Faith is Fallen (Broken Fantasies Series)

Chapter 44

A knock came at the door.

"Come in," Cara said.

A young man peeked in. "Hello."

"Hi. What's your name?"

"Jeremy. I'm, uh, Daniel's nephew."

"It's nice to meet you. Could you come closer? It's hard to see you at that angle."

"Oh, yes. Of course. I'm sorry." He rushed to the side of the bed, and fidgeted a little bit before he noticed the chair and sat down awkwardly on the very edge. "Hi."

Cara smiled. "Hello. How can I help you?"

Jeremy jerked in his seat, looking at her with youthful surprise. He didn't look too young, but he acted it. He looked down, fidgeting a little more.

Cara waited, not sure what else she could do to entice him to speak. He did look remarkably like Daniel in the face. And while the boy was lanky now, she imagined all that height would fill out to be just as big as his uncle.

"I-I just wanted to meet you. My uncle's never been like this before, so yeah..."

"Like what?" She felt just a little breathless as she waited for his answer, though she couldn't say why.

"Well, he's barely left this room. That's hardly normal." He shook his head, his longish hair flapping around him with the movement. "Nope, never. And he's protective of you. Well, he's protective of everyone, but nothing like how he is with you."

Cara didn't look Jeremy in the eyes, for some reason not wanting him to see the recognition flash there as his words struck a familiar chord in her heart and mind. She thought of Conall and completely missed Jeremy's next words.

"...and then there's Amy."

"Amy? Who's that?"

"She's one of the people who've taken care of you. Younger one. She's a nurse."

An image popped into her head, and she nodded. "What about her?"

"She's been acting really strange since you arrived. Well, she's always strange, but more than usual."

"How so?"

"Well, she doesn't date, for starters. And she's super antisocial. Has a tendency of snapping at people."

That was weird? Sounded fairly normal to her. She'd met plenty of people like that. "So what's different with her?"

"Well, I heard her mouthing off at Daniel. She never does that. They're friends, you see. Best friends. They've known each other forever."

"Oh."

"Yeah, and she took off like a bat out of hell earlier."

"Why's that?"

"From the sound of the conversation, I'd say she didn't like the attention she was getting from your friend, Val."

"Val? Really? What type of attention?" Val never showed any real interest in others. Well, no one except for Cara. Even her descendants only received passing attention from him as he saw them as "fleeting entities with lifespans reminiscent of flies." Oh, he always apologized afterwards, but his opinion was clear nonetheless.

"Oh, well, I don't know. Just some of the things I've heard. I think he's holding a torch for her."

"Val? Holding a torch for someone?" Cara said incredulously. "No. Not a chance."

"Oh, is he... gay?"

"No, not that I know of. It's just, in the time I've known him, he's never shown anyone the slightest interest, and..." No, she couldn't say that, not without giving too much away. "He's scoffed at the very idea of relationships from the start. He's always been bewildered by my tendency toward forming attachments."

"And yet he's attached to you."

"Oh, with me it was one part fascination and one part camaraderie. He never stood a chance."

"Fascination? Fascination with what?"

Cara paused, then lied through her teeth. "You know, I don't know. I knew I piqued his curiosity, but I never knew what did it." She turned away from him, afraid her face would give her away. You would think a Fae would be a better liar. "I'm tired."

"Oh, of course." Jeremy scrambled to his feet, and dashed out of the room.

#

Daniel had forced himself to sleep in his own bed last night. His back had started resembling the hunchback of Notre Dame from sitting in that chair for so long. Upon waking, he still felt like his back had been worked over with a jackhammer, but he stretched, hearing it pop several times, and threw on some clothes.

He forced himself not to rush. Why did he feel the need to rush anyway? Faith would be there just the same as last night and the day before. She was stable, miraculously, with no risk of dying at this point. Yes, she was weak, and her injuries limited her movement, and if he were her, he would have been ready to jump out of his skin from being in that bed for so long, but she was safe and she was recovering. That was all anyone could ask for.

So then why did he feel this almost instinctive urge to be near her? Why did he almost feel like there was a thread connecting them together across space and time, and that with every moment that passed, that thread only grew stronger.

He shook the insane notion off, and entered the hallway, surprised to see his nephew exiting Faith's room. "Jeremy?"

The younger man jumped, and turned to Daniel. "Uncle. Hello."

"What were you doing in there?"

Jeremy suddenly held himself taller, straighter, as he often did around Daniel. Daniel had a suspicion that it was Jeremy's way of trying to make him proud. "I just wanted to meet her, Uncle. You seem quite enamored of her."

"Enamored? Hardly. She's just a woman I saved the life of."

But Jeremy didn't look convinced, and deep down Daniel wasn't either. "Well, I best get going. Bye, Uncle." Jeremy waved, and practically jumped down the stairs.

Daniel resisted the urge to yell after him, telling him to slow down, but he wasn't the boy's father, and just the very idea of being a father made him flinch. No, he wasn't ready for anything like that. He was too young. Maybe he would never be ready.

He shrugged the idea off, not wanting to even think about it, and pushed into Faith's room. "How are you doing today?"

"Well enough. It'll take time is all."

Daniel nodded. He'd never really taken any keen notice to the frailty of humans before, but watching one recover from illness was frustrating as could be. How could they stand it? He'd talked to Amy after she changed Faith's bandages last night, and she'd said there had been barely any healing at all. The bleeding had stopped, and she was out of the woods, but it could be days before it would even be safe for her to roll over in bed.

And what about the scars Amy had mentioned? Neither Bessie nor Clara had mentioned them at all, but Amy had. Twin thick, angry slashes that ran the entire length of her back, puckered and at least an inch wide. He could barely imagine the scars, let along what type of wounds would create them. What had Faith faced before that eventful day?

Author's Note: Somehow, the song made me thing of Amy and Val...  Not sure why it popped into my head, but there it is.  It never really occured to me that it was sort of a Country/Bluegrass/Southern Rock song before.  I'm really not sure what it is.

Actually, the more I listen to the lyrics, the more it seems to almost perfectly fit their relationship to a T.  What do you think?