit that sometimes I would come in here and just sit like this, staring at her door wondering if her stepmother was going to be a problem. I’d become a bit paranoid when it came to Ophelia, but you wouldn’t blame me if you met her.

The woman was brilliant and sarcastic and fucking perfect…but she also had this infinitely loving soft side that I wanted to protect. I never wanted her to have to go through what I did and still do go through with my bastard father. Well, I suppose past tense is the right word since I’d killed him two weeks ago and buried him in the maze out back so the earth would handle him. Bastard deserved it frankly. He deserved far more than that.

My eyes closed thinking about one of my first vivid memories of Ophelia.

“Go outside, boy, you’re bothering me,” my father spit out as I ducked, avoiding his smack to the head and his friends chuckling.

I was out the back door, my stomach rumbling because I was hungry but I knew the more I asked the less he would give me. Even at just turning six, I knew that as sure as I knew my name. Quietly, I climbed over our backyard fence and made my way towards the only person I knew for sure wouldn’t avoid me.

As soon as I entered the gate of her backyard, soft humming caught my attention as the scent of roses and rain tickled my nose. I could always find Ophelia out here, especially in March like now. Her dark head of hair was messy and she sat in a flower bed talking to the flowers. I used to think it was a bit weird but then she explained they talked back. I figured it had to do with her being special. That was what my dad said. He said that Ophelia was special so I had to make sure I didn’t ‘mess it up.’ I knew Ophelia would never stop being my friend though, she had promised.

“Bard,” she grinned, her bright eyes lighting up, like every time we saw each other. I think she had to be the prettiest girl I’d ever seen. My face turned slightly pink when she reached out to me and I joined her.

“I didn’t know you were coming over today,” her voice was soft and pretty.

“My dad had his friends over,” I mumbled, “he didn’t want to feed me dinner.”

Her arms wrapped around me and I loved to squeeze her back. Ophelia always knew what to do. In a second, she had me standing up as she brought me towards her massive house. It was always filled with warmth, and even right now, I could hear her mother humming in the kitchen. My dad