A Court of Mysteries and Secrets

Chapter 6

My days passed by in the same way, I would get up, go to the shop and live for ten hours before going back home and sinking further into my pit of depression.

I hadn't bothered trying to find my father, it was an impossible task without a name.

I forced myself to eat a little each day, but only at night when the moon shone down on me.

Even if I wasn't in the same world as my brother, he would still see the moon. He would want me to live, to be happy.

On day eight of my apprenticeship I felt weak and a little disoriented.

I sat at the desk space Ressina had given me and began working on a piece someone had commissioned yesterday.

I had only just finished basic outlines when I began to feel dizzy.

"Fay?" Ressina asked from next to me.

"Sorry, just felt lightheaded for a second," I told her, going back to work.

"Fae don't get lightheaded for no reason, what is it?" She asked, taking my hands and turning me to face her.

"I haven't had a proper meal since I got here, I've been living on bread and cheese," I admitted, turning away.

"Fay!" She gasped.

"I was so desperate to have some familiarity in this totally new place that I bought the sketch book and pencils with the gold the refugees were given telling myself I could ration myself on bread and cheese until I earnt back enough money." I said quietly, cursing myself for my stupidity.

If I had the food, I probably would have eaten, I loved to cook before I lost everything. It would make my brother happy.

"I won't stand for this, you are coming with me and eating a meal," she told me.

"No, Ressina I couldn't ask that of you, I'm fine, really." I told her.

"You aren't asking, I'm offering, now don't be stupid, you can't have hit one hundred yet, you are still a growing child!" She told me sternly.

"Ressina, I'm sixteen," I told her, shocked.

We stared at each other for a while.

"Sixteen!" She squeaked.

"I was sixteen a month before I came here," I told her, frowning.

"But you look like an adult, how?" She asked, right, fae children aged slower.

"My mother was human, maybe only half, I'm not sure." I told her.

Honestly these days it wouldn't surprise me if my mother was fully fae and hid it somehow.

"Come on Fay, you are coming with me to eat a proper meal and I won't take not as an answer," she told me, putting her hand on my shoulder.

"Ok," I whispered.

She took my hand and closed her shop.

She grabbed two hot meals off a street vendor and handed one to me as we walked through the city.

I had no idea what this was, but it tasted amazing.

"Feel better?" She asked once I finished, I just nodded.

"Thank you," I whispered, I hated things like this, I felt like I owed something in return.

"Don't mention it, now, we should probably go back," she said with a grin.

I got quite a lot of the piece done before going home. The next day I carried on working on the piece.

"Ressina, I need to tell you something," I blurted over our lunch break.

"What is the matter?" She asked with a frown.

"I was told to come here to find my father, my biological father, but I don't know how," I told her in a rush.

"Your best bet would be talking to Feyre or Rhysand, they are really the only ones who could help you with finding him," she told me.

I nodded, I figured she would say that. The only trouble with that was that I lied to them pretty much, they thought I was a Hybern refugee.

I finished off my piece and signed the back five minutes before the customer came in.

I let Ressina deal with the interaction part of it while I picked up the next piece, she wanted me to work on.

I took that piece home with me, deciding to work on it that evening, it would give me something to do other than wallow in my own self-pity.

I drew until the moon rose, I have always wanted to fly ever since I was a little girl, and now I had wings, so I was going to learn, and my brother was going to watch.

I walked out of my door and went to the hills by my house. I began jumping off them, just trying to glide at first before I tried flapping them.

I ended up spending an hour just falling on my face. I gave in with a groan and went to ice my wounds.

I had a cool shower before falling into bed and drifting into a dreamless sleep.