Courts and Cabals 2 G.S. D'Moore (the little red hen read aloud .txt) 📖

“When we first met,” Lark looked annoyed that she was rushing him, “I told you I was the right hand of the Queen, sent to this realm as the first liaison, falsely accused of being corrupted, and then banished from the Faerie Realm,” he recounted, and I nodded. “I did leave out a little part. Once they made my brother the Satyr Prince, I might have led a little rebellion to try and retake my rightful place,” he shrugged like it was no big deal.

“The rebellion failed, and I was cast back out, but the tales of the fighting were all the rage for an eon afterward. Like I said, some drunk Fae was talking about it in a bar in this realm’s Middle East a couple thousand years ago. A guy hears it, scribbles stuff down, and the next thing you know, I’m a footnote in the most famous book ever written. Something that gets horribly overblown over the next few thousand years.”

“Most popular book ever written? What . . .?” realization hit me harder than Peter’s fist. I felt like I stopped breathing for a second. “Failed rebellion . . . cast out . . .” it all made sense, and it utterly terrified me. These things around me were so much greater than I’d thought forty-eight hours ago. They crossed so many cultures, and in Lark’s case, was the literal embodiment of evil.

“I don’t know where they came up with the name Lucifer. The Fae at the bar probably called me Lark and it was lost in translation, or he was too plastered, or both; but,” Lark added when he saw my face pale, “I never rebelled against the Queen. That part is important. Thinking that my brother is God was a stretch, but I guess it fits the narrative too well for the writer to pass it up. If anything, Puck is the monotheist’s Michael to Maeve’s God; but it’s all just a bunch of bullshit anyway,” he concluded, and shot a glare at Venus.

“What?” she asked innocently.

“Now the boy is never going to like me. You always do this,” he stamped his hoof hard enough to cause more damage. “You tell every new person that I’m literally the devil, and then no one wants to come to my poker night.”

“No one wants to come to your poker night because you cheat,” Venus fired back, but she was grinning from ear to ear.

“Cheating, you want to talk about cheating . . .” the two devolved into an argument about something that happened six hundred years ago, and I just sat there stunned.

“What the hell have I gotten myself into?”

***

“So, you’re the devil, Lucifer, the morning star,” I stated. I don’t know how much time passed, but Venus was gone, and Lark just stood there next to me.

“I’m Lark Cottonclove, and I should have been the Satyr Prince. I can’t help the stories humans told thousands of years ago, or continue to tell themselves today. Honestly, I didn’t even think it was a thing at the time, but then, the Church sprang up around the carpenter boy, and grew like a weed until it had barbs in everything,” he shook his head over a missed opportunity.

“You were the snake in the garden that tempted Adam?” I tried to remember my Sunday school lessons.

“No,” the Fae’s face brightened. “If anything, I was Adam in that scenario,” he stated. “I was new to the “garden” aka the mortal realm, and sent by “God” aka Queen Maeve. The serpent is definitely Venus, who also might be Eve, but none of this stuff with a tree and forbidden fruit ever actually happened. It’s all a cautionary tale,” he shook his head. “The only think I chowed down on was Venus’s pussy; so, if that’s the fruit from the tree of knowledge people are talking about; then it was quite educational.”

“Okay, enough,” my head felt like it was about to explode. “Is anything even real,” I muttered to myself.

“Some of it,” Lark replied, “but probably not as much as you want,” he shrugged. “History is written by the victors, then us Fae went through it with a fine-tooth comb, and worked it to our advantage. We’ve been fucking with your civilization for millennia; influencing your culture, weakening your magic, and a lot of other things for our own amusement,” he shrugged like it was no big deal.

“I’m exhibit A,” he looked a little sad about that. “I fell in love with this place, and what do the Fae do . . . they turn me into the devil, and tell all humans I’m the Father of Lies. It’s genius; getting an entire population of billions to turn against someone who’s trying to help them, but that’s what Maeve does.”

A small smile turned up the Fae’s lips, and I noticed he did that whenever he talked about this Maeve. Whoever she was, she still held the respect of someone she’d royally fucked in the ass. That was some awesome power.

“I’m going to tell you something you probably already know deep down in your gut, but this will drive it home. Humans are kind of the running joke of the realms, no offense.”

I took a ton of offense to what he said, but that didn’t stop him.

“You’re a really young species, and your grasp on magic is rudimentary for ninety-nine-point-nine-nine-nine percent of your mages. Ever since you climbed down from the trees, and started walking on two legs, one superior race or another has been yanking your chain. You’re weak, easily manipulated, and very short lived. Everyone looks down on you.”

“Well, fuck you too,” I shot back, but all that got out of him was a laugh. “We’ve done some pretty big things,” I countered.

“Oh sure, all your science,” he made it sound like he was talking about ghosts