Chapter 1272: The Little Fairy and Little Shadow

Eira released a long sigh and resisted the temptation to ask Selene again. She already knew how the conversation would go. Eira would ask why. Selene would become quiet. Eira would ask more directly. Selene would find some elegant way to say nothing. Eventually Eira would threaten, Selene would stare at her, and both would walk away having accomplished the magnificent feat of wasting several minutes.

She had already endured enough pain just to come here and warn the stubborn shadow before Phei returned.

That ought to count for something.

A reward, perhaps.

Preferably one shaped like an answer:

’You’re welcome, by the way. I dragged my nearly cracking body across Paradise while feeling as though celestial needles were stabbing through every inch of me so your ridiculous secret could survive another evening. The least you could do is tell me what the heck you’re hiding."

The entire tantrum remained safely inside Eira’s head Selene never heard a word.

Probably fortunate for both of them.

Then Selene glanced toward the apartment around them where Mother sat, and the sadness in her expression deepened just enough to betray what hurt most.

She would have to leave before Phei arrived.

That meant abandoning the place where her mother might appear. It meant putting distance between herself and the family she had spent weeks secretly orbiting. She could not even remain hidden nearby and watch Phei from the shadows the way she apparently had grown accustomed to doing, because True Void Sense had become too dangerous for the old arrangement.

Selene turned slightly.

She looked as though she was preparing to disappear.

Eira groaned.

A very long, very offended groan escaped her as she tilted her head toward the ceiling, as though somewhere beyond it existed a divine official personally responsible for making ancient fairies develop emotions.

Then she vanished.

Selene barely had time to react before Eira appeared beside her and her tiny hand settled upon the top of her head.

Selene froze.

Eira froze too, though for entirely different reasons; her palm remained there for one awkward heartbeat before she began gently smoothing Selene’s hair:

"Fuck, I hate this soft side of me."

Selene slowly looked toward her.

Actual surprise had broken through the girl’s usual stillness.

Eira avoided her eyes and continued stroking her hair with all the disgruntled affection of someone pretending she had been forced into kindness at swordpoint.

"Fine. Stay."

Selene’s expression shifted.

Eira finally looked at her. "Stay here. Watch your mother. Watch Master. Hide in the shadows, stare dramatically from corners, continue whatever painfully complicated nonsense you’ve decided counts as a plan. I don’t care."

That was a lie. Both of them probably knew it. Eira sighed again and let her fingers move once more through Selene’s hair before withdrawing her hand:

"He won’t see you."

Selene stared at her.

Eira immediately regretted the promise when she had reached into what remained of her power to help the Little Shadow.

The effort hurt.

Her depleted essence reacted like a dry riverbed being forced to produce another flood, and the moment Eira pushed past that emptiness, sharp agony tore through her wings and soul. Her little body stiffened while the invisible working spread around Selene, folding through concealment already granted by her Eternal Shadow Bloodline and placing something subtler around it.

Eira did not merely hide Selene more deeply.

She removed the places Phei’s new perception would naturally seize upon.

The disturbance surrounding Selene softened. The hollowness where a presence should have been ceased feeling like a suspicious absence.

Even the Void’s tendency to notice what reality had tried to swallow found less to pull against, as though Eira had taken the loose thread Phei might have caught and tucked it somewhere beyond the reach of his fingers.

It was not something she intended to maintain casually forever.

Especially not in her current state but a month or two, by then Eira would’ve recovered and keep hiding the Little Shadow until she was ready to reveal herself.

Eira’s face tightened as the last part settled.

Selene noticed immediately. "Eira..."

"I’m fine." The lie was terrible.

Eira winced so sharply that even her wings curled closer to her body.

"Fine-ish."

Selene’s eyes changed, concern joining the sadness already there.

Eira pointed at her before the girl could say anything. "Don’t. If you thank me while looking like that, I might accidentally become even nicer, and then we’re both doomed."

For the smallest moment, something almost like a smile touched Selene’s face.

That was enough.

Eira huffed, satisfied despite herself.

"There. Much better. Master can spread that ridiculous True Void Sense of his through the apartment when he comes back and, unless something changes dramatically, you can keep pretending you’re a mysterious little..."

She stopped.

Selene waited.

Eira’s eyes narrowed at herself. "...mysterious shadow person."

The almost-smile on Selene’s face became a little more visible.

"Do not laugh."

Selene didn’t.

Which somehow made Eira suspect she wanted to.

Eira pointed one final warning finger at her before turning away. "And when you finally decide to tell your mother you’re alive, I expect recognition for being unbelievably patient with this entire nonsense."

Selene’s expression softened again.

Eira saw the pain trying to return and immediately refused to let the scene become emotional enough to trap her:

"Nope. I’m leaving before you make me care about something else."

She disappeared.

The movement hurt badly enough that Eira nearly cursed halfway through the transition before a heartbeat later, she emerged inside Phei’s penthouse, directly in his bedroom.

Voices drifted faintly from the living room beyond.

His women were gathered there waiting for him to return with Melissa, curiosity and impatience creating the familiar hum of a household that had somehow become far too accustomed to Phei leaving for a few hours and returning with another catastrophe, revelation or romantic complication attached; she could feel him ascending up in the elevator.

Eira cared about none of it... she appeared above Phei’s bed, lost the final argument with gravity and dropped directly onto the mattress.

Her tiny body bounced once.

The pillows looked heavenly.

The sheets smelled faintly of Phei.

’Good enough.’

Eira crawled perhaps half the distance toward the nearest pillow before deciding the journey had become unreasonable. She collapsed onto her stomach instead, one wing sprawled uselessly to the side while the other barely managed to fold against her back.

’Sleep it is, then.’

That was the last coherent thought she managed.