71 You Are Repulsive

Dorian let out a horrible laugh. "So this is what you were hiding. I would be impressed if I was not so furious with you. You are going t—what on earth is wrong with your skin?!"

Ruby's vision had gone a bit hazy from the pain but she looked down and saw that her glamour had come off. Great. Just what she needed right now on top of everything else. This evil vampire had to go and see her true form.

"Nothing is wrong with it," she said weakly. "And it doesn't always look exactly like this…my appearance changes at random."

The vampire's nose wrinkled and he made the same sort of disgusted face Flint and Ruby had when they discovered her secret. "You are repulsive. I did wonder why you would prefer looking like a filthy human but now I understand."

Such a comment didn't even sting since it was coming from someone she held not one ounce of respect for. Ruby was used to this sort of thing by now. She didn't bother to dignify that with a response.

She already knew she was repulsive. It was the primary reasons she kept her glamour on even after Ash figured out how her powers worked. At that point hiding it was more about vanity than protection. Because she knew that no one would ever accept her the way she was.

Ruby was a chameleon of the worst sort. The size and shape of her features and her wings remained the same no matter what but as for everything else…she was a patchwork of ever-changing colors and patterns related to gems and other rocks.

Her mother told her once that she got her name because she was primarily red when she came out. Not reddish like a human newborn but RED and shiny like her namesake.

That was the only instance she knew of where everything matched. She tried to avoid mirrors if she could help it and never took pictures of herself once cameras became popular. She hated this ugly, changeable nature of hers because of the way other people looked at her.

"I will make you regret lying to me, you disgusting fairy," Dorian said making the same repulsed face as before. "I cannot alter the terms of the deal that allow you to raise the baby fairy 'normally' but your nights shall be terrible indeed."

Ruby wasn't sure how to feel about that. Relief that Flora wouldn't be affected? Horror that she had been exposed? Dread for what else he might do to her for daring to defy him? Some mixture of all three?

The sun was starting to come up now so she was allowed to return to her room but she was terrified of what she would face after Flora went to sleep later tonight. Despite her raging thoughts, she fell asleep the moment she hit the pillow back in her room only to be awoken forty minutes later because her cousin wanted to play.

He had caused her serious pain and summoned millions of dollars' worth of jewels but didn't seem to have made the connection about minerals yet. That particular secret was safe for now.

She desperately hoped that Ash managed to break in and complete his revenge so she could be free before Dorian did something worse to her. Or decided to go back on the deal completely and involve Flora.

Ruby had harbored no thoughts of being rescued at all until she heard her friend was here. She thought she would be stuck in a cycle of relatively safe boredom for the next century and that was as good as it was going to get.

Now she was in genuine fear for their safety. Ash's arrival had angered Dorian and he was taking it out on her.

This was partially her fault for hiding her true power but why would she purposely do more than she had to when it involved helping a psychopathic vampire?! Even if he hadn't killed Flint and Lily or used Flora to threaten her, what he did to Ash's coven was more than enough reason to hate him.

Her sweet, sort of goofy friend hadn't deserved to go through something so horrible. She couldn't even imagine being the only one left alive after such a massacre. And yet he still somehow managed to laugh and smile at dumb things she said or did.

Dorian claimed Ash was weak but that wasn't true at all. He simply didn't comply with conventional perceptions of strength. Mentally and emotionally, he was a thousand times stronger than any vampire here. He was the best fae she ever met.

Ruby sighed and turned toward Flora's makeshift swing. For a split second in the distance she thought she saw a couple of werewolves but her eyes may have been playing tricks on her.

Were they here with Ash? He was probably asleep right now like most of the vampires here in the castle were.

Her heart ached. He was so close and she still couldn't see him. She wasn't sure he would even want to see her if he could; he might be too angry about how she had left without a word. She didn't know what she would say to him either.

'I'm sorry'? 'I didn't mean to break our deal'? 'I didn't want to leave you'?

The last one was painfully true but Ruby didn't know if she could ever admit it out loud. She really hadn't wanted to leave him. She enjoyed being around Ash more than anyone else but it would be horribly selfish of her to admit that.

Before everything went wrong, he admitted he wanted her to visit occasionally. Which meant the temporary arrangement they came to where she stayed at his castle was always meant to end. It wasn't her home; she was merely a visitor.