The Virgin and the Fae

A/N: Hi everyone! So so sorry about the long delay between updates. School and work stuff has just gotten so crazy. But I have not abandoned this story and have already started work on the next chapter. I am still very very unsure of where this story is going, so any requests, suggestions or comments would be very very helpful. As always, please review!


“Garrick, there is nothing to be done,” Kaelyn said as she shimmered into the library the next morning. “She is a human and she has to compete. I don’t understand why this is even a problem. Hugh has competed once before and survived. Your human is…resourceful enough to do the same.”

In truth, Kaelyn rather hoped the human would die during the Day of the Fallen. She did not particularly dislike the girl—on the contrary, her feisty performance the day before had almost—almost—endeared her to the Fae—but the girl was more problematic than she would like. Trouble was emerging among Garrick’s subjects. She had spoken with Locke just that morning to share the new news of Averill’s dissention.

It appeared that the Fae was capitalizing on the Central Kingdom’s silent fear of the unicorn legend, circulating hushed rumors of Garrick’s intention to use the girl to despotically control all three kingdoms.

Locke had snorted during the account, declaring that Garrick would rather bed the human than act as sole monarch.

And from the way Garrick stared at the human, Kaelyn didn’t doubt it.

For the first time she attempted to fully appraise the girl.

She wasn’t nearly as attractive as Fae women, Kaelyn thought, though there was a sort of vitality about her that Kaelyn hadn’t noticed before.

And she was amusing to watch when she let her guard down.

Her face seemed to constantly alter in response to her thoughts—causing a kaleidoscope of subtle changes in the slant of her eyes or the quirk of her lips—before she would remember to compose her features into an expression of blank neutrality.

She could control everything, except her eyes, Kaelyn realized finally. No matter how dispassionate an expression the girl affected during their conversation, her eyes belied her distrust.

And they were lovely eyes.

It took Kaelyn much longer to admit that then it did for her to notice it.

Full, dark lashes framed wide eyes with an attractive upswept lift at the outer corner. Brown irises with flecks of gold and green rung around with a brown so dark as to almost appear black.

Kaelyn watched as they blinked open and closed, open and closed several times before returning her attention to the conversation at hand.

Garrick and Locke seemed to have finished arguing at last. Perhaps now the men could finally be sensible about matters, she thought wistfully.

Charlotte’s shoulders relaxed the moment Kaelyn’s attention turned elsewhere. It had been unsettling to have the Fae stare at her so openly without feeling free to acknowledge it.

With a soft exhale of breath, Charlotte looked around the room. Another library, though not at all like hers. This one was certainly Garrick’s. It was very masculine in design with large, straight-lined furniture and a darkened palate. And unlike her library, this room had no windows, pretend or otherwise.

Hugh sat at Kaelyn’s feet, a look of soft contentment on his face.

He reminded Charlotte of a well-behaved spaniel or Labrador. Her eyes scoured Hugh for injuries of any kind. There were wide bruises that encircled his wrists; parts deep purple and other parts yellow-brown in color. Old and new bruises, she thought sadly.

But otherwise she could make out no real injuries. No doubt the cuts from the whip were still present, though they would have scabbed over.

Charlotte felt a flicker of revulsion pass over her face at the thought of the placid Hugh being whipped. And then another when she realized what the bruises could have been caused by: straining against manacles. No doubt to render Hugh all the more complacent.

“Why is it so important that I not compete?” Charlotte asked suddenly, turning her attention away from the abused…was he abused? Garrick had hinted that is was consensual. But why would anyone consent to….

Kaelyn tried to share a look of annoyance with Locke over the human’s direct address of them, but Locke seemed oddly unconcerned. Her eyes narrowed. So he too was becoming attached to the girl.

“It can be a dangerous competition. It changes every year but there are frequently human casualties. Sometimes more than a few,” Locke responded.

“I thought this was just a race. How hurt can someone get in a race?”

“The competition has its own perils, but mostly the humans that do not finish fast enough are killed for shaming their master.”

“And is my ‘master’ planning to kill me if I twist an ankle?” Charlotte asked in a saccharine tone, turning to Garrick.

“No—“ Garrick began.

“Then I just try not to fall into any pits or whatever this race has, and I’ll be fine.”

“Human,” Locke began. “I do not think you understand. This is not the kind of race in which you simply line up and run. This is a contest of skill—of strength or speed or agility, whatever it is that the Elders Council determines they wish to test—and in the competition there are obstacles—“

“No, I understand perfectly. I am to compete in a contest that none of us know anything about the format of; and in the process, I run the risk of dying. Fine.”

“Fine?” Garrick repeated.

“Yes, fine. Why not? Hugh did it.” After having learned more about Hugh yesterday and today, Charlotte felt that if Hugh could do it, then she certainly could. So there would be dangers? Fine. She could handle ‘dangers.’

If the majority of the humans survived, then given a random sampling of the human population—assuming that the Fae did not, for whatever reason, favor disproportionately humans of above-average speed or agility, then given the appropriate Gaussian curve of the captive humans’ speed and agility indexes, Charlotte estimated that she should lie at least one, or almost one, standard deviation ahead of the mean. Although that assumed that the sample size was large enough for there to be an informative standard deviation that resulted….

Charlotte physically shook her head. That decided it. If she ever did go back to college, then she was definitely going into mathematics.

That new knowledge aside, Charlotte returned to the original reason behind her calculations. She would be above average, not by a lot, but enough to determine that statistically she faced little danger in the competition.

“When is Day of the Fallen?” Charlotte asked.

“A fortnight from now.”

Charlotte nodded and was about to try and give a rough estimate of her risk of danger assuming that there were fifty humans here, then assuming a hundred, then assuming five hundred. She supposed that she should also calculate an estimate assuming that the Fae chose physically fit humans disproportionally over unfit humans. Not an unreasonable assumption, she thought, given that they’d no doubt choose attractive humans, thus indirectly choosing humans who valued their appearance and exercised.

Then another thought crossed her mind.

“What does the human who wins get?

The three Fae exchanged looks of mild confusion.

“Why should he get anything?” Garrick asked.

Or she, Charlotte thought, reflexively.

“It’s a race. The winner of a race gets a prize.”

“Do the horses or dogs in your world receive a prize?” Kaelyn responded, ignoring Charlotte’s clear direction of the question to Garrick. The males were too soft on the girl.

“No—“Charlotte responded.

“Then why would you think a human would receive anything in ours.”

“But then why do the humans bother?”

“They don’t really have the luxury of choice in the matter.”

Kaelyn’s eyes seemed to blaze unnaturally and she took a step towards Charlotte.

Rather than stepping back, however, Charlotte took a step of her own, bringing her closer to the Fae.

Seeing Kaelyn up close reminded Charlotte of the myth of Pygmalion. A lonely sculpture who created the most perfect of women out of marble and loved her desperately, so desperately that the goddess Aphrodite herself breathed life into the cold marble.

Standing before her, even in her anger, Charlotte would have sworn that Kaelyn was the creation of Pygmalion. Every feature, every line seemed chiseled lovingly to perfection. Her jaw line, her cheekbones, the bridge of her nose, the strong column of her neck, everything had a hardened flawlessness to it.

“But the Fae whose human wins must receive something. There has to be a prize for the first place winner. If the prize doesn’t go to the human, it’s only because it goes to the Fae who entered them in the race. So what do they win?”

Locke scuffed his feet slightly against the carpet before answering.

“Quite a lot of money, actually. The three kingdoms each put up a considerable amount of money as a prize for the Fae with the winning human.”

Charlotte felt her mind was whirling.

Her back straightened.

What if her calculations had been incorrect? She had assumed average strength and intelligence, but what if all the humans the resided in this world were like Hugh? Docile, somewhat broken versions of what they had once been? That ought to put her at least a full standard deviation above what could be expected of the average, if not more. Two weeks would give her shoulder time to fully recover, and perhaps if she tried to start running somewhere….

“I asked you once if we could make a deal and you told me I had nothing to offer you. I have something to offer you know. I can win this. I will win the money for you if you give me something in return.”

“That’s impossible. You won’t win,” scoffed Kaeyln. Locke looked much less certain of that fact, eyeing Charlotte with increased interest.

“What do you want, Charlotte,” Garrick asked, ignoring Kaeyln. “I won’t send you home, not even if you win the race.”

“Make me an offer.” Let’s see how much this is actually worth to you, Charlotte thought.

“I will allow you to dictate when and where you go throughout your wing of the castle. You will attend the functions I choose and when I choose them, but you will be informed of them in advance and will have the opportunity to persuade me as to why you should not have to go, should you not desire to accompany me.”

“That’s more than I expected you’d offer,” said Charlotte, after a moment’s thought. “I’d thought you’d say something like I’d get to choose what was for dinner once a week.”

“Which already would be more than you’d deserve,” Kaelyn muttered snidely.

“But it’s not enough. I want to be allowed outside on regularly scheduled intervals as well.”

Locke looked a little panicked, worried Garrick might agree to this new proposal.

“Garrick, only if she isn’t a virgin. Tell her that the offer will stand after she has lost her virginity.”

“No,” Charlotte cut in. “This is the deal. I win and you get the money and I get to go outside—no other strings attached. I lose and I get nothing. She—“ she gestured at Kaelyn—“thinks I don’t even stand a chance in this competition, so you have nothing to worry about ultimately. Do we have a deal?”

“Yes, though you will be supervised on this excursions of yours and you will stay within the gardens’ walls.”

“Garrick!” Locke cried out in protest.

Charlotte nodded to his conditions. Fair enough, she thought.

“Yes,” Garrick repeated again. “We have a deal.”

Charlotte smiled softly.

“Alright then.”

“Alright then,” Garrick repeated, trying out the phrase.

“Garrick, perhaps the human should leave. It might be best if we discussed this in private,” Kaelyn said, her tone much calmer than Locke’s appearance.

Charlotte held up a hand to stay Garrick’s refusal.

“It’s fine. I know the way the back to my room. I’d like to clean up before lunch anyways.”

With that, Charlotte turned and left the library, shutting the door softly behind her.

“Have you lost your mind?” Locke sputtered as soon as the door was closed. “Making that deal…and you don’t even need the prize money. It’s a mere pittance compared to your—“

“I did not agree to this arrangement for money, Locke.”

“Then why? Why would you ever agree to these terms? You gain nothing from them!”

“Ah, but I stand to gain quite a bit.”

“What?” Locke yelled, casting his arms out in a gesture of hopeless frustration. “What could you possibly stand to gain?”

“Charlotte. It seems that the living conditions I had initially planned on will be too…chafing for her. As much as I’d like to keep her in my room forever, I am beginning to suspect that the tighter I hold her, the more likely she’ll be to fight back. And I cannot, I will not fight with her. If she wants freedom, then I will provide her with it—if only the illusion of it.”

“Garrick, this is ridiculous, she is a human—“ Kaelyn began.

“Yes, she is. And what does that matter?”

Garrick looked thunderous. Kaelyn flinched slightly.

“My Lord.” Kaelyn ducked her head in deference. She would not challenge him again over the human. Perhaps a different vein of conversation was in order. “But what if she harms herself? With this agreement in place, are you not worried she will become reckless?”

Garrick paused at this, as did Locke.

“I am, but she will not be so reckless as to endanger herself. She will not push herself past the bounds of reason.”

“And how do you know this?” Kaelyn taunted slightly. “Had many conversations about the inner workings of her mind, have you?”

Garrick remained stonily silent.

“Break the agreement, Garrick, there is too much at stake on both ends.”

Garrick appeared ready to respond when Hugh shifted slightly, adjusting the weight on his knees.

“He seems fatigued. Perhaps you ought to take him home,” Locke suggested, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Kaelyn nodded. Locke wished to speak with Garrick. Fine, then, perhaps he could prevail on Garrick better than she could.

“Garrick?” she asked, awaiting dismissal.

He gave it with a nod and then she and Hugh were gone.

“Locke, I’ve no desire to hear more sputtering,” Garrick began as soon as the two left. “I know the risks, but I also understand—as you would do well to—the unlikelihood of any of your concerns coming to pass. Will she win? Doubtful. If she does and is allowed outside, will she call the unicorns? No. We saw her with one and a foal at that. He would have had no time to bond with her, and besides we have no proof that the unicorns will still obey a virgin. Thousands of their generations have gone by. They may have long ago lost such obedience. Now you may stay for lunch with Charlotte and I or you may leave, but I have no wish to discuss this further.”

Locke nodded. They would have to discuss Averill some other time then, for clearly Garrick would not now be amenable.