Credo Quia Absurdum

by Sophie Martin

  “What do you mean, not visit? Not that I was going to, mind you. We get along here just fine…well, with minor hiccups. That was to be expected. But I thought you didn’t want us to be here. You and our parents were pretty adamant about it!” Jim said it all in one breath and Tim was reminded about how very anxious his twin could get in the presence of their kingly older brother. It seemed the heir to the fey throne had had a negative impact on both his younger brothers.

  Toren sighed and rubbed his eyelids with his forefinger and thumb. When he lifted his eyes at them again, he looked older, tired, in a way Tim have never seen him look before.

  “Look, I know both parents and I came out a little strong about you moving here. We really thought it was a bad idea, and you have to admit, your track record of getting into trouble was very much in our favour. However, I am man enough to admit when I’m wrong, and in this case, I very much was. You two are my little brothers, and all I ever wanted was to protect you. I guess I never realised that you grew up and were able to take care of yourselves.”

  Toren sighed and looked first Timiny then Jim in the eyes. “So, I am sorry that I was overprotective of you and I’ll try to tone it down, from now on. Now, for the other part…” He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “I know you two were never really that much into the whole ‘politics, royal court’ business, but ever since before you left, there have been some problems brewing in our kingdom. It’s grown steadily worse since you left the world, and now the situation is pretty volatile. We, parents and I, have no idea what the cause of it is, and thus cannot try and fix it. The main reason I’m here, however, is even worse.

  “In the last several months, some very disturbing news came to our attention. I waited until we could have it confirmed before coming to warn you. It seems that pixies have started to disappear, all over the kingdom. It’s almost like someone is targeting those weakest of us and kidnapping them for some reason. We fear the worst. It could be fey wars all over again. I was just a teenager back then, but I remember it clearly. What happened to those poor souls will stay with me forever. That’s why I need you to stay here. You’re actually safer in the human world than you would be in the fey world right now,” he finished and measured them with a steady look. Everyone was silent for a moment, but then Joel spoke.

  “Um, sorry, guys, I know that it’s family business and all, but am I the only one who sees a pattern here?”

  “No.” Tim’s face was grim and determined. “I think we might have underestimated the whole thing. If it spreads to fey world, it is much more dangerous than we ever expected.”

  “What are you talking about?” Tim’s older brother wasn’t known for his patience outside the family. He hated being out of the loop.

  “It’s a long story, one that I think that before you hear, you need to meet someone.”

  “What do you have in mind?” Dominic asked as he hugged his mate to him.

  “I think it’s time for my brother to meet the Alpha.”

  “An Alpha? Have you joined a pack, then?”

  “Yeah, you could say so. It’s more like the pack spread to us kinda naturally, including us within its territory, but it’s another long story.” Tim stood up and went to retrieve the mobile he had left in the workshop. “I’ll call Jason, let him know another pack meeting is in order.”

  Chapter Ten

  As soon as Tim went to get his phone, Joel decided to have another thing straightened out.

  “So, Toren, is it?” he asked and continued after the man nodded. “What’s this whole royal business I’m hearing about?” Even as he watched the giant frown, Joel didn’t miss Jim flinch and grimace.

  “My brothers and I are children of the Royal couple. What is there to not understand?”

  “Um, honey…” Dominic lifted his brows as he looked at a squirming Jim. “Something you forgot to tell me?”

  “Well, it’s not as if it’s a big deal. My title means nothing in the human world.” Jim gazed at his mate with huge eyes.

  “And you didn’t think I should know my mate was a son of a bloody fey king?” Dominic was incredulous and his voice rose to a near shout. Joel watched with wonder as Jim’s lower lip began to tremble and his eyes filled with tears.

  “I forgot. I didn’t think it was important.” Jim’s voice shook as he said so, and Dominic immediately softened. Still, Joel couldn’t help himself and asked. He was curious, not accusing.

  “You didn’t think being royalty was important?”

  Tim chose this moment to enter the room.

  “What are we talking about?”

  “Your twin not thinking that being royalty is important.”

  “Oh, that.” Tim waved his hand dismissively. “It’s not a big deal.”

  “Not a big deal?” Joel’s voice was as incredulous as Dominic’s had been. “How is it not a big deal?”

  “Well, we’re not going to inherit the throne. That’s Toren’s job, thanks fate for that, and our titles have no meaning in this world. It’s only important in fey, and we already decided to build our life here, not there.”

  “Still, I would think you two could have mentioned it somewhere along the way,” Joel said stubbornly. Tim looked at him with that sarcastic look of his.

  “Oh yeah, and when were we supposed to do it? Right after Dom, Jason, and the rest rescued me from the traffickers? When we somehow became a part of a newly formed pack? When Dominic discovered that he was a wolf shifter and had no idea about it? Oh, no, I know, we should have started the conversation of our birth right when Dom was learning how to control his animal so he wouldn’t turn into a serial killer, and you, a human who had no idea about paranormals, discovered me dancing in the kitchen. Or how about when we met the whole pack and decided to investigate Alistair Bradshaw to uncover the whole human and paranormal trafficking operation. Would that be a good moment? What do you think?”

  “Okay, okay, I give up.” Joel lifted his arms in surrender. It seemed Timiny could crush him to dust with just his words. Good to know.

  “What trafficking ring, what rescue operation?” Toren’s voice was low and dangerous. Tim turned to him, rolled his eyes, and sighed.

  “Calm down, brother. We will tell you everything, but first you need to meet Jason, our new Alpha. I spoke to Ty.” Tim turned to Dominic, Jim, and Joel. “He said he’ll get Jack to schedule another meeting. Apparently the cuberow shifter has been really anxious ever since he learned Mr. Z’s true identity. Tyler thinks having a new pack meeting to plan will do him good. Now”—he turned back to his older brother—”I will tell you the short version, but you need to promise me not to judge, accuse, or do any of the overbearing stuff you like to do.”

  Tim proceeded to fill Toren in on the events of the last months, and Joel decided to make himself scarce. He’d already heard the story, so he didn’t need to listen to it again, especially since every time he heard of what Tim went through, Joel had an insane urge to find every last person who hurt his little pixie and kill them, slowly and painfully. And yes, he did realise he called Timiny his. He didn’t know what it meant, and he wasn’t sure he was ready to know.

  * * * *

  After Jim and Dominic left, taking Toren to their apartment, Tim marched into the kitchen and started preparing coffee. He shut all the cupboard doors with just a little bit too much force and drummed his fingers on the countertops, waiting for the kettle to boil. Once he had his mug prepared, he sat on a chair heavily and stared into the swirling depths of the black liquid.

  Joel left his room as soon as he heard the door close after the visitors and went straight for the kitchen, where he knew he’d find his flatmate. Seeing Tim drinking coffee and scowling at the mug moodily wasn’t a surprise. Joel could feel there was some bad blood between the pixie and his older brother. It seemed deeper than normal sibling stuff.

  “Hey, what did that poor mug ever do to you? If looks could kill, the poor thing would be in dust on the floor, you scowl at it so badly,�
� he joked lightly. Tim looked up and a small smile appeared on his face. The dark expression didn’t fully disappear, however.

  “Yeah, can’t kill my brother, so the mug carries the brunt of my anger,” Tim joked in a fashion.

  “So, what’s the deal with your brother?” Joel asked, going to prepare himself his own brew.

  “You mean, besides him being an arrogant, overbearing, self-assured asshole? Nothing much.” Tim went back to staring at his coffee.

  “Come on, Tim, there’s obviously a lot of hostility here. It is clearly not a normal sibling rivalry. I can see that your resentment towards him is much more deep-rooted. Do you want to tell me what this is all about?” Joel’s voice was calm and quiet. He didn’t demand. He simply asked, and Tim saw himself submitting.

  “It’s a long story, and I’m not sure you’re ready to hear it,” he said, not sure if he should reveal his deepest secret to the man who was becoming really important to him.

  “Man, since I learned there were fey, shifters, and vampires in this world, I think I was nothing but accepting. I made my peace with the fact that my cousin was a wolf shifter and knew nothing about it. I accepted you, a pixie, as my flatmate, and tried to support you in every way. I even invested myself in an investigation against a man who could be a ringleader to some serious paranormal trafficking business. I think I proved that I’m ready for almost anything you dish me. Just try me, all right? It cannot hurt.”

  “You’re right,” Tim had to admit. “You were wonderful with how you dealt with all the surprises piled upon you. I simply do not wish to trouble you even more. My issues are just that, mine. You shouldn’t worry about them,” he said, wishing Joel would insist on him coming clean. This secret was weighing on him. It was something he had to keep to himself, never sharing it with anyone, even his twin. It poisoned him, and he didn’t realise it until now.

  “Timmy, I think we know each other well enough. I consider you one of my best friends. I can see that it is something that bothers you, something that weighs really heavily on you. I will not insist if you really don’t want to share it. However, if you feel like unloading this burden, I’m here to listen.”

  There. Joel gave him a perfect way out, but did he really wish to keep it all hidden? To keep it inside and let it fester?

  “Are you sure you want to hear it? It’s a story that begs for Dr. Freud’s attention, I have to warn you. It’s something I’ve never revealed to anyone. I did not trust any fey enough to hear me out. Not even my family.”

  “Hey, I’m a human, remember?” Joel showed off that crooked smile of his. “I have no idea about your fey world rules. You can tell me anything. I won’t judge.”

  “Okay.” Tim took a deep breath, and went to look out the window with unseeing eyes. He could feel his insides squeezing, tying into a knot of tension. He took another deep breath and started.

  “It was when Jim and I were still teenagers, about a century or so ago. I was a very curious child. I swallowed books whole instead of simply reading them. It prompted my parents to hire a special teacher for me. Sigurd was a specialist on fey history and customs, and my parents thought that by hiring him, they could redirect my attention. However there was a side effect they could have never predicted.

  “See, Sigurd was a person with troubled past. He lived through dark times of fey history not many fey know about. As I learned, thanks to Sigurd’s coaching, there was a time in fey history when pixies led our nation. Pixies were considered better than normal fey. They were called Royals. It wasn’t because of their bloodline, either. No, they were called Royals because of their abilities.

  “All the fey have something called true form. It can affect humans, makes them infatuated with a fey whose true form they saw, but it doesn’t affect other fey. Pixies used to have True Pixie Form, or True Pixie Self. Unlike regular true form, it gave pixies ability to affect other fey. It was the reason why pixies ruled over all fey-kind.

  “About a thousand years ago, there was a coup, and ninety percent of the royal pixie family was taken out. The only one spared was the single boy who, for whatever reason, did not inherit the pixie gene. After the usurpers took over the throne, they put that boy on it and ruled in his stead. They started the terror of pixie persecution. Those with pixie true self were hunted and killed indiscriminately.

  “Sigurd was born in these horrible times, and his mother decided to take drastic measures to save him from being killed. She clipped his wings so that nobody knew he was a pixie. He only told me the truth after I stumbled upon the topic of The Great Purge—that’s what these times were called—on my own and started asking him questions.” Tim paused and took few deep breaths to calm himself.

  “Okay, that’s horrible, but so was the French Revolution. It still doesn’t explain your hostility towards your brother.”

  “You’re right, but you’re missing a point here. See, we already told you our family is very overprotective. The fact that pixies are viewed as the weakest members of fey race doesn’t help with their attitude. The point I’m trying to make, however, is that they are royals. My family, they rule our kingdom. They are descendants of those murdered pixies, and yet they do nothing to change how we, pixies, are treated. They have to know the truth. They have access to all the books in royal library, all the records in the archives, and despite that, they keep treating us like we’re spun glass. Sure, they try to be good, just rulers, my brother being the perfect heir to the throne, always invested in his people… But still, they do nothing to right the wrong that was done to pixies. It’s almost like they think, if they ignore it, it didn’t happen.”

  Tim balled his hands into fists and clenched his jaw. The topic, as always, brought back all the negative feelings, the resentment, he felt toward his family.

  Joel frowned in thought then asked hesitantly, “Are you sure they are aware of it?”

  “What do you mean? They’re educated people, for god’s sake, rulers of half the fey world. How can they not be aware of their people’s history? And don’t forget we, fey, are a long-lived species. It’s not like it happened generations and generations before them. It was their parents’, grandparents’ times.”

  “Okay, calm down. I’m not trying to undermine your feelings or anything like that. I’m just saying I know there are people, humans, who have no idea what happened in their grandparents’ times. They are not interested in history. They find it boring or simply choose to live their lives in the moment, not worrying about the past. What if your family is the same? What if they concentrate so hard on taking care of those under their rule that they dismiss the past altogether?” As soon as Joel finished, he saw that Tim was thinking over what he said. “Look, have you ever just asked them?”

  Tim scowled even more fiercely and shook his head.

  “No, I haven’t. I never really thought about asking them. I simply assumed that it didn’t matter to them, that Jim and I didn’t matter that much to them. I knew some of the courtiers couldn’t understand why my parents were so protective of us, treated us like they would normal fey children. Some parents will give up their pixie offspring or send them to boarding schools or keep them hidden from the world. My parents did no such thing. They never treated us any differently than they would Toren, besides the overprotectiveness thing, so I thought they decided that it was enough, that they didn’t need to change anything, because they treated us well.”

  “Well, maybe you should ask them, you know? Who knows, maybe their answer will surprise you.”

  “Yeah, well, you heard Toren. I’m forbidden from going back home in the near future.” Tim rolled his eyes.

  “Yeah, but your brother is here, isn’t he?” Joel smirked at Tim’s surprised look. “You could always ask him, right?” Tim’s mouth hung in surprise. He never even thought about it. He was so used to being contrary with his older brother that he never considered outright asking him. “Come on.” Joel laughed out loud. “I can see that you want to do it. It will eat at yo
u until you have this thing straightened.” He stood up and extended his hand to the pixie. As soon as Tim grabbed it, Joel pulled him to standing, and they went to Dominic’s apartment, where Toren stayed.

  “Hey, what’s up?” Dominic looked relieved when they entered his kitchen, where he sat with his mate and brother-in-law.

  “Tim has got a question for his brother,” Joel said, shooting his cousin an amused look. It was clear Toren was giving Dom the third degree. Jim looked pretty embarrassed and uncomfortable as well.

  “For me?” Jiminy looked up in surprise. Tim went straight to business.

  “No, for Toren. I want you to tell me what you know about the Great Purge, and times before it.”

  “What? Why do you want to know?” Toren’s face turned from strict to confused.

  “I simply do. Just answer me, please.”

  “Well, I know the Great Purge happened sometime before our parents’ rule. It was some kind of civil war in fey kingdoms, and before it? I’m not sure. Wasn’t it like the Golden Age or something? Fey civilization blooming with prosperity?”

  “Is that all?” Timiny was incredulous. “That’s all the information you’ve got on the worst part of fey history?” He couldn’t believe it.

  “Well, I don’t know if it was the worst. I’d say fey wars were really bad as well.”

  “You really have no idea, do you?” Tim shook his head, speaking more to himself than anyone else.

  “No idea about what?” Toren obviously did not understand.

  “Do you think our parents know more than you about it?” Tim tried.

  “No, I don’t think so. You know Father was never big on history, and Mother… Well, she was too busy raising me and the two of you, and trying to avoid being stabbed in the back by those who opposed her marrying father to worry too much about history.”