CHAPTER TWO
1366 Words
"Sage, honey- is everything alright?" My mother's gentle voice pulled me from my reverie.
I had gone still at the dinner table, spaghetti noodles dangling from my fork. I was lost in my own thoughts. Not an uncommon thing for me, as I was often still in the world of my latest novel. But my mother knew me well, and she could tell that I was not far away on some adventure.
There was no way I could admit to her that I was losing my marbles over a two minute interaction with a blonde freckled boy I had never met before. Especially not in front of my father.
"I'm fine, mom. Just tired. May I be excused?" her green eyes narrowed in disbelief. Yet she gave me a short nod and I stood from the table, pushing my chair in and taking my dish to the kitchen.
I felt insane. All that I could think about were his frosty blue eyes, the way he smelled. Was this a crush? I hadn't had a crush since Eric Burgess in the third grade- which was brought to an abrupt halt when he pushed me into a mud puddle at recess. Never again had I been affected by the mediocre charms of boys. No, I found outlet for my romantic needs in the pages of Nora Roberts, Rachel Vincent, and when I was feeling saucier, Alexandra Ivy. When my father caught me nose deep in the "Guardians of Eternity" series...I had never before seen the man turn so many different colors. I never knew if he was angry or just embarrassed that he caught me reading what Papa used to call, 'smut'.
Mom had said it was just because I was coming into myself as a woman, familiarizing myself with my sexuality. Daddy said it was giving me unrealistic expectations of what relationships are. The reality was- I never had any expectations of relationships. I never thought about my own sexuality, or what I would look for in a man. I just enjoyed the books, the characters, the storylines. Yes, the romance was juicy, hot and compelling. But I knew it was fiction, a fantasy the author created for her readers. I never imagined that that could ever have any place in reality.
But now...I had met someone, sort of. And whatever he had done to me that day when he shook me with lightening in the library, had me questioning if I wanted that fantasy. I had a strong feeling that the answer was yes.
REID
"What's going on with you, dude?" Lor's voice broke through my thoughts.
I shook my head, "What are you talking about?"
"You've been staring at that book for fifteen minutes but you haven't turned a page." he threw a plush basketball across the room into a plastic hoop on the wall. Lor's bedroom hadn't been redecorated since he was twelve, clearly.
"I'm fine, just a little out of it. I have no interest in completing this stupid WWII final. I feel like we did the same thing last year." I was lying. My mind was clogged with images of a beautiful red-headed library girl with emerald eyes that shone so bright they could stop traffic. Her beauty alone would have ended wars...or started them.
"We did do it last year. Mr. Portel literally copy and pasted his itinerary for the year." he chuckled. I tried to smirk, to engage in the conversation. Lor didn't buy it.
He crossed his arms and raised a thick brow, "Come on bro, what is it? You know I can tell when something is up."
He was right. He was my oldest and truest friend, and the only person I felt safe around.
"Promise you won't laugh?" my eyes dropped to the ground.
"Of course I won't laugh. What is going on? You never act like this when it's just your dad being a d**k, so I know it's not that. Is it Wren?" he was referring to my wretched step-mother-to-be. She gave 'evil step-mother' a whole new meaning.
"No...I met a girl." I said it quietly but Lor jumped to a sitting position in his bed where he was lying.
"A girl? You meet girls every day, what's so special about this one?" but he already knew. We both knew.
"I think..." I started but he interrupted,
"No way, no way. That doesn't happen until you're like in your twenties. Has it ever even been documented in teens? No way!"
"SHH! You know your mother can't keep a secret...she'll go straight to my father."
"Reid...if this girl is who you think she is, you have to be careful..." Lor's voice dropped to a near whisper.
"I know..."
"Wren will destroy her."
My eyes shot up to his, realizing what he meant, my entire body going rigid.
"Wren cannot find out. Not until we know for sure." Not until I knew for sure.
"I won't say anything to anybody. You know that. Now tell me everything." I had never seen my friend so serious, so eager to protect me.
I told him about the library, about the girl with the long wavy red hair, her eyes, her beautiful fitting name...Sage. A name that I had branded to my lips. I told him about our brief touch, the electricity, the way her eyes fluttered shut when I brushed her cheek with my fingers. I told him about the primitive urge I felt to grab her and kiss her. How I forced myself to leave her side, before I acted on an impulse I couldn't take back.
When I finished telling him the story his dark brown eyes were sparkling.
"You found our queen. You found her." his tone shook with the gravity of this new reality.
"I don't think she knows what she is." I knew she didn't.
His jaw dropped, "What?! How is that even possible?"
"I've never met her before, Lor. I'm the Prince, don't you think she would've recognized me? Or had an inkling of what had happened? She was completely surprised. Her father treated me like just another student in the library- I don't think he recognized me either. I think there is a good chance that they are part of the Lost Ones."
"You think they are part of a group of fae who were erased from our kingdom? Who have not been found in a thousand years? Ironically living in the same town where we hide our Kingdom?! No way, Reid. They can't be. What if she is just human?"
I gave him my most serious face, "Lor, there's definitely no possibility that the Moon Goddess would choose a human girl to be the Queen of an entire fae kingdom. She wouldn't live long enough. Every fae Queen in the history of time has been immortal."
"Then why do our queen's need to be replaced?"
I had explained this before, though it never really made sense to me either.
"Because that is the law. A new Queen every 500 years, to give the newer generations of fae the opportunity to lead our people."
His eyes widened, "That's it!"
"What?"
"I couldn't understand why it happened so soon! You're only eighteen, mating doesn't usually happen until a prince is in his twenties. But your father is about to remarry, a woman who is not his mate, not our beloved Queen. The Moon Goddess cannot have that, she intervened. She placed Sage in your path early- to stop this treachery in it's tracks!"
Lor was pacing now, back and forth in front of me, passion in his voice.
"That may be but Father's wedding is in two months..."
"Marry her, do the ceremony now." he was stationary now, directly in front of my face.
My jaw hit the floor, "What?! Lor, we're eighteen! We don't know each other, she doesn't even know she's a faery. How can I ask her to be my bride? To join with me? To lead our people?"
"Reid, you have to. Wren will run our Kingdom into oblivion. Your brainwashed father will let her. You are our only hope."
"I can't. There isn't enough time."
- Writer
