A World Of Treason and Tides

Chapter 38: Be angry, Not Stupid

Leaning down, Tarina gave Laurel a peck on the lips. Then, she turned to me. “I hope you feel comfortable here.”

I nodded.

“Good.” Tarina sat down on the couch, diagonally from me. “I always thought,” she started, “that humans could lie.”

“We can.” I tried to refrain my fingers from fidgeting, but to my dissatisfaction, I squirmed a little in my seat. I could not even discern what I was afraid of for I hadn’t harmed anyone.

Tarina saw my reaction to her sudden interrogation but chose to ignore it. “Then why didn’t you lie about why you came here? You could’ve just told us Aeron was searching for you,” she crossed her legs at the ankles. “You didn’t need to actually make him come after you.”

“How…” No further words came out of my mouth—how did she know…was she going to send me back to the Kingdom of Water?

Tarina pointed at my hair. “There is dried up fluid, most likely of a serpent, in your hair,” she said.

My hands went to the strands of my hair, examining them. My fingers scraped over something rough between the strands above my ear, but it wasn't too rough — quite normal, actually, given the circumstances.

“Oh, there it is…faded,” Laurel chimed in. “Almost blended in with your hair colour. Tarina, you had to have an eye to notice that.”

“I am trained to notice these things, Laurel.”

Tarina looked at me, waiting for an explanation.

I drank some water, the coolness of it a nice sensation down my dry throat. “You could’ve easily checked if I lied,” I said, “I had to do it — I was afraid I was going to be sent back for lack of a valid reason. What was I to do underwater? I could not sit and hope all day.” I gulped down some more water. If they saw that I had no choice than to come to the Village of Magic, then they would let me stay there, I had thought the previous night, before going to the City.

Tarina swung an arm over the armrest and leaned back on the couch. “Fair point,” she said, her voice calm and controlled. “Still, you could have come here and see what happened, made us let you stay here if we wanted to send you back. An argument or even a fight with us certainly would’ve been safer than fighting that creature.”

“I didn’t mean to encounter the serpent,” I made a meek attempt at defending myself. “I wanted to go to the City.”

Tarina raised an eyebrow. “That was a worse decision,” she said.

“Tarina…” Laurel moved forward and rested her palm over her girlfriend’s thigh. Tarina looked at her once, then again turned her full attention to me.

Frustrated, I said the first thought that came to my mind, “I did what was necessary. I don’t see any reason why you would be concerned about my welfare.”

“We are kinder than you think, Venus.” Tarina smiled.

“My experience says otherwise.”

Tarina leaned towards me. “Your experience isn’t much.”

Laurel made a thwarting sound. “What Tarina means to say is,” she started, “Evilness exists everywhere. Yes, you had certain bad experiences, but there are others here, maybe even some fae, who will care for you. Moreover, most of the fae are interested in messing with the humans in the human lands.” Laurel shrugged. “They want to bring your kind here, but once they do so, they don’t care much.”

I played Laurel’s words over in my mind. I didn’t know the fae liked to bring humans here from our land. I swiped my palm across my face. Her other words were true too; except for some taunting and occasional cold glances, I was ignored by most of the creatures of Odalis.