Page 20 of Fake Dating a Human 101

That was, until she met the Lewis family. But by that time, Lily no longer believed in fairies or wishes. She believed in working hard to be a good person as a way of being grateful to the only people who’d chosen to love her. She believed in returning kindness by protecting the Lewis family.

It was why she didn’t care about anything as much as protecting Kate and Greyson from the cruel world she’d known.

As an adult, mornings in the city came with droplets of dew, a crisp chill, and the warm scent of brewing coffee. It came with eating a quick breakfast, putting on makeup, finding her badge, checking in with her siblings, and heading out to save the city from criminals. Or, more likely, saving cats stuck in trees, following up on neighbour disputes, and writing up reports.

Still. Mornings in the city were perfect. There was nothing that should have messed with them. Nothing that should have drawn her away from those moments where the troubles of the past seemed like a distant memory.

Except that something did.Someonedid.

Up until the second Luc had shown up with Shayne in his arms, Lily was sure she’d made the biggest mistake of her life in coming here.

Lily slid off the bed and reached her arm through a gaping hole in the window. She splayed her fingers as the silent silver dust balls swept by. One grazed her finger, and she slowly clasped her hand around it, pulling it into the room to study it. It looked like a tiny milkweed fluff, but it shimmered in the light and left a buzzing feeling on her palm.

Still. She thought about making a wish.

“The girl who can survive anything… can she survive us?”

Lily’s gaze darted back to the window. She peered into the woods, taking in the darkest parts of the trees. The music drifted in and out, like someone was turning their phone volume up and down, but one thing was certain; the gentle woodwind instrument was louder and clearer than it had been last time. Whatever this music was, it was getting closer.

“Yourfriend? Ha!” Shayne’s voice lifted from the cottage’s living space. Lily’s stomach tightened at the sound of that voice, the one she hadn’t heard in months. The one belonging to the person she came into this horrid, magical world to find. And now, by some miracle, he was here.

He’d been sleeping for a full day and night, barely even moving.

But now he was awake. And yelling.

Lily shoved the fluff out the window and headed for the bedroom door.

“Believe whatever you like, North Fairy. Dranian and I even have a dog together.” Luc sounded like he’d rather be doing anything in the world than having this conversation.

“Don’t speak for Dranian, you flappy-lipped fox. Dranian Evelry is a mighty fae warrior who singlehandedly assassinated the Low King of the Third Region’s Shade Forest with nothing but a handful of mud! He can speak for himself.”

“It was poisoned mud.” Dranian’s murmur reached Lily as she came into the living area. The bedroom door squeaked closed behind her. “So it wasn’t that difficult—”

“Quiet Dranian, I’m telling off this fox for you…” Shayne’s words fell away when he glanced toward the squeaking sound and his blue gaze landed on Lily standing there.

A flutter moved through Lily’s stomach when he didn’t say anything. When he just stared.

Two large bruises covered the side of Shayne’s pale face, and one of his eyes was set in a purple ring, but even so, Lily wanted to smile. To grab him into a hug that would be completely out of character for her. She even had one fleeting, bizarre thought to kiss him right on his busted mouth to thank him for being alive. But she cleared her throat, keeping her whole face in check.

Shayne wore a fastened, red, imperial coat-like garment she didn’t recognize. The midsection had a tear and the collar was stretched. She hadn’t been able to stand looking at him before while he was in such terrible shape, but now that he was awake, and alert, and hollering at everyone, she took in every bloody notch in his skin, every bump on his face, and especially his frown.

His frown.

Shayne never frowned…

There was a moment where everything in the room was so quiet, Lily thought she’d gone deaf.

“That…” The word was coarse when Shayne finally spoke. He blinked. He squinted. He blinked again. “…better not be what I think it is.”

The front door of the cottage opened, and Mycra—the psycho woman—walked in with a basket of gold-coloured grapes.

“Don’t you meanwhomyou think it is?” Luc sighed. “If you’re going to talk so much, you should at least learn how to speak.”

Shayne reached up and pinched his own arm. He made a face, and as if realizing this wasn’t a dream, his expression turned wild. All of a sudden, louder than a thousand police sirens shrieking in the dead of night, heshouted, “You’re not angel-Lily from human heaven?!!”

“What?” Mycra murmured by the door. She looked around like she was trying to figure out what she’d walked into.

Lily went over Shayne’s words twice in her head before she decided she had no idea what he was talking about. “Did you fall face first into an alternate reality, Shayne?” she asked. Shayne hadn’t blinked in way too long, and—why hadn’t he smiled yet?

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