The Virgin and the Fae

“Nothing,” Locke replied, a little too breathily. Charlotte tossed aside the half-eaten brioche. Paris would have to wait.

“I’m not an idiot. Besides, what does it matter if I know? I’m never going to get out of here again.” God, she hoped that wasn’t true.

Locke’s eyes narrowed, sensing her attempt at manipulation. “Garrick would never approve.”

“Garrick wouldn’t have to know. It could be our secret.” That was rather clichéd, she thought, inwardly wincing at how poorly it came out.

“He is my friend and my king. I will not betray him. Especially not to a human.” Charlotte looked at him for a moment. His response was rather expected, particularly given how botched a job she’d done of trying to get the truth out of him.

There was really no point in trying further; he didn’t seem likely to suddenly have a change of heart and tell her any time soon.

“Fine,” she shrugged, trying back to the discarded brioche. They were silent for the rest of the time it took her to finish it.

Charlotte stood, stretching her legs. It was boring here in the quiet.

“I would like to walk around,” she said. “Is that alright?”

“Yes, but I’ll accompany you. And we will stay within the castle and the wings of it that I deem are best.”

“Deal,” Charlotte replied, thinking once more of those caverns and the wing where the visiting Fae were housed. She really had no wish to see any of them.

Since she had never seen anyone other than Garrick and the Fae at the castle, she had tacitly assumed that there was no one else to see.

How wrong she was.

Outside of the room, the corridors practically bustled with small creatures, cleaning the floors and polishing the window and running around. At first, Charlotte thought they were children, no more than six or seven years old, but then she caught a better glimpse of their faces. They did have a youthful appearance and yet they somehow didn’t seem…young.

Charlotte thought of how to delicately pose the question to Locke, but eventually gave up and simply asked, “What are they?”

“Servants,” Locke replied clearly confused by her question.

“No, I know that. I mean, what are they.” Charlotte tried to stress her “what” a little more clearly this time, but seeing that he still didn’t understand, she tried a different tactic. “I’m a human. You are a Fae. And they are…” she gesticulated with her hands, trying to draw the answer out of him. Could he truly be so dense?

“Elves,” he said finally, looking at her and wondering approximately the same question.

“Elves? My God, it shouldn’t surprise me, but still…its just incredible to think, to think that this is all real.” Realization flashed across Locke’s face and he suddenly understood why she’d asked what was for him such a basic question. The human had obviously never seen an elf before.

Of course that made sense, and yet the reminder of her humanity surprised him somewhat. Though she didn’t look like a Fae woman—her features were far too soft and she herself was far too short—she had a bearing of dignity. Not confidence necessarily, but dignity.

Even when she was frightened she had had that look, as if the fear only peripherally affected her. She’d had that look often when he’d watched her with Garrick. It had only been a few times and never more than a couple minutes, but even then she’d had that look. Life seemed only to tangentially affect her.

Locke was not prone to romanticizing, but he thought she looked as if she had hidden a part of herself away where no one could touch it, and, secure in the knowledge that it was safe, conducted herself inasmuch as was required of her. Nothing could take her dignity away from her because that which made her appear so regal and icy was the absence of something.

And not even Garrick could take nothing.

Again he wondered at Garrick’s interest in the human. What would you want with an incomplete human?

“Are mermaids real?” Charlotte asked, breaking the silence, thinking of what other Grimm’s fairytale creatures might exist. Fae, check—though she did feel somewhat deceived as they looked nothing like the minature, gossamer-winged angels from the book's illustrations. Elves, check. Now, did the little mermaid also exist?

“Are what real?” Locke asked.

“Mermaids! Are they real?”

“What are mermaids?”

“What are mermaids?” She scrunched her face slightly, reflecting. “Well, they are these…these…sea creatures that are half human and half fish.” Locke looked at her with a horribly disturbed look upon his face.

“You mean…they would have had to have mated?” he asked shuddering.

Charlotte broke into a peal of laughter at Locke’s appalled face at the idea. Through her laughs, she kept trying to say, “No, they just look that way” but she had the fantastical image in her mind of a human man walking over to some giant fish and asking huskily, “Hey, baby, what’s you sign?” had that only made her laugh harder. She was practically crying when she decided the answer would have to be “Pisces.”

Charlotte didn’t realize it, but she had attracted quite an audience. Locke and the elves had stopped to watch her laugh, but three Fae had also heard the sound and followed it. They watched from the end of the corridor as the girl laughed, her entire body shaking from the force.

Her laughter stopped with a gasp when she saw them.

“Oh my God…” was all she could say. Two men and one woman stared at her with blatant desire. All she could think of now, rather than the fish at a bar, was her conversation with Locke.

Charlotte had been looked at with desire before. As much as it discomforted her, she knew she was pretty. There had been men—many men in fact—who had looked at her desirously over the years. But these looks were…covetous. And Charlotte knew—in a way she’d never known with the human looks—what it was that these Fae wanted. They wanted her happiness for their own. But there was something fundamentally abhorrent in how they would want to take it from her. An uncaring cruelty that disturbed Charlotte to her very core.

Locke wished that he could get rid of the Fae who stopped the girl’s laughing. It had been the most wonderful thing and he resented them all for taking it away from him. They were lesser nobles in any event, Locke thought, recognizing only one of the men and the woman.

If he recalled correctly, she’d been one of Garrick’s lovers for a time. But he couldn’t remember her name. Then again, it was little surprise. She was perfunctorily attractive, he thought, looking her over, but ultimately unmemorable.

And in comparison with the human girl, there was no contest. But then the human was such that she could shame most Fae women.

“Go back to your wing. You know Garrick’s rules. When you are welcome here, he will invite you.”

Clearly reluctant, they nodded and transposed. Charlotte was certain that she saw the air shimmer as they left.

It looked like a hot summer’s day on the highway when heat rose off the asphalt into the air. Charlotte learned how the process worked once. It had had to do with air densities and light refractivity. She’d understood that. This—this transposing, this traveling—she didn’t understand.

The hall began to bustle once more. The elves returned to their work with a renewed vigor, sloshing their rags into pails of water, and dragging them across the marble floors.

Charlotte felt sick. Sexual desire was one thing. Desire that could be restrained and controlled was something she was unworried around. Mark had wanted her—at least initially—that was why he’d befriended her and worked so hard to maintain that friendship. She’d known that. But Mark was…good. His desire was never—and would never be—something such that all else would fall away and he would forget that she was a human being and use her. Charlotte felt safe around him because, despite his desire, he would never harm her. He would never have forced himself upon her to satisfy his desire.

But the Fae…the Fae had a different kind of desire. They too would never forget that she was a human being, but that status meant something entirely different to them. To be a human seemed to mean that they could force themselves upon her in any way they desired and to take whatever it was that they wanted…

Locke herded her back into Garrick’s room, not trusting her in the hallways anymore. The human had attracted enough attention for the day as far as he was concerned.

She was more docile than he remembered her. Subdued in an almost unnerving way, but even more unnerving was that he knew she’d retreated somewhere inside of herself to that place where nothing could touch her.

She sat by the fire, just staring at it. To Locke, it was as if she’d shut down, becoming catatonic.

Charlotte remained like that—trying to suppress her fear and anxiety by watching the flickers of the flames—until Garrick returned.

As soon as he saw Charlotte, he knew something wasn’t right.

“What happened?” He asked Locke.

“She saw three Fae out in the hallway. I think it upset her.”

“Why?”

“Because of how they looked at her,” Locke said, implying a great deal. Garrick nodded. Of course Charlotte would be upset. After what she’d seen in the caverns, she’d no doubt imagined that was what they planned for her as well. If only she could understand. The Fae had so many different responses to humans. Violence was only one of them.

“How were the visits?” Locke asked after a moment.

“Relatively successful. Both kings are unconcerned with the goings on in my kingdom. It seems they have their own problems of political succession going on, but they both pledged support to me should unrest emerge within this country.” Garrick thought passingly of Averill. He did not trust Averill. He was too power-hungry and proud. Garrick wondered if his humiliation of the Fae would cause Averill to turn against him.

“Why did they summon you?”

“Curiosity, I assume. Its not often that we find a human who can throw off magics.”

“They aren’t worried that she’s a maiden?”

“No, Lord Oberon has driven out most of his unicorns—“

“Into our country,” Locke grumbled.

“And Lord Cronus’ kingdom is too far north for unicorns to inhabit. He wishes to meet Charlotte though. Apparently Cronus’ son recently lost his human—“

“Was he careless?”

“No, it seems that she took ill and died. In fact, he is quite bereaved at the loss. His father hopes that if he is just given a new human, he’ll stop moping. Cronus appears to believe that a human who can throw off magics is too hardy to catch a chill and die.”

“Did you tell him she was sick when you first took her?”

“Yes. Though I also told him of how even when she was in such a weakened state, I could feel her trying to throw off the magics. Cronus appeared more impressed than anything else. Now that she is healthy again, I said I doubted any simple magics could control her, which he agreed with. He is now very anxious for his son to meet her.” A ghost of a smile crossed Garrick’s face.

“You intend to give the human to them?” Locke asked, confused as to why Garrick would speak so highly of the human otherwise

“Of course not, I merely was a bit prouder than I should have been over Charlotte and found myself bragging too much. But, while I can refuse giving Charlotte away, I cannot—without good reason—refuse introducing her to Cronus and his son.”

“Perhaps,” Locke ventured, “Perhaps it would be best if you did give her to them, Garrick.” Garrick shot him a withering look.

“Is this more superstition about the unicorns?”

“No. The Fae of this kingdom are agitated—whether they openly admit to it or not—over the girl’s presence. She isn’t worth this trouble, Garrick.”

“She is.”

“No, Garrick, she’s not. Something is wrong with her. She’s…she is broken,” Locke gestured toward the catatonic Charlotte to prove his point.

Garrick looked over as well, flicking his eyes up and down over her.

“No,” he said at last. “She isn’t broken. She’s just hiding.” Charlotte would never break, Garrick thought to himself. She wasn’t emotionally fragile enough.
“Tomorrow, Charlotte and I will travel to the north. You are in charge of the castle until our return.” Locke nodded. “Thank you for watching Charlotte. Now leave us.” With only a slight shimmer, Locke was gone.

A/N: Hopefully by the next chapter I will get to the scene I have in mind where unicorns and Charlotte's sickness will be explained more directly than they have up till now. I'm kinda making this up as I go along so if things aren't making sense or you have a suggestion for how you want things turn out, please please please let me know! Big thanks to everyone who has reviewed!!