Rainbow Comet Chapter 7

“I’ll always believe you.”

Flynn

I kind of hate watching Brett on his bride hunt.

I said this wasn’t love, and it isn’t, but I hate seeing how not into any of them he is and how none of them seem to care.

Does his kingdom even care? Are kings and queens not even meant to be together?

Brett is gay, I’m sure of it. He’s so princely and kind, and so handsome. Each new queen he’s introduced to wants to take advantage of every moment to get close.

Some accept his hug, some even try to kiss him. He accepts it all with grace he would probably call kingly.

I would call it being a pushover, at the moment.

His face is dotted with lipstick on all parts of his cheeks and forehead by the time he finishes introducing himself to all of them, and some of his mushroom emissaries lead them away to show off the court.

At least they sensed he needed a short break from them.

But I didn’t see him eye any of them with interest, I think in a smug way that makes me not too proud of myself.

After all, we both know how this is going to end.

With me making a wish and him taking a queen.

And us getting each other to our goals safely.

As friends, nothing more.

But gods, I feel something as those eyes turn on me. And he does too, based on the static in the air.

“Walk with me?” He asks, gesturing toward a set of open double doors that lead out to a courtyard, the exact opposite direction of where the queens are being led.

I nod, and we head out into the sunlight. Rainbow grass sways in the wind, and the light purple sky, tinged with blue at the horizon and green at the top, glows over us, soft and relaxing.

I hear it’s the king’s job to set the ambiance, to create the world. If so, Brett and his father have done a beautiful job.

“You like it here?” He asks, walking relaxed with both hands behind his back. He’s wearing blue robes today, which make his eyes look even more gorgeous.

He’s truly the most beautiful man in the world. If someone was going to pop my gay cherry, I’m glad it could be him.

No one could even blame me. I bet he’s had warriors come onto him before.

The thought makes me frown.

“What has you bothered?” He asks, turning that handsome face toward me, making me go all warm again.

“Nothing,” I say, feeling so transparent when he’s around.

“Still feeling okay after last night?” He asks.

I nod.

“Is there anything else I can help with?”

I shake my head. “I should be helping you.”

He leads us over to a bench and sits down, taking up most of it. I slide onto the end, trying not to touch his generous hips and thighs. I’ll melt again if I do.

“Then help me know what to do. How should I choose one queen?”

“What do you mean?” I cock my head. “What kind of thing is that to ask me?”

“You’re my friend,” he says, cocking his head back at me, as if in gentle mockery. “You should know what type would be good.”

“I’m not sure any type would be good,” I mutter.

I expect him to be indignant, but he just sighs.

“Lately, I do have trouble being present with any queens. It could be due to my trauma in the human world, where I was raped and imprisoned by someone pretending to be my mother.”

I sit up abruptly. “You what?”

He shakes his head. “I was taken on a mission, separated from my father by a woman he thought he could trust. I was young at the time, though this was after our human mission. Well, sort of in a different timeline. Different dimension.” He frowns, and his body is oddly rigid. It makes me want to hold him, and I’m not the one to want to usually give comfort. It’s just not me.

“So what happened?”

“She wanted hypergamous seed, so she was trapping high fae men on earth, when they came there to help after hearing distress signals. She was working with technolichs to trap them with brain implants, brainwash them, steal their children to use against them, since some can be influenced by their children and not attack them, though we have changed that now.”

“Sounds complicated.”

“Anyway, I was raped thoroughly, over and over, and though I did my best to get through it for the sake of the mission, which was to entrap and eradicate all rapists…” He rubs his hands over his arms. “I admit it has left me reticent to trust women.”

“Just women?” I say.

“They have a different way of raping. One that is much harder for me personally, since I could not be physically overpowered. They have mind control and ways of forcing you, while convincing everyone you want it. That is it consensual. Forcing the shame all on you, and portraying you as a predator if you dare to fight back.” He looks down at his hands. “And there is the fact that she used to punish and eat gay people. And castrate them.”

I’m surprised he is being so frank with me.

“I have travelled to many worlds and suffered many things, training for kingship,” he says, meeting my eyes with serious blue auroras. “But the things I went through on that planet. The way I suffered and no one believed me…the way even my father didn’t know I was being hurt…I still bear heavy wounds. I do not think I had recovered from that sufficiently when I found out I had to succeed my father.” He looks cold, and I don’t know how to warm him.

If only this fire fae did.

“I wonder if I still have too much chaos in my heart,” he says, looking away, still lost.

“I want to find her and kill her,” I say.

“Too late,” he says. “She can no longer die.”

I sit up straight. “What?”

“On that earth, while feeding on immortal children, she gained something called cursed immortality. She will now exist forever, albeit in a state no one would ever want. Ever envy.”

“What is that? I’ve never heard of it.”

“You know how when someone eats a mythic, they are cursed?” He asks.

“I have heard a few things about it, since we had to make bans against cursed people entering the fire realm.”

“Well, this ‘mother’, if you want to call it that, saw curses as something to get out of, rather than the warning they are. Most curses are a trick, a way for the gods involved to tell you to stop what you’re doing. To die and go to hell and make contrition, before it’s too late for even your soul.”

“So what happens when you don’t listen?”

“The worst thing you can imagine,” he says. “Something I only discovered very late in my training. And never thought would happen to someone I called a mother. She will be in outer darkness forever, along with those she is bonded to.”

“But not you?” I ask, heart pounding.

“Only those who willingly and knowingly ate what she did. Only those who like her, knew there were curses and actively did and ate even worse things to get out of them, till there was nothing left to eat.” He shrugs. “I never made a consensual bond with her, and though one of my friends did, he wasn’t of age for it to matter. But she did take many people with her. It was terrifying.” He shrugs again, just one shoulder this time. “Though I suppose they deserve it.”

“It sounds like it,” I say. “Mythics are utterly innocent. They help everyone.”

“I know,” he says. “Anyway, when I lived as Robyn, that was the girl I played after they gelded me in human form while my fae spirit was trapped, I was a unicorn. I went with trained spirits to play my children, and I thought I could handle it all, for the sake of ending rape. I was so angry at my almost rape that Avery saved me from, you know.”

“I know.” I wish I had been there to kill that bitch instead.

“Swears,” he says, and I flush, realizing he is hearing more of my feelings. “Anyway, I’m sorry to put all of this on you, but I felt it was fair to tell you. After all, she will always be out there, always suffering, always trying to reach me, even long after I died as Robyn. And the people she took with her…I still hear the echoes of their cries in hell.”

I lean against him, putting my head on his shoulder, hoping it can warm him. I’m not used to giving comfort, but I want to right now. “Someday, maybe you won’t hear them anymore.”

“Maybe,” he says. “But I tried so hard to save them.”

I glare up at him. “But they were rapists.”

“I wanted to catch rapists and end rape, it’s true,” he says. “But the humans with her…I did not wish cursed immortality on any of them.” He sighs. “Toward the end, she was raping me almost daily, mostly using dreams and mind control and forced orgasm, to open portals and cure her conditions. But the rape was only hastening her curses, because it is forbidden.” He clasps his hands. “That is partly why orgasms are complicated for me now. Partly because I never want to have them anymore, because they remind me of chaos…of being forced and having no one believe me. Partly because they have power I don’t understand, for her to use them like that.”

I put a hand on his arm. “I’ll be there while we figure it out together. And thank you for telling me.”

He nods. “Thank you for understanding.”

“I don’t, not completely. Gods, it sounds terrible. I’m sorry she betrayed you. I’m sorry no one believed you or was there for you. But you’re so incredibly strong, Boreas. And I’m glad she’s locked away somewhere in hell forever. Whatever this cursed immortality is, I’m sure she deserves it, simply for raping someone as amazing and innocent as you.”

“I’m far from innocent,” he protests.

I shake my head, still leaving it on his shoulder. “No,” I say. “You’re the most innocent being I’ve ever known. I don’t think you have a mean bone in your body.”

He cocks his head. “I think that’s why she chose me. She thought I wouldn’t fight back. Like that woman with the pie in the bedchamber last night.”

I peer up at him. “Would you have?”

He nods. “I was about to knock her over when you came in. Either that or run through a portal and fetch the guards to come back.”

“But not call me?” I ask.

He shrugs the shoulder I’m not resting on. “I suppose it’s still hard to ask for help. I’m supposed to be able to do anything.”

“Call for me,” I say urgently. “Ask for me. It’s nice to be needed.” I grin. “And if you hear that ghoul and her lost souls screaming in hell, you just call and I’ll be there.” I put a hand over his. “I’ll always believe you.”

He smiles down at me, his eyes so warm despite the icy color. “Thank you, Flynn. You don’t know what it means to me.”

I frown. “So this chaos thing. You feel you aren’t healed, and it hurts your ability to choose a queen?”

He nods. “I still think they all will be hiding another side, like her. She seemed so gentle and motherly. I never saw the other face coming. I get why no one believed me.” He looks to the side. “I still wonder if she will escape somehow, even though she’s a moldering pile of sludge that can’t even move, can’t even scream except psychically any longer.”

The horror of it makes me shudder. “As I said, she deserves it,” I say. “For hurting my best friend.”

He beams at me. “I’ll try to remember that. It is hard not to feel like it’s my fault.”

“Never was, never will be,” I say. “You know I understand that women can rape.”

He nods. “I don’t know what was worse, being Brett or being Robyn. But that woman I called mother, she was allowed to slander and hurt both constantly, and it makes me fear that no matter my form, people can hurt me down to my soul and get away with it. I don’t know how to be vulnerable again. And I will be vulnerable to whoever I choose as queen. She will be able to make wishes for me.” His hands twist in his lap. “I won’t be able to make them for myself.”

I squeeze his hands again. “Then we will have to make sure she is worthy,” I say. “We will have to come up with tests. And I’ll be there every second of the way.” I sigh. “Is there no way to delay this?”

His eyes glisten slightly, like he’s trying to hold tears back. “I fear not. My father is fading.”

“Is that like death?” I ask.

“Essentially,” he says. “It is partly my fault. He was weakened by trying to find me. By hearing her lies about me. By so many things that happened because I was trying to catch the gods that get away with rape on the lesser worlds where no one sees. I wonder now if it was worth it.”

“You’re the wisest man I know, Brett,” I say. “I know you did the right thing. Your kingdom loves you, your father loves you. Perhaps this is just the natural way of things.” I take both of his hands in mine. Gods, he’s warm. Not just the feel of him, but his energy. His ability to love, the way it just radiates off of him. “And I believe you will find the right person. The right queen. I believe fate couldn’t do otherwise, for such a good king. You deserve it, after so much unhappiness.”

“You give me happiness,” he says, leaning in to touch his nose to mine.

I gently nuzzle back, then pull back self-consciously, wondering if someone can see.

“I’ll ensure you find the right queen,” I say. “I won’t go until you do. Till I know you’re safe.”

Sadness reaches his eyes, but he nods hesitantly, giving me that impression he is already trying to cheer himself up.

“It’s going to be okay, Brett,” I say. “Most queens aren’t like her. You’re going to have a happy ending, I just know it.”

He beams at me, happy again. “If you say so, Flynn, I believe it.” Then he looks around us, putting a hand over his stomach. “Now, I believe if you’re ready to accompany, I may be ready to seek out lunch.”

I laugh, standing and pulling him to his feet. “Sounds good to me, your majesty.”