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LILY
Of course, despite my intention of never leaving the Fae Realm again, I did have to make at least one exception. I had to meet with my daughter, Amy, to talk to her about her father’s death.
She’d flown back home to see me and attend his funeral—which was more of a memorial since there was no body to view—just an urn filled with his charred ashes. I made sure to wear a black dress and a hat with a veil to cover my face so I could attend.
Christopher’s little blonde “Honey-bunny” was nowhere to be seen, I noted. She must have decided to cut her losses and move on. Chris Junior was there, but he left right after the service. There were a few other friends and colleagues who expressed their condolences, but most of them knew that Christopher and I had been through a messy divorce and they didn’t stay to talk long.
Amy’s eyes were red from crying as we sat across from each other in a diner afterwards. It was a cute little local place that I always used to take her when she was younger and I wanted us to have some mother/daughter time.
Of course, I wasn’t there alone, though my daughter didn’t know that. Sitting in the back booth were Sel and Krynn, both wearing baseball caps to cover their pointed ears and shield their faces. I had also taken a tiny sip of Lady Nolana’s blood so I could use some of her “don’t notice me” magic, as she called it. That helped hide them, though it was nearly impossible to make two huge Fae completely disappear.
“It’s just us now, Mom—you can take off your hat,” Amy said, leaning across the table to take my hand. “I missed you—I was so worried when Daddy said you two had divorced.”
I still hadn’t told her all the details—as horrible as Christopher had been, I didn’t want to make Amy hate her father—especially now that he was dead.
“I missed you too, sweetheart,” I told her, finally daring to lift my veil. I had used some of Lady Nolana’s magic powers on myself as well—trying to make my face look more “normal.” But somehow, Amy saw right through it.
“Mom!” she gasped, her green eyes going wide. “What did you do? Did you have some work done? You look amazing!”
I couldn’t help smiling at her response, though I was a little worried that my magic hadn’t worked on her. Maybe it was because we were in the Mortal Realm, not the Fae Realm, I speculated. At least my fangs were small enough not to attract a lot of attention. They tended to get longer when I was feeling the Thirst, but I had drunk from both Sel and Krynn before going to the funeral, so I wasn’t thirsty at all at the moment.
“Yes, I did have some work done,” I told my daughter, since it was the easiest explanation.
“But how did you afford it?” she demanded. “Chris Junior told me that Daddy didn’t give you hardly anything when he left you.” My shock must have shown on my face, because she nodded. “Yeah, I know what a jerk he was to you. There are some things I’ll miss about him, but the way he treated you isn’t one of them.”
I had no idea how my son had found out how badly my ex had treated me—or when he had told my daughter. But it was a relief not to have to lie to her. Well, not about that, anyway.
“It’s true—your Dad didn’t leave me much,” I said carefully. “But, well, I’m in a new relationship now. Also, I have a new job so I have more resources.”
“Wow, a new relationship and a new job? Who’s the lucky guy?” she asked eagerly.
I smothered a smile.
“Nobody you know, hon. But we’re very happy—a lot happier than I was with your Dad,” I admitted.
“Okay, I understand if you want to keep it quiet.” She nodded. “But what about the new job? What are you doing?”
“I’m in management,” I said, which wasn’t really a lie. It was just that I was managing a whole kingdom, rather than say, a retail store. But of course, I couldn’t tell my daughter the details. “It’s a great position,” I added. “I’m really happy there.”
“You look really happy.” Amy smiled and squeezed my hand. “I’m so glad for you, Mom! You deserve some happiness after the way Daddy treated you.”
“Just don’t let yourself get into the same kind of situation I was in,” I told her. “Finish college and work on your career before you think about a family. Don’t depend on a man to take care of you.”
Amy’s pretty face grew serious.
“You don’t have to worry about me—I’m part of the 4B movement.”
“The what?” I frowned and shook my head. “What’s the 4B movement?”
“Oh, it’s something that started in South Korea,” she explained. “The women there were so oppressed by the patriarchy that they decided they didn’t want anything at all to do with men.”
“Really?” I raised my eyebrows. “Well what do the four ‘Bs” stand for?”
She laughed.
“Actually, it’s four Korean words I can’t pronounce. But it means no dating, no marriage, no sex, and no babies.”
“Wow…” I shook my head. “Aren’t you kind of young to swear off all of that? I mean, you’re still in college, Amy.”
