Orange Roses - REVAMPED

Chapter Twenty-Three: Stupid Girls in Love Only Work in Faerie Tales

That stupid... 

I took a deep breath. 

"He's gone?" 

Ruth nodded. "To court. He said he needed to have a conversation with the princess what was going on in the market. Erasmus wasn't supposed to take over that fast." 

"So this has been going on for a bit?" I asked. "And no one decided to fill me in?" Whenever I saw Erasmus in my dreams, I knew I was going to have to talk to him about this. 

Ruth shrugged. "Not exactly. It kind of happened suddenly since the murders. Faeries got scared and Erasmus saw an opening."

He's good at that, I realized. He was also good at creating weaknesses in other courts. He created one in the Lunae Lux Court. 

"Great." I said, feeling exhausted. 

"I need to talk to you." Antonio said, butting in as I looked at him, exhausted. "It's important." 

I leaned on the casket. 

"Who let you in here?" Ruth asked. 

"Keeva, actually." Antonio said, giving her a look. "She believes in having a reasonable discussion instead of throwing garlic salt at them." 

"Just be happy I didn't have holy water!" Ruth said. 

"That won't even work!" Naomi said. "It'd just piss him off." 

"YOU! OUT!" Ruth said, putting herself between me and the woman. Her whole body stood straight and tense. 

"Naomi is my name," she said and rolled her eyes. 

"Don't care," Ruth said. "You shot at my friends and you don't get an opinion in my world after that." 

"You have to listen to her!" Antonio said. 

"Ruth has a point." I said. "She did point a gun at me. I'm not really a fan of that." 

"That wasn't the plan!" Antonio said. "You need to listen-"

"WE ASKED YOU TO TALK TO US!" I yelled. "And you kept telling us to wait! And now your plan apparently involves pointing a freakin' gun at my head." Antonio deflated and I could tell he wanted to lose his temper and roar like he did before, but he knew it wouldn't work on me. "Antonio, start talking." 

"What?" Ruth asked. 

"I want to know this whole story," I said. 

Antonio stood in front of Naomi and said, "It's a bit of a long story." 

"I like a good story." I said as Naomi folded her arms over her chest. 

Antonio glared, but tried relaxing a little by taking a breath. "Ari is my son, as I told you before. He's been my son since he was thirteen." 

"Why?" I asked. "Why take on a human kid? You don't look like the fatherly type."  

"A human with sight is rare, you know that." He said. "Even if he's manufactured-"

"He's living and breathing," Naomi snarled, "you make it sound like we're things." 

"To a lot of different creatures, you are," Antonio said, shooting her a warning glare that would've made me shutter. "And it would be good for you to remember that. Both of you." My eyes widened slightly. Naomi stuck out her tongue at me when she saw my look of surprise. "And that's how you got into this mess in the first place," Antonio said. "Humans with sight is rare. His mother was dead. His father clearly didn't want him." 

"Uhh, what makes you say that?" I asked, a little nervous to ask. 

"He beat him. Didn't your parents," he looked at Naomi, "do something similar? I can't recall."