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Her heart or her people. Only she can decide.
Hated, cursed, outcasted. It was Eleena Asterin's life ever since she was blamed to have betrayed her village. So when she is offered a task to earn back her honour and prid...
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So I truly was to live here forever. As much as I longed to ensure that Phoebus's word about caring for my family was true, as much as his claim that I was taking better care of my family by staying away—even if I was truly fulfilling that vow to myself by staying in Asteria ... Without the weight of that promise, I was left hollow and empty. It was almost a struggle to not run for the gates and start my hunt for the Imperial Lords myself.
Over the next three days, I found myself joining Kallistê on border patrol while Phoebus hunted the grounds for the Baphomet, unseen by us. Despite being an occasional bastard, Kallistê didn't seem to mind my company, and she did most of the talking, which was fine; it left me to brood over the consequences of firing a single arrow on immortal lands.
An arrow. I never fired a single one during those three days we rode along the border. That very morning I'd spied a red doe in a glen and aimed out of instinct, my arrow poised to fly right into her eye as Kallistê sneered that she was not a faerie, at least. But I'd stared at her—fat and healthy and content—and then slackened the bow, replaced the arrow in my quiver, and let the doe wander on.
I never saw Phoebus around the manor, nor Oberon—off hunting the Baphomet day and night, though Oberon was nowhere to be seen, Kallistê informed me. Even at dinner, Phoebus spoke little before leaving early—off to continue his hunt, night after night. I didn't mind his absence. It was a relief, if anything.
On the third night after my encounter with the Water Eidolon, I'd scarcely sat down before Phoebus got up, giving an excuse about not wanting to waste hunting time.
Kallistê and I stared after him for a moment.
What I could see of Kallistê's face was pale and tight. "You worry about him," I said.
Kallistê slumped in her seat, wholly undignified for a Fae lady. "Phoebus gets into ... moods."
"He doesn't want your help hunting the Baphomet?"
"He prefers being alone. And having the Baphomet on our lands ... I don't suppose you'd understand. The Water Eidolons are minor enough not to bother him, but even after he's shredded the Baphomet, he'll brood over it."
"And there's no one who can help him at all?"
"He would probably shred them for disobeying his order to stay away."
A brush of ice slithered across my nape. "He would be that brutal?"
Kallistê studied the wine in her goblet. "You don't hold on to power by being everyone's friend. And among the faeries, Unseelie Faeries and Seelie Faeries alike, a firm hand is needed. We're too powerful, and too bored with immortality, to be checked with anything else."
It seemed like a cold, lonely position to have, especially when you didn't particularly want it. I wasn't sure why it bothered me so much.
