The Tales of the Hidden Heir

I wake up and look around trying to get my bearings. For a moment, I think I’m at Princeton and I’m just really hungover from one of those frat parties I love so much. Then, the pain explodes around my body and slowly, it all starts coming back to me. Everything that’s happened since I left Princeton, and everything I’ve gone through to try and get to Grace. Inconveniently, I need the bathroom as I’m having this revelation, so slowly, I try my best to turn around and get up and find my way there. Wherever “there” is. I don’t know where I am right now, but I figure I must be somewhere in Vegas because even with the aircon running at full speed by the sounds of it, I can feel the lack of moisture in the air. As I turn around, the Fae with kind eyes is watching me patiently, if it was anyone else, it probably would have been a creepy move on his part. Despite the kind eyes, I am still hesitant, because, after everything that’s happened, I don’t trust anyone right now. I look down and that"s when I realize I’m in my underwear, and that’s the moment I truly start panicking. I don’t even like guys like that?! “Don’t worry, nothing like that happened. But your clothes were full of blood and I figured you didn’t want to wake up like that. It"s time we talked.” I struggle to read him. I don’t know what he wants from me or why he’s helping me, but it has become abundantly clear that I’m so out of my depth right now and I could use the help. I silently send a prayer to the Fae Gods and ask them to send me a sign to let me know that I can trust him the way I want to. Until then, while I may be out of my depth, I’m not naive, so I decide to ask him what I deem as a safe question. “What happened?” He starts by explaining his name is Ben and up until a few days ago, he worked for the Unseelie Court as Head of the Royal Guard. He pauses and looks at me as if to check that I’m still with him, and I make a motion for him to continue. “When we met, someone on my team was overly ambitious and they deemed you a security risk at a movie premiere. They wanted to prove a point so to speak. Does any of this sound familiar to you?” I nod and realize this is not my smartest move as I have a headache from hell, and Ben points to the Gatorade and headache tablets on the side table for me. I thank him and ask him if he can pause this explanation as I run to the bathroom, and he nods as he waits patiently for me. Once I’m done, I hobble outside of the bathroom and ask him the million-dollar question, why is he helping me? He tells me that it"s a much longer answer than he can give me right now, the one that will work is I remind him of someone he used to know and cared about a lot. He also admits that what happened with me was the final straw for him, he’s been struggling with the way the Unseelie Court has been handling situations for a while. After he dealt with my situation, he handed in his resignation and helped me get somewhere safe to recover. It"s not a role you usually resign from as it gets handed down from one generation to the next, so it took a lot of negotiation between himself and the King to figure out the details. I tell him I’m familiar with the concept as my Dad is Head of the Seelie Royal Guard. “Now that I know you’re safe and recovering, I find I have a lot of spare time on my hands, and I’m trying to figure out what’s next for me.” I lay back on the bed cushions and try to digest all of this and wonder if that’s the sign I just asked for. I don’t know what I expected when I came to Vegas, but I feel like nothing has gone to plan and it feels a bit hopeless. If there is one thing I do know for sure, is I never want to be caught off guard like that again, and I always want to be able to defend myself. I ask Ben if he wouldn’t mind waiting a bit longer so I can get in the shower because I will be able to think a lot better once I’ve had one and he tells me he hasn’t got anywhere else to be, so he doesn’t mind. When I’m in the shower and connected with my element again, I relax and I start feeling a bit more like myself. I am not a quitter, and I owe it to the Seelie Court, and to Grace to get this right. I’ve been thrown a massive curve ball, and now I need to overcome it, which I know I can. I just need to think my options through. The shower feels glorious like it"s massaging my shoulders and I think through my options. I need to become a warrior if I’m going to do this properly, and I need to be able to handle myself in difficult situations. I definitely know I can’t do that at the moment, and getting to Grace is going to be a lot harder than any of us realized. I get out of the shower and see myself in the mirror, my cheek is still very bruised, but it"s yellowing and I know that means it"s healing. I see similar coloring on my ribs. I test turning from left to right and I can, so I know this means that my ribs aren’t broken, just most likely very bruised. Staring at myself in the mirror, I try not to cry because feeling sorry for myself at this moment is not going to bring me any closer to a solution. Deciding to take control of the situation, I get changed and steel myself against the split-second decision I just made before I give myself a chance to overthink it. “Will you teach me how to defend myself?” Before I even give him a chance to answer, I explain I will pay him generously and that I don’t ever want to be caught in a situation like that again without being able to defend myself. I also explain that Grace doesn’t seem to be in any immediate danger, so I don’t have to rush right now and his knowledge of the Unseelie Court could be very beneficial to me in getting through to her. That’s just a bonus, which I’m honest with him about. He doesn’t hesitate in agreeing after I’m done talking, but he names a few conditions as I listen. He asks me to confirm my element, and I tell him I’m water, and he smiles as he says he is too. The next is that he will put me through a type of boot camp, one that he will not tolerate any moaning or groaning about, I need to follow his every instruction because it will make me stronger. Because I’m a water user, he can incorporate some water drills into the boot camp which will help speed up my defense abilities. It will take as long as it takes, but when we’re done, I will have the same level of training as the Unseelie Guard, most likely the Seelie Guard too. The next condition is that I move into his house for our training. If anyone else was asking this, it would feel creepy, but with him, oddly, I do trust him and I know his motives are pure. It is hard to trust a virtual stranger on blind faith, but I have to believe the Morrigan put him in my path for a reason, so because of this, I say yes because this sounds like exactly what I need. Before we formalize our partnership, I tell him he needs to know the full truth so I give him a shortened version of why I’m actually in Vegas and let him know that I’m not only trusting him with my life but Grace’s too. My instincts are guiding me to trust him even though I’m Seelie and he is Unseelie. He tells me to pack my stuff, while he continues talking and reassures me that his place is more secure than anything I will find here, and he has a pool which I should enjoy as a water user in such a dry climate. I don’t have a lot of stuff with me, so I don’t take long to pack and he promises me on his honor that he will keep mine and Grace’s secret, he wants me to know I can trust him and for what feels like the millionth time in a very short space period, I thank him for everything he has done for me. He looks into the distance as if seeing something that I can’t see and looks at me as he admits “I’m trying to find my place in the world right now, and I won’t deny that I need a purpose. This partnership benefits me, as much as it benefits you. I remember how our Guard used to be back in Faerie, we were about honor and principles, and here on Earth, we have become lap dogs for anyone that looks at the Unseelie Royal Family wrong. What happened to you was proof of what I’m saying, it shouldn’t matter that you’re Seelie, which I could feel from a considerable distance, no offense.” I tell him no offense taken. He continues to explain to me that he lost everything in Faerie, and the King helped him find purpose after that. The King gave him a reason to live when he thought he had none and because of this, they did struggle to let go of each other. But Ben knew he was doing the right thing and he was able to end the relationship with dignity and respect and provide the King with a list of potential replacements. Ben looks at me and says after all of that, he still doesn’t know my name, even though he knows more of my life story than most strangers would. I ask him why he didn’t check my ID, and he shakes his head and says that isn’t his style. With a cheeky smile, he sticks out his hand to me and says “nice to meet you, Paige, let’s see if we can turn you into a warrior.” Trying not to grin too hard, I grasp his hand firmly and shake it, excited to start our partnership together.