*WARNING R-18 MATURE ADULT CONTENT*
We burned Ortiz, what was left of him anyways when we went back a week later to handle the body. Even though he was no more we didn't feel any better. Now the rage was replaced with a hollow anguish. His death did not bring John or Farel back and never would have, even though we knew that. With his death though it gave me a new goal. To deal with the betrayal of Councilman Graves.
My supporter, the only one I gave information to during my investigation of Ortiz, was the puppet master of the whole operation. He had pulled my strings and gave me slack only to wrap the slack around my neck when I wasn't paying attention. He will be extremely difficult to catch in my own web..... I hear a whisper of memory in my head.
...'be cautious of what you seek, there is a greater evil playing meek, waiting to catch once you're weak, that web of theirs turns life bleak'....
The note..... they knew and warned me. But who was it that was sending the letters. When I received my gift the old Fae didn't speak in riddles. She didn't divulge any information though either. Then Thietian the fairy who Lewis was able to arrange a meeting with him for me, he didn't speak cryptically either. He was a prince and courtier of the fairies so shouldn't he have spoke like that too?
I find Lars because I have to ask with the questions running through my mind.
"Lars, the notes, you said that was how they speak in the courts right?"
"Yes Mija." He looks taken aback with my aggressive demeanor. I realize it and I lean back away from him.
"My apologies. Back to the point, the fairy I met and Thietian didn't speak to me in cryptic wording. Why would the person who wrote those notes use such phrasing of the courts, but two fairies didn't one of which I'm certain was a courtier?"
He looked me over up and down and took a seat. "Sit Mija. Please." He motions to the chair and the other redcaps who are busy sewing right now all look around at each other and get back to sewing.
After sitting Lar sighs, "I do not know everything mija, but what I do know I tell you. You have Fae blood, it truly does sound like you met our Queen Lirael and that is courtier speak when they want to say something without being obvious for whatever reason."
"Lar, my middle name is Lirael. I was told it was a family name. Do you think that is a coincidence?"
Lar lifts his hands up apologetically, "I do not know, Maria."
"Okay, I'm sorry Lar, you're busy I'll let you get back to work then." I leave and go to find Alex starting to gather certain things for the Milan trip here in just a few days.
He's pulling out designer and custom watches, men's jewelry accessories and a tray like case of different sunglasses, packing it all into a large luggage bag with boxes of shoes already placed inside.
"Hey there are some suitcases over there, if you wanted to pack some of your wardrobe ahead of time. I also want you to go through the jewelry cases over in the safe and pick out some things to wear with the outfits. If you at least look like one of them and stay by my side, I'm pretty sure no one will be stupid enough to try and talk down to you. If they are well.....the consequences are on them." Alex reassures me on the last matter from what happened the last time.
"I'm not worried about those kind of people anymore." I inform him and realize the show is still days away.
"Why are we getting stuff together now?"
"Well, Lar is showing his stuff and this year he wants to reveal and take finally take public credit for his work. With more and more of the lesser Fae being accepted by the public, he hopes that there will be room for him in the public eye." Alex runs a hand through his hair perplexed.
"You don't think the public will respond well? I mean the designers on the boat that one time seemed fine then."
"No, I don't think the public is ready yet or accepting for that matter. In private functions, yes those designers know the truth, and accept it. However, I do not put much faith that if the public is against it, they'd turn on him in an instant. We sell our fabrics to these designers and if they do turn on us, the contracts would be over once time was up or they were full filled."
He catches a breath and goes on, "Ultimately, it's up to Lar what happens and I don't care about the lost contracts if they happen. We can sell to plenty of others and not just snobs and high end clientele. I just don't want him to get his hopes up or hurt if it doesn't work out."
"But we'll see what happens. Have you thought about what you are going to do after the trip, hermosa?" he takes soft strides to me and pulls me up next to him.
"I can't wait to take those pictures of you..." He softly seduces me with his less than subtle charm and places a light kiss on my forehead.
"No, I'm not sure where I should start on collecting dirt on Graves because this is one of those sleep with both eyes open once I do start situations. I have to be extremely careful. Otherwise I endanger everyone I know, including mere acquaintances. He knows who I know, who's close to me, where they live, sleep, play. You name it. I might just have to think about taking him out without any investigation. It will be much simpler, but runs it's own risks too."
Alex laughed, "That's a lot to think about, can I trouble you with another thought maybe?" He's smiling timidly and can't maintain eye contact with me puzzling me.
"What is that?"
"After the trip, maybe you could .... move...in with me?" His eyes are hopeful but his body is tense waiting on my response. I open my mouth but he cuts me off before anything comes out.
"Answer after you've had some time to think about it please. I know what we said before, and it still holds true, I'll always be here for you even if you reject the offer. I just can't bear to not take the chance and ask, just in case." He lets out a heavy breath as if a burden has fallen from his shoulders.
He wants me to be sorting out the mess in my head and heart and give him an answer after just a few days? Oh man this is not going to be as enjoyable a trip as I thought it would be, with that weighing down on my mind.
The thought must have been evident on my face cause next thing to come out of Alex's mouth was basically a retraction.
"I'm sorry, Maria, it's not a big deal, you've just been here so much lately, I thought you'd feel more comfortable with your things here. I can never get my words out right, dios mio." He runs his hands through his hair discontent and frustrated slightly.
"I'll think about it Alex, ...I just don't want to hold you back..... if someone comes into the picture that you could have .....a real life with." I hesitate slightly with the sentence knowing that he may not want to hear the words, but I have to be honest. He is my friend and deserves my respect to be honest about it.
"I understand what you're saying Maria." He flashes me a half-heartened grin and points to another bag by my luggage. "That there bag has some items I would really like you to wear for me." He winks and gives me a devilish smile at that and walks to go finish packing.
Curious I go open the bag and look inside. I cover my mouth with a smirk. Oh Alex....I can do better than those... I just need to visit my house before we leave....
....
Lar had snapped Alex and I with our luggage to Milan. His brothers had snapped the human staff and all the crates, boxes and other needed items for the show. I looked around at the beautiful Art Nouveau era home. In the hall we appeared in was a double grand marble staircase with gorgeous iron vine work for rails. The ceiling above had a giant stained glass Tiffany window skylight with a crystal chandelier that reminded me of a crystal lily upside down.
Several people came out of a room and upon seeing us and Lar they immediately broke out into smiles.
"Master Lar! Benvenuto a casa! Ci sei mancato. {Master Lar! Welcome home! We've missed you.}
"Amici miei, conoscete Alex, ma questa è Maria. Anche lei adesso è una famiglia. Per favore parli in inglese. {My friends, you know Alex, but this is Maria. She is family now too. Please speak english. }" Lar motioned to me and continued. "Are the rooms ready for us and the staff?" He asked an older gentleman in his 60's that had appeared from one of the rooms.
"Yes, Yes. Of course. I'm Enzo, my wife Katerina." His wife stepped forward smiling and gripped my shoulders and gave me a peck on each cheek. Then his son and daughter in law with their grandchild peaking out from behind the door.
They took me on a tour of the house, Lar's historical home, that had almost every piece of original architectural design pieces. The staircase, railings, hardwood flooring, wainscotting, crown moldings, frescoes and stained glass were original to the home.
"This is Lars? Why does he stay there with you instead of staying here and making clothes all the time?" curious and bewildered I turned to Alex.
"Because Lars wife lives here..." Alex gives a nervous smile which is returned by Enzo.
I stop and look between them and find the nearest seat to sit down.
"Lar is married?" I croaked out just lost with the thought.
"Yeah..... well you'll get to meet her soon enough. She is one of the models for the show." Enzo motioned for us to continue and showed us to our rooms. Once he had left I started to put my stuff away.
"When did Lar get married? To a model? Is she human? I can't imagine a redcap being a fashion model. I would think I would have heard of that."
Shaking his head Alex tells me a little bit. "Yeah... She looks human but she's not. She's a byangoma.... a shape shifting oracle peacock... Just wait till you meet her, let you come to your own conclusion." He shrugs slightly as he's putting clothes away from his suitcase.
I do the same making sure my dresses for the parties and events we'll be attending are hung up or out to be steamed and pressed. I get my items put away and then grab the next case which has the items Alex asked me to wear.
"So what is on the agenda for today?" I ask turning to Alex, feeling a confident, flirty expression wash over my face.
"Nothing...." He turns and noticing my expression pauses look intimidated.
"Well the sun is up for natural light and I have a suitcase of items you need to go through for a photo shoot and choose what I should wear."
He noticeably gulps and walk over to the case and pulls out every outfit and see's the extra ones I packed. He blushes seeing them and shakes his head in disbelief at me. I shrug and wink as he picks up a couple and hands them to me.
"Surprise me." He says handing over the outfits.
"Yes sir." I fill those two words with as much salacious innuendo I can as I slowly walk to the bathroom and shut the door.
"Gracias Dios" (Thank you God) I hear him say through the door and get dressed quickly and we spend the majority of the afternoon, taking photos. Alex can't hide the evident arousal of me in these outfits, giving him confident, sexy, and seductive poses. I go to change into one last outfit and when I come out he's right next to the door when I come out. He swoops me up and carries me to the lounge chair in front of the bed.
Setting me down and stepping back I realize he's naked taking a few more pictures of me on the lounge. He chuckled seeing I was distracted, he wasn't the only one getting turned on from this. He puts the camera on the dresser and comes over to me.
"Sorry, but I can't control my self anymore." He says putting a knee on the end of the lounge and grabs my ankle and lifts it and pushes it up and over his shoulder. He lifts the little skirt of the outfit and moans seeing me soaking wet.
"Good, I don't think I could have controlled myself much longer too." We lock eyes and he starts to enter me. After a minute we're enjoying the pleasure of our bodies.
....
Later as we go through the mess we made with the clothes and bed sheets, putting things back where they belong and get ready for dinner.
At the dining table is a feast laid out for everyone in the house to eat together and everyone is showing up around us and going to find a seat.
Lar is the last one in, even though there's two chairs left on either end. He looked around the room and sighed and sat down. I gave him an encouraging smile and he just nods and tells everyone to dig in. We're all eating and having a good time discussing everything that needs to be done tomorrow.
"CIAO my love Lar!" A voice rings out from behind us and we all stop and turn to see a gorgeous woman standing there a bright smile on her face with eyes only for Lar. Lar puts his face in his hand and rubs his face before looking back up to see the woman right in front of him.
"Hello..... dear." Lar says somewhat reserved and uncomfortable.
She bends over and plants a kiss on him and goes to sit down at the other end. Everyone's pretty quiet after that.
"This is awkward." I whisper to Alex.
"Oh Sin, I'm sorry I forgot to introduce myself!" Lars wife gets up and runs down to me and giving me the double peck on each cheek to say hello.
"You may call me Belle, I'm Lar's wife."