Ryan clenched and unclenched his fingers. "Aeron," he grunted. "Aeron used spells to take away our power. Me and my mother were left with a little more than nothing. But, due to my uncle's lack of honesty, some of my father's royal powers remained with him. But my father is not a warrior— he relied upon his magic. Oh he is very good at fighting with bare hands but how useful is that to royal magic? I don't think that even swords are much useful." There was an angry glow in his eyes.

"So you decided to come here?"

"Father decided. As soon as he found out that he still had some power left, he knew Aeron would come after him, after us, and he decided to leave. I wanted to stay. My father was content to living a simple life in the human realm rather than being a prisoner in his own kingdom. But I was not. I wanted to find some way to get back our powers— I still do." Ryan's growl made me flinch.

I straightened my back and cleared my throat. "I think I understand what you are saying, but you know, I would give anything only to get back the simple life I was leading."

Ryan stared at me for sometime. "I did not mean to offend you, Venus."

I sighed. I knew that in some way or the other, he would always end up offending me— us— the humans. The faeries would never be able to understand the complexities of human life, and they would never be able to thrive in its simplicity either.

"Ryan?"

Ryan looked at me with inquisitive eyes. "Yeah?"

"Is that why you want to help me? So that you can go back to Odalis, and get back your powers?"

Ryan opened his mouth. Then closed it again. After some time of acting like a fish, he finally spoke. "Spark," he said, "Now that my father isn't here to prevent me from going to Odalis, when he and mother themselves have gone there, I also could have gone with them if I wanted. But I did not. I genuinely want to help you, Venus."

"Why?"

"Because I want you to get back with your loved ones. Because I know how it feels to stay away from what you love, and because I feel guilty—"

"—Guilty?" I asked cutting him off.

"Yes guilty. I feel guilty and responsible for what happened with you and your family. Aeron has always wanted my father, me, never you. Your kin were just a human catalyst speeding our return to Odalis."

"I—It's my fault more than yours, Ryan. If I had been more careful and had not drunk the water from that pond, none of these would have happened," I sighed, "Aeron would never have known about me."

Ryan stood up from the chair and ran his fingers through his hair. "It doesn't matter," he said, "But you must know that I shall help you, no matter what, and without any personal intentions of mine."

Saying that, he went towards the door. And I stood there, gaping at him. Before he could go out, I called out, "Wait!"

"Tell me more about you faeries," I urged, "What about this house? Did your father build this?"

Turning to face me, Ryan raised a brow. But answered my question. "My father had built his house with his magic when we surfaced here. I told him not to use up his remaining power, but he would not listen to me," Ryan let out a long sigh.

"I don't understand. Do you lose your abilities after you use them?"

"In Odalis, they are renewed almost immediately, unless of course we spend a huge amount— in that case, it takes quite some time. But here, even renewal of small magic takes a long time. That is why, I was so weak after using it to bring you water."

With that he went out of the room. Without giving me a chance to even say something.

I remained sitting for a while before opening my backpack. I took out some comfortable clothes for the night and freshened myself. But the dreadful feeling inside me would not go away. A tear rolled down my cheek. I did not even realize I was crying. Ryan was right when he told Emma that we, humans would freak out knowing about his world. Maybe if it was Emma in place of me, she would not be crying and afraid, instead be brave and strong, but I, since childhood, I had known what I wanted to do in future, what I wanted to be, but the uncertain future that then lied ahead of me made me weak.

I looked at the mirror— at my red eyes and panic stricken face. At that moment I realized that I had never faced a choice in my life— I had always planned my future and worked hard to make things go as they were planned, but now I had to go to a place where everything was uncertain— where I would have to make choices every moment. I told myself that I needed to take up that challenge for my family- my loved ones. Then, I washed my face and went to bed.

***

I heard my stomach grumbling as I woke up, and remembered I had not eaten anything the previous day. I put on a silk robe I had found in my room, and went downstairs to get something to eat. My watch said it was four in the morning, so everyone was probably asleep.

I saw half a loaf of bread on the kitchen counter. It confused me as I thought faeries did not eat bread. Nevertheless, I made myself a sandwich and was exploring the house when I heard a noise coming from a room located far from mine and Emma's room. Ryan opened the door as soon as I knocked. He already must have heard me coming. But my eyes went to the sleek, sharp knife in his hand. He noticed that and opened the door fully.

"Come on in. I know you are curious."

I went inside the room and saw dummies scattered around the room. I looked at Ryan— he was shirtless and glistening with sweat. He must have woken a long time ago. "Did you not sleep?" I asked him.

Ryan chuckled and said, "Yes, I did. Why do you ask?" Ryan gave a lopsided grin, and in turn I scowled at him.

"No reason," I said, and after thinking for a while, added, "You had mentioned that here whatever power you have, take time to get renewed—"

Ryan nodded his head.

"—Then how were you able to light the bioluminescent?"

Ryan chuckled. "Every fae can light them. We do not require special powers to do that."

I sighed. "For how long are you living here?"

"Almost two years."

"Why did you move to Cambridge?" I had the feeling that I was asking too many questions but my curiosity got the better of me.

"Let's just say my uncle wanted to kill my father and started sending monsters."

I felt bad for Ryan, but it was not that I could do anything. "Now your parents are again in their Kingdom. Do you think Aeron will kill our parents?"

"I don't know, Venus. Don't know about your kin, but mine had to go to Odalis someday, irrespective of all the dangers they might have to face. Heck, I myself would have gone," Ryan raked his hand through his hair. "I could never live here as a human knowing my Kingdom was slowly being destroyed by the lawless rule of my uncle."

I sighed, contemplating his words. Then said, gesturing towards the mess around the room, "I should probably go. You can do whatever you were doing."

"Wait," Ryan put his hand on my arm. "Come with me." I did not say anything as Ryan led me out of his room.

He took me to a room much bigger but similar to his. Dust covered everything in that room, but as soon as we entered, all the dust cleared. "This is my father's room." Ryan was staring at the huge room.

He said, "He brought some books from the kingdom, which you may want to read. Maybe, knowing a bit more about my kingdom will make you less afraid of the place."

I did not know how he knew I was afraid but I was relieved by what he said. "Thank you," I said to Ryan.

"Reserve your gratitude for later, Spark," Ryan grinned. I frowned, not understanding what he meant and went to the bookshelves.

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I hope you liked Chapter 14 of 'A World of Treason and Tides'. Do vote and comment😊

What will you prefer- human world or faerie world?