Extra Darling

Chapter 20: Introductions

The sleek wings flutter twice before calmly settling into place.

"My apologies," Skye grins, giving a not so subtle wink, "It appears I'm interrupting something."

Arthur skillfully unsheathes the sword from my belt in a swift movement and is on his feet, brandishing it at Skye.

"Who are you?" He demands.
Skye lifts his hands in defense and looks at me nervously, "A little help would be nice."

I'm in such a shock at finally finding Skye that I don't notice the fact that Arthur has a sword pointed to his throat until I see Skye wince.

"No, it's alright!" I jump up, wrapping my hands around Arthur's arm and attempting to lower the weapon, "He's a friend."
"A friend? Blondie, you do know that this friend of yours is a Fae? One of those miserable creatures we saw earlier that nearly ripped us apart?" He spits, his eyes throwing daggers at Skye.
"He's different. Skye is not a monster. He's actually the one who bought us enough time to escape those devils."
"You're on a first name basis with this bloke?" Arthur asks, his arm unwavering against Skye's neck.
"What else should I call him?"

Arthur shrugs, jutting out his bottom lip, "Beast, monster, deformity."
Skye opens his mouth in mock offense and puts a hand over his heart.
This infuriates Arthur and a gleam of anger returns to his blue eyes, "Traitor."
Skye inhales through his teeth and scrunches his freckled nose, "Ouch. You barely even know me, mate."
"I know enough, creature." Arthur snarls, pushing the tip of the sword deeper into Skye's neck and pulling the skin taunt, "If you're out here and not in your village, then you've done something terrible. Maybe it's in everyone's best interest if I put you out of your misery right now."

"Enough!" I yell, pushing Skye behind me and standing defiantly at the end of Arthur's blade, "Skye is a friend, and of no threat to you. If you want to harm him, you're going to have to harm me too."

The tip of the sword rests a mere inch before my own chest. I hold my breath as I tilt my chin up and refuse to back down. Arthur keeps the blade steady and his jaw is tight, but behind the coldness of his eyes I see something give way, and he lowers the sword. I release a breath that I didn't know I was holding as Skye also sighs behind me.

"All that just because I interrupted you? I need a fanfare next time, so that my arrival is not a surprise." He jokes.

Arthur rubs a hand along his scruffy jaw, "Ophelia can I have a moment. Alone."

I give a quick glance to Skye who raises his eyebrows and folds his hands behind his back, politely walking away to give Arthur and I some space.

"Explain." Arthur says the moment we are alone.
"He came to me for help, while I was on your ship. He was bleeding, and dying, and on some instinct I can't explain I decided to help him. When I was able to help heal him, he said that the reason he was hurt in the first place was because he assisted us in escaping at the castle by the sea."
"That's a lie. We escaped ourselves."
"Yes," I agreed, taking a step toward him, "We did all that work on our own, but if it weren't for Skye, we would never have known to run in the first place. He created a diversion upstairs to give us time to get away, and those real monsters inside attacked him."

Arthur crossed his arms over his chest, bouncing on his toes and looking worriedly at Skye, "And you believe him?"
"Why shouldn't I?"
"Because he's one of them, blondie. He was banished for doing something awful and now he's on his own. He's dangerous."

Arthur and I turned to look at Skye. He was bent over a low tree, staring intently at a large, white speck on one of the leaves. We watched as he reached out a finger to touch it, causing it to leap into his face and fly away. Skye jumped backwards and swatted blindly at the white moth, nearly toppling over from the motion.