Seventeen

“Why do you have to go?” Darby asked as Kellen pull on his floor length robe over his head, the one he wore only when he was dealing with the Dark Empire as king. His midnight blue wings dissolved instantly through the fabric.

“I need to go deal with some things. I’ll be gone for most of the day but Philip will be staying here with you,” he explained, kissing her, “I wish I didn’t have to but I don’t really get a choice.”

She could tell that he wasn’t happy in leaving her either and she felt bad for whining. She nodded, “It’s okay, you have a job to do. And who knows, Philip and I might become best friends,” she didn’t have the right enthusiasm to pull it off. Philip always seemed so serious, nothing like Kellen.

He smiled, “Philip’s a good guy. And, he’ll keep you safe until I get back. He’s more fun than he looks, I promise.”

She wasn’t to sure about that but she kissed him once more, “I’ll see you later. Have fun doing. . . whatever king stuff you do.”

“I will try, but I’ll be to busy thinking of you to have fun.”

She blushed, “I’ll miss you.”

They embraced one last time before he left. She sat down on the couch and waited patiently for Philip to arrive.

When he came in he seemed surprised to see her, “Has Kellen left already?”

She nodded, “Yep, it’s just you and me.”

He sat down next to her, “Well, what do you want to do? I assume you don’t want to stay in the flat all day.”

“Not at all. But I don’t want to go out and not do anything because it’s not “safe”,” she grimaced, remembering the last time she was babysat and couldn’t do anything.

He laughed, “I’ll do my best, but Kellen would literally kill me if anything happened to you. So, I don’t recommend doing anything to risky.”

“Hmm, any ideas?”

“I’ll take you out to lunch,” he decided, “I haven’t had italian food in the longest time.”

“We’d just be wasting money,” Darby pointed out.

“Kellen’s money,” he hinted, “he wouldn’t miss it.”

She grinned, “I see your point.”

He held the door open for her, “Then after you.”

After the waiter served the food an awkward silence took over. Philip began eating like it was the most normal thing for a faerie to do in the world. But Darby was still hesitant.

I haven’t eaten human food since before I transformed.

He looked at her and said gently in a low tone, “Just think back to when you were human and it was your lunch. That’s what it still is. You just don’t need it to survive anymore.”

She took a small bit of the ravioli and she blushed as she realized that Philip was right. It tasted just like the ravioli that she had eaten before.

He smiled, “Tastes good?”

“Yeah,” she admitted, “thanks for the advice.”

He nodded, “It’s always hard in the beginning.”

“Did you help Kellen when he was new?”

“Sorus picked Kellen and Seth to be the first faeries. Kellen never really did tell me any of the details, it was hard for him to think back to that. I can’t even comprehend how hard that must’ve been for them. They have never heard of faeries before then, and suddenly they’re kings and have deal with not just an empire, but being hated by the mortals as they discovered them. 

“Seth managed pretty well on his own as far as I know, and the first thing he did was appoint his lead guard Anthony. Kellen needed more time and help. He lost so much of the emotions that he had grown up knowing, love and true happiness. He can’t even remember what it was like to feel that, which might be part of the reason that he hates Seth so much. Seth got the lightness, he didn’t change much except for losing the darker emotions. But Kellen lost that, the darkness was his only refuge and hate replaced much of his life. He fills up the void left from love with sex, but I think he knows that it’s not going to change anything, it’s just the way he dealt with it. Not much has changed in that regard.

“But according to him things got a bit better for him after he made me his advisor. I was shocked, especially that all he had to do was tell Sorus he wanted me. I transformed later that day.”

“How did you know Kellen?” She asked, keeping her voice as low as his.

“Honestly, I didn’t. At least, I wasn’t close with him. I saw him around when he was younger,” he rolled his eyes, “you should’ve seen him at fifteen, all the girls swooned when they saw him,” he laughed, “his arrogance always got on the other boys nerves, but they never did anything, Kellen would whoop their asses in minutes if they did as much as threaten him. When he turned eighteen he disappeared for a couple days, everyone in our town was worried out of their mind, and when he came back he was so obviously changed,” he looked down, “everyone was scared. They didn’t know what kind of devil’s work this was. But he didn’t care, he only turned to me and told me that I was picked to be his advisor.”

“Why didn’t you refuse?” She watched him.

He snorted, “I don’t think I could. Sorus and Kellen meant for me to become it, besides, refusing the Dark King isn’t necessarily a smart choice.”

“Was it hard for you to adjust?” She questioned.

He laughed again, “You’ve met Kellen, it’s incredibly strenuous trying to advise him when he’s hell bent on a decision. But he’s a good kid.”

“Kid?” She smiled, “You two are the same age.”

“Not exactly, I’m twenty-two.”

“But you have to be eighteen, I thought.”

“Kellen specifically picked me, my age didn’t matter.”

“Were you upset that he picked you?” She took another bite.

“At first, very few people are happy to become a faerie. Things were finally starting to work out in my life. I was engaged, bought a new house, and my job was doing well. I had to leave it all behind.”

“What about now? Are you happy?”

He waited a moment before responding, “Kellen keeps me entertained and treats me well, we’ve gotten close over the years, and he’s not as irritating as I thought in the beginning. Then you’re enjoyable company as well, you brighten up the flat. I still miss Alexandra, but she’s long gone by now and I have to move on.”

She frowned, “That’s not fair. Is Kellen even a little apologetic?”

“I try not to let it show around him, it isn’t fair for him to know how much I suffered for helping him. At times I have a feeling that he knows but he doesn’t reveal anything.”

“I’m sorry,” she told him honestly.

“It’s something you grow used to.”

They ate in silence for a bit until Darby said, “Could you tell me more about the faerie world? I really don’t know that much about it and Kellen. . . it doesn’t exactly come up to often.”

“I suppose, what do you want to know?”

“Can you tell me more about how the empires need different emotions, I don’t see why the Dark Empire can’t taste what I can.”

“That’s a harder thing to understand. But Sorus knows what he’s doing, there’s a reason for it. The Dark Empire is made up of fear, violence, murder, hate, lust, and dirty sex. So, the emotions we have are on the same wave length as the components. While the Light Empire is bliss, hope, truth, passionate sex, peace, and love. Their emotions, again, match up with that. But neither empire is better than another, to much light causes burns. Darkness can bring a calm with it.”

“And Sorus, he’s your God, right? The one who created all of you.”

“Yes, he is the perfect balance between light and dark.”

“He uses an eclipse as his symbol, correct?”

“Exactly. Which is the reason why the Temple of Eclipse is our religious sanctuary. Unlike the mortals, we don’t have other religions or multiple churches. There is only one, because it’s the right one for us.”

“Why haven’t the mortals destroyed it yet? I’m sure that a faerie God would be the first on their list to take down.”

He grinned, “It’s invisible to them, both kings use their glamour to hide it. Same as the kingdoms.”

“Wait, kingdoms?”

Since when did they have kingdoms?

“Of course, both kings have kingdoms. Where do you think Kellen always leave to to work?”

“I don’t know,” she said sheepishly, “guess I haven’t really put much thought into that. But how come I haven’t ever heard of it.”

“You probably weren’t supposed to. I wouldn’t have mentioned it if you didn’t know. Oh well, too late now. If Kellen meant to keep it hidden he should’ve told me that you weren’t aware. I didn’t find it to be that big of a deal.”

She scowled, “Why didn’t he tell me?”

He shrugged, “Ask Kellen.”

She thought about that and all that Philip had told her as he picked up the bill. 

The world of fey is a hell of a lot more complicated that I thought.

She was curios now about the kingdoms and puzzled at why Kellen felt the need to hide it from her.

The car ride back was quiet, she was lost in thought and didn’t offer up much conversation. But Philip didn’t seem to mind, he was perfectly content in humming along to a CD that played music from what she assumed to be in the late ’40s early ’50s.

Back at the flat Philip put himself to work for things for Kellen and absentminded she began to tidy up the place. She needed a distraction from wanting Kellen to walk through the door. Cleaning was something that she had grown up doing whenever she was stressed and didn’t want to focus on anything in particular. When she really got a good look at the flat she realized how necessary it was for her to be cleaning it. 

Two men living alone, no wonder it’s such a mess.

But it didn’t bother her, in fact it reminded her a little of Christopher. 

Around eight she heard the door close and she greeted him with a seducing kiss that took him off guard, all though he didn’t object. When she finally gave him the chance to speak he rushed breathlessly, 

“I assume you missed me?”

She answered him with another kiss.

He spared a grin at Philip, “Hmm, at least someone missed me.”

Philip didn’t look up from his work as he responded, “It’s hard to miss the noise and ego when you’re around.”

Kellen ignored him, “Did you have a good day, love?” He asked her.

More so than I would’ve thought.

“Yes, Philip, took me out to lunch.”

“Did he bore you with pointless stories of the past?” He questioned, smirking at his advisor.

“Not at all.”