4
Ophelia frowned as her father left, leaving her alone with the former Viscera pseudo-assassin, the only one who seemed unchanged from the conversation. He stood after a moment and walked around the couch to stand in front of her.
“He’ll be alright.” Caspian said and she frowned, why wouldn’t he be alright?
Had she said something wrong that would cause him not to be alright?
“I don’t- what did I say to drive him away?” She asked him and Caspian tensed, relaxing after a moment as his brows furrowed and he thought of how to explain.
“Finn just needs a few minutes- you didn’t drive him away. You have… been raised in a different world with a different set of values and a different code of ethics. He is… frustrated with himself, more than you I think.”
She frowned, “Why would he be frustrated with himself?”
Caspian rubbed the back of his neck, “He has only just met you- just discovered he has a daughter- the shock of it all is getting to him. He doesn’t know how to explain to you that certain… faerie customs are not welcomed by humanity.”
Her frown deepened and she bit at her lip, nervous.
She did not like this feeling, nervous.
Caspian wrapped his arms around her and hugged her, an action that was incredibly foreign to her, surprising the faerie-female.
Sure, she had been held by others, such as her mother in each of her forms, as well as Aeron when he visited, and at one time by her mortal lover, but that had not been for some time as she had spent most of her time residing with her Court and hugging was not a faerie custom. One only held their children or their lovers, a concept that had been affirmed purely by how she had been raised among the Tuatha.
It was not unwelcome, but it was confusing for the demigoddess.
Was this meant as comfort such as the way one would comfort a child, or as how one would comfort a lover?
She lightly folder her arms up to wrap around his sides, her head falling to lay against his lower chest.
He rubbed her back as he had in the car, rubbing circles on the backs of her shoulders and she relaxed into his hold despite her confusion.
“Your ways are just different, Ophelia. Finn has never interacted with your… ‘kind’. He barely knows anything about you or your people and as such doesn’t know how to convey that-”
“That my customs are not welcomed by humanity?” She supplied his previous statement back to him.
“Yes.” He agreed, “Everything will be fine, he’s just going to need time to get to know you- you didn’t do or say anything wrong, we’re just not used to....”
She bit her lip, listening to his steady heartbeat, “What? Not used to what?”
He swallowed, “We just don’t know anything about you or faeries or anything like that, you’re this new and unknown variable that we know little to nothing about.”
She nodded against his chest, “I suppose you are right.”
He released her and smiled at her, his eyes revealing acceptance and care- traits that had not been shown to her outside of the Tuatha or Aeron.
She liked his eyes.
An hour later Finn was not back from his walk, but he had made sure to text Cas that he would be back soon. Ophelia had invited Cas back to her room and he sat on her bed as she showed him her favorite weapons the way a child would show off their favorite toys.
She was excited as she regaled him with tales of her friends (allies, she had called them), back among her ‘Court’.
“Aodh works among the Queen’s guard, his twin sister, Bedelia, works among the King’s guard. Aodh loves to complain about Donnchad, the second-in-command in the guard, but Bedelia said that it was only because Donnchad ignored him for a decade after they had bedded.”
He bit back a snicker at her excited storytelling, she was so quick to anger and when she wasn’t she seemed either confused or impassive, but he was quickly learning that was not the end-all of the petite female- no, she had a near childlike joy as she told him of the tales of life among her people.
“What do you think of Donnchad?” He asked her and she shriveled her nose.
“He is tiresome, I do not know why Aodh wasted his time being put out by him. Leary on the other hand, Bedelia has been trying to set them up for as long as I’ve held title! The problem is that Leary is too soft-spoken and Aodh is not one for listening- he is one for raucous yelling instead. Bedelia thinks they would do well together though. I told her to be grateful her mother had not arranged for their marriages as mine had-”
“Your married?” He interrupted, his eyes wide as he found himself more than a little jealous of the lucky bast- fuck, don’t go there, why the fuck did his mind go there? Fuck, he had barely known her for more than a minute. He chopped it off to a dry spell, laying aside the rest of those thoughts.
She shook her head, “No, but I have been betrothed since my Naming when I was a child.”
“Do you care for him?” He asked her and she appeared to muse.
“I care for him, yes. But I am not in love with him.” She answered and he blew out a breath.
She smiled softly.
“What’s his name?” He asked, clearly wanting to punish himself.
“Aeron, he is a god among the Welsh. My mother foresaw that he would be a good match for me.”
Cas’ eyes widened, “You’re betrothed to a god? Like Thor god?”
“Aeron is not a Norseman, I have never met this Thor you speak of.”
“But he’s a god?” Cas continued and she nodded.
“I am not so far off from him, my mother is a goddess of the Tuatha.”
His eyes bulged near comically and he forced himself to relax.
“Wait, so your mother- a goddess- slept with Finn?”
She rolled her eyes, “That is how I was conceived, yes.”
“What is she the goddess of?” He asked her, curiosity racing through him.
“She is the Morrigan; tri-fold with even more forms than her chief three. She is a goddess of war, death, magic, and prophecy- in her singular forms she holds even more power over other domains.”
“Finn said something about a Neve being your mother though?”
Ophelia nodded slowly, “Yes, my mother in her form of Nemain took the name Neve and conceived me with my father.”
Cas blinked, glad his life wasn’t anywhere near this level of complicated, sure his life was complicated, but it was nowhere near this level.
They were silent for a moment before she perked up once more, “Would you like to see my Cinniúint and Deireadh Deiridh? They are my favorite weapons.”
He smiled at her exuberance and nodded. She sat down beside him on the bed and held out her hand in the empty space before them and a mass of shadows revealed two staffed weapons, one shorter than the other.
She pointed to the shorter of the two, “This is my Deireadh Deiridh- it was given to me by Aeron when I reached maturity.”
The black staff she pointed to resembled a spear, it was certainly long enough to be one, with twisting knot work circling the length of it, the bladed side sharp and deadly, the blade itself being a crimson red, matching the stone embedded on the opposite end.
“What does its name mean?”
She smiled, “Final End. It is a blessed weapon, meaning it holds special abilities on its own.”
“What is its ability?”
“It can slay any being with one strike.”
He turned his eyes to the longer spear, “And this one?”
She ran a hand over the golden length of it, “This is my Cinniúint, ‘Fate’, it is blessed with the ability to kill with two strikes, the first is always a wound- the second, whenever it may be given, whether it be within the same battle or years from then after the first wound has healed, will always kill.”
He looked at the spears with appreciation, “The spears seem handy.”
She gaped at him, “They are no spears! They are each a Knight’s lance!”
He released a laugh at her aghast expression, which for some reason only made her seem all the more attractive.
She pouted and he laughed again, drawing a small smile from her.
When he stopped laughing he turned to pick up her dagger from the bedside table, the same one she had threatened Thorn with.
“And this? You called it Galar, right? What does this one do?”
She ran a hand down it’s length which he held with his left hand.
“Galar, or ‘Disease’, can cause a tortuous affliction to anyone who is stricken. Only my blood, given willingly, may heal the one afflicted.”
He handed her back the dagger and she placed it beside her lances. She waved a hand over each and they disappeared in a haze of shadows.
He fell back against the headboard and she copied his movement, her legs crossing at the ankle, her red hair pillowing her head against the cushioned board. For the second time that day he stared at her, now glimpsing her discreetly pointed ears, easily overlooked.
She turned onto her side and leaned on her elbow as she looked at him, her eyes penetrating him once more till he felt like she had seen all that there was to him.
They were silent for a few moments and he couldn’t look away from her, her eyes captivating him.
A swirling tide of pale blue waves, always turning, radiating with strength, always alluring.
She scooted up on her knees to look him in the eyes, her face inches within his own.
He easily picked up that the fae probably don’t have a good sense of boundaries, well if she was to go by, anyway.
He didn’t push her away though, even as his heart hammered with how close she was.
She reached out with her hand, running her fingers over his jaw, curiosity glowing like a beacon in her crystal blue gaze.
His breathing was quick and harsh as her face closed in on him, his eyes falling shut as he felt her breath against his heated skin. He felt her lips lightly touch his just as he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, bringing him back down to reality with all the finesse of a wrecking ball.
He pulled away from her and quickly answered the phone, swallowing when he heard Finn greet him.
“I’m on my way back.” He told Cas, “How’s Ophelia doing? I know I bolted out on her earlier, I can’t imagine how I made her feel.”
His closest friend considerate as always.
“She’s fine, I’m hanging out with her in her room. Do you want to talk to her?”
He was glad that his voice was even, his thoughts racing as Ophelia ran her hands over his back lightly, like she was playing connect-the-invisible-dot.
Finn sighed, “I’d feel better if I talked to her about everything in person, but tell her I’m on my way back.”
“Alright,” Cas replied and they ended the call, leaving him alone with his best friend’s daughter. God, what the fuck was he doing?
“Ophelia, stop.”
She stopped and withdrew her hand and he turned to face her once again.
She blinked at him, sheer confusion glancing back at Cas.
He sighed, “Why did you kiss me?”
She pushed a locke of her hair behind her ear.
“Do you not want me to?”
He swallowed, “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
“Why not?”
“Well…” He trailed off, searching for a viable reason.
“Well, what?”
He went for the most obvious excuse, “You’re betrothed?”
It was more of a question than a statement and he saw it miss the mark completely as she replied.
“I am allowed to take lovers, just as Aeron is.”
He sighed, “Also, you’re my best friend’s daughter and I really don’t want to-”
“I do not understand, what does your friendship with my father have to do with this? Mother is friends with Aeron, yet that does not factor in.”
He blew out a breath, “First of all, your mother was the one to arrange your… betrothal, so it’s not the same. Secondly, Finn would probably not be comfortable with you and I being in any sort of romantic relationship.”
She blinked at him, her eyes darkening, “You do not want me?”
He fumbled as he tried to explain to her just how outrageous the situation was.
“I don’t not want you,” He fumbled, “I- we can’t- ah…”
Her brows furrowed and she frowned.
Shit, he was most certainly not doing well.
“I-ah-I-uh, it’s not like I don’t want you, it’s just that it would not be appropriate.”
“Why not?”
He fell back on how he had been raised, “We’re not married and I’m not comfortable with that.”
Her frown deepened and he knew he had been caught bullshitting.
He looked away and stood, running a hand over his face as he turned back to her.
Fuck, she looked like she was going to cry- dammit!
Where the fuck was the ‘skill’ he had been teased for unrelentlessly by his sister when he was younger?
He frowned, despite himself he sat back down on the bed and hugged her again.
“I’m sorry,” He said, “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings- I just, we can’t be a thing, alright? I won’t be able to look Finn in the eyes if we were a thing, you know?”
She was silent against him, still as a statue, her hair covering her like a curtain. He’d think she were asleep if not for the growing wet spot on his shirt.
He looked up at the ceiling.
I-God. How the fuck did I end up in this situation?
Ophelia kept silent as the dark haired soldier hugged her tightly, trying to ‘comfort’ her. It offered little comfort, but she kept still in his hold, knowing that she would do well not to be left alone.
She could remember her only mortal lover’s rejection like it was yesterday- her humiliation, her fury, her all-consuming heartbreak.
This was not as bad, but damn her if it didn’t feel similar.
Gideon had left her alone in the small cottage where they used to meet, offering her little comfort as he explained to her that he couldn’t be with her because his dear Anna had captured his heart and he had asked her to marry him. She had sat on the edge of the bed in the cottage for days, alone and without the distraction of another’s emotions, leaving her to feel nothing but her own despair in the one place that had ever felt like home. A home she came to despise.
Fiona, her sister in all but blood, had discovered her a week after she was left alone.
The royal sidhe woman had been enraged to find Ophelia abandoned by a mortal of all things! How dare that male, she had raged while Ophelia had lamented.
Fiona’s fury had distracted her and slowly but surely, she too, grew incensed at how Gideon had abandoned her for a mortal woman of all things.
She was a lady of one of the highest of the Unseelie Courts, and a human had rejected her? A demi-goddess?
Her mother had killed mortals who rejected her.
Fiona had escorted her from the cottage, her friend setting the home ablaze in pyromantic wrath.
The tall auburn haired faerie had escorted her back to her home in the Otherworld, caring for her like she would her own kin.
Ophelia suspected that she had killed Gideon and his fiance, or at the very least cursed them.
But as Caspian held her she could still keenly feel his emotions like a shadow covering her own, numbing the pain at being rejected once more.
She felt his honest desire to comfort her, to right what he perceived he had done wrong. And yet, she could feel his attraction to her beneath layers of guilt, discomfort, a sense of duty and a lacking sense of self worth.
Why? She wondered. What could have happened to him to have caused this?
She doubted he took note of his underlying issue.
But she found herself disregarding it for her own thoughts.
If he was attracted to her then what did anything else matter?
Her tears had stopped while she was lost in thought but the male kept his hold on her.
“I’m sorry,” he breathed and she didn’t have to be telepathic to know it was more for himself than her.
She hummed in response, her thoughts racing as the memories of her father ran rampant through her mind- flashes of the very memories that had fostered her feelings for the one who held her.
She was surprised that she did not feel more strongly at his rejection- after all, was he not the first one she had fancied?
No, it made sense- she had not known him truly, all that she had known of him was from interactions not her own. With Gideon she had actually known him herself, she had interacted with him, fallen for him because of that- and that was why it had hurt far more.
“Why are you sorry?” She asked him despite herself, curiosity revealing itself in her voice.
He sighed, “I know you know little of human relationships, and it must be difficult for you to understand why we can’t be together.”
She went silent again.
He was right, human relationships were different than the ones she kept, things like ‘friendship’ and ‘betrothed’ and ‘married’ and ‘family’ meant vastly different things to her fae and Tuatha peoples. The closest to human relationships were those among the Tuatha, but outside of parent-child bonds, family meant little, allyship meaning much more.
It was why his reasoning confused her- it was quite normal to marry an ally of the family, it was quite normal to betroth children to a… friend of their sire.
But she was not even thinking of marriage with him- no, he was mortal and she was not, in the end she would outlive him unless she was killed in battle before his own end. Even if he were to join her in the Otherworld, he would likely not be content.
Yes, the Otherworld was beautiful and attractive, but humans who lived there eventually saw past the glamour of it all and should they become clear sighted- which he already was now that she had granted it to him- were often killed by fae that treasured their privacy above all.
No, he could never join her there, and she supposed that it would not be fair to him.
But why could they not enjoy one another’s presence until she was called back?
She ceased her train of thought and settled for relaxing further into his hold, determined to enjoy the contact as long as it lasted.
Cas left her room half an hour later, thoroughly tired, falling onto his bed just as Finn entered the room.
“Hey,” he greeted and Finn smiled.
“So what happened while I was gone? How were the others?”
Cas shrugged, “I don’t know, I wasn’t with them. Ophelia roped me into hanging out.”
Finn cocked a brow, “How did that go?”
Cas rose up to lean on his elbows, “Fine. Did you know she’s betrothed to a god?”
Finn dropped his phone, “What?!”
Cas nodded, “Also- turns out her mother is a goddess too-”
Finn’s eyes went wide.
“-so congrats, you managed to get a demigoddess for a daughter!”
Finn sat down on the foot of the bed, “But Neve wasn’t- I mean, why would a goddess become a dancer?”
Cas waved it off, “You should ask Ophelia, she probably knows her mother best.”
Finn nodded, picking up his phone from the cement floor and tucking it into his pocket. He sighed after a moment.
“I should probably go talk to her, shouldn’t I?”
Cas waved him off again, “Probably, I tried to explain a bit, so it shouldn’t be so difficult.”
Finn’s eyes narrowed, “Should I be worried?”
Cas laughed, “Probably.”
Finn sighed once more and stood up, walking out of the room, leaving Cas alone.
He fell back onto the pillows, his arm falling over his eyes as he thought it all over again in his head.
He stood by his decision that it would be a bad idea to get into a relationship with her- Finn had just discovered his daughter, Cas would not want to be the one to want to get in the thick of that, he knew even Finn would have trouble with talking to him after that.
But it was also true that Ophelia was an adult, granted with some strange quirks, and she was fully capable of deciding what to do with her life- he just couldn’t risk losing Finn, the one person who could fully look past his his connections to Viscera, if he decided to follow through with it all.
He blew out a breath and found himself staring at the ceiling.
There was something so damn alluring about her- he wondered if that was her or just what she was. He got the feeling it was just her though, and he found himself thinking about her often, that ‘something’ drawing him in every time as he tried to discover what it was.
Maybe it was her eyes- they looked almost exactly like Finn’s color-wise, but where his were kind, her’s were strong, glowing with power, but where Finn’s were free from judgment, her’s seemed the very opposite- like she was sizing up everyone that she came across. But there was also a hint of honesty, and he had quickly learned to decipher her emotions from it.
For some reason her gaze never made him feel guilty though, like he had under the glances of the rest of the team, knowing that he was most certainly the most tainted one there.
No, she gazed into him and her judgement did not stray to the blood that covered his past- she gazed into him and whatever she saw made her curious, but above all, the judgments she made on him made it seem like she trusted him.
It was disorienting- but entirely welcome despite his deep seated knowledge that if a few of his secrets came to light that could mean an end to everything.
Cas swallowed and turned onto his side, his front facing the shut door.
He closed his eyes.
Finn had been standing outside his daughter’s door for five minutes, working up the courage to knock and have what was sure to be an incredibly awkward conversation. And everyone knew just how well Finn did in uncomfortable situations, he was infamous for his lacking ability to not make them worse.
He raised his hand to knock just as the door opened to reveal Ophelia, her brow cocked as she stared at him for a moment. He smiled, but knew it came off more as a grimace.
She sighed and stepped aside, holding the door open for him to step inside.
Her red hair so like her mother’s was tied back in a long braid, her ears on display, her face lightly framed by a stray locke of hair. Her dress swayed as she walked- not one of Wanda’s he didn’t think, it was an older style- long and loose and a pale cream with lace detail.
“Where did you find that dress?” He asked her and she shrugged.
“It was with my other things in that-” She pointed to a trunk in the corner, “- trunk. I had forgotten about it since I had not called for it in several decades.”
He nodded and didn’t question the new appearance of it- both of them knowing she hadn’t had it when they arrived.
“You want to talk to me.” She stated and he nodded, his brows furrowing.
“Is that your telepathy telling you that?”
She shrugged, “My telepathy is relatively minor compared to others I know- I can hear surface thoughts of someone’s mind, that coupled with my empathy makes it easy to know what people want.”
His laugh was dry, “But it’s not so easy to understand?”
Her lips fell into a thin line and she nodded.
Finn sat down on the bench and she perched herself on the dresser, making it easier to look one another in the eye.
“I… don’t know where to begin.” He sighed and she shrugged once more.
“Start with the questions you may have for me. It may be easier for you.” She suggested, her head cocked very slightly to the side as she waited for him to begin.
“... Why was your mother a dancer when she’s a goddess?”
Ophelia appeared quiet and he could see her think it over before she replied.
“My mother comes in many forms- I have been raised by them all but there are some that I have very little understanding toward. The form that I take after is that of Nemain. I… have had limited interaction with her outside of being trained by her. She is not very affectionate…” She appeared to be thinking her words over.
“Nemain values one thing above all, and that is the spilling of blood. She is a goddess of war, brutal and terrifying to those she crosses. But there has always been a deadly grace to her and her fighting style is much akin to a dance. She is dangerous but almost always terrifying to the mortals she crosses. Her chief ability is to spur on her chosen ones to victory and kill off those who are unfortunate enough to be sided against her.”
She released a breath, “It makes little sense to me that she would parade about as a human- in the past she has never really felt the need to take the form of a human to fulfill her quests. I know even less about your relationship with her as she did not speak to me about you.”
He swallowed, not really wanting the answer to his next question.
“And if you had to guess why she was with me?”
Ophelia met his eyes, “There could be a multitude of reasons, I cannot speak of her feelings toward you in any way- but if I had to guess… I suppose she could have merely sought a child and you proved the best… candidate? But as I have said, I know not of her relationship with you, nor her feelings regarding you.”
Her words offered him little comfort, but he didn’t know what he was really expecting- he had barely known her for more than three weeks before he was swept up by Dahlia- his vampire sire.
But from what he remembered of her- she held a captivating allure and could make him feel like everything was heightened just by being in her presence. Her beauty, her amused smile which spoke of mischief, there had been an array of reasons why he had found himself in… well, a relationship with her.
He knew he would have fallen for her if he had stayed any longer.
But that had all faded when he had seen Dahlia and he could recall how easily he had forgotten Neve in favor of her.
Too easily.
Dahlia was made up of a mass of black curls and stunning green eyes like cut emeralds- her biggest draw had been her kindness.
A kindness that he had come to despise since he had been forcibly turned by her.
Finn blew out a breath.
He glanced back at Ophelia.
“Look,” He began, rubbing the back of his neck nervously- a habit he had never managed to break.
She kept her eyes trained on him, analyzing him.
He laughed, “I didn’t mean to upset you-”
“Nor I.” She interrupted, “Caspian said that you were frustrated because my… customs are not welcomed by humanity.”
He dropped his hand back down to clench the bedding.
“‘Caspian’ huh?” He chuckled, “I’m not...I’m not normal either. None of us are. The others will get over it eventually- for me? I was thrown by it all. It’s been a long couple of days and I’ve been a little stressed. More than a little, to be honest.”
She didn’t look away from him and he kept his eyes trained not on he3r own but on the wall behind her- the pale creamy brown chipping off the cinder block walls.
He sighed, “Yeah, it’s been overwhelming but I don’t want you to feel alone here.”
He glanced back at her, “Just uh, keep the kidnapping and stealing to yourself, okay?”
Her features were still for a moment before a smile grew on her face- bright and welcome and soon enough she began to laugh, breaking the silence.
“I’ll have you know that I have never kidnapped anyone. I mean, it does happen, yes, but only about twice a decade and the mortals are typically willing. They are eventually returned here- only they have not aged a day since they left.”
He was silent as she continued.
“As for stealing? Fae steal from other fae chiefly- it has started over a dozen wars among the courts. Humans are ah- small pickings.”
Her laughter was like a tinkling of bells- pleasing to the ear and he found himself laughing along despite himself.
He would deny later that he had laughed, because it really wasn’t that funny but that radiance that drew others in around her grew three fold in those minutes that followed.
They spent the rest of the evening there- as she regaled him with tales of her court- the Autumn Court- her friends, her family, her mentor, and her mother- all incredibly dear to her, that was abundantly clear.
In those moments with her he could spot Neve even more so in her features, like her happiness cast aside all veils.
Two things for sure he knew:
One, she would fit in with his team, his family.
And two, he would give her the world if he wasn’t too careful.
ns 15.158.61.20da2
