Page 10 of Alpha's Embrace
He frowned and it made his face even prettier. “What do you think this place is?”
“This place? Our castle, you mean? The realm? The green sea?”
“The green sea?”
“Yes.” I glanced at the window. “You can see it from this very room!”
“The pond? Oh, we have plans to plow that over and plant a garden.”
“What?” My chest constricted to think of the destruction of such a beautiful sea. “Why?”
“It is a breeding grounds for all sorts of viruses.”
“I see.” I folded my hands in front of me, squeezing. “But where will the mermen go? And the serpents?”
He cleared his throat and said softly, “There are other seas.”
I smiled at his words. “That is true.”
“Have you always spoken of this place as your castle and kingdom?”
“Since I was a child, yes.”
“But you’re no longer a child.”
“No.”
“But again I must ask, it is how you see?”
I smiled and my eyes warmed. “I’m not like the others.”
He looked down at his tablet. “It has been noted.”
“I have studied away my hours here. There is a learning game I have access to. Several, in fact. I have received online equivalents of a high school diploma and two college degrees from it. It’s a game, I know, not real, but one of the degrees is in literature. It’s very exciting. Watching television has also helped me learn my manners, and how to speak and behave around others.”
“To do that all by yourself is quite an accomplishment.”
“Thank you.”
“You are doing very well. I didn’t know many of these things about you. It’s not in your records. But finding out is part of why I’ve now decided to learn more about you.”
“Then you already know very quickly now I’m not a fool.”
His eyebrows rose. “I never said you were.”
“But you want to know why I see this place as I do. Let me ask you a question, Your Grace. If you were in my predicament, where the world was the breadth and length of your single room and the tiny yard out back to which you were allowed out once a day, how do you think that might feel to you?”
“It is a difficult life, I know.”
“No. You work here, but you don’t know. Not really. But humans can be very adaptable creatures. We have fantastic coping mechanisms. I know I do. I trained my eye to see the beauty in anything. It’s like exercising a muscle. You get stronger every month, every year if you continue to do it. Now I see what I wish when I wish. It’s a gift. I feel lucky.”
“I would agree you have been very adaptable to the conditions of your life.”
“Unlike my brothers here, I can reason and understand. I can open my tablet to worlds they cannot comprehend. I am very aware that most of them cannot even read, let alone speak. But I’m different. I have a lot of time to think, and to build my own world in my head. If you think that is strange, or an insane side effect of being a Sylph, I suppose that is fair. But it has kept me alive. And sane. For the most part.”
He took a deep breath as though about to speak, then let it out in a slow whoosh.
“I see you are at a loss for words.” I wanted to laugh.
