How Not to Date a Fae (How Not To 2)

How Not to Date a Fae (How Not To 2)
Second Edition
Stephanie Burke
All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2020 Stephanie Burke

“You will do this!”

“I refuse,” Ario snarled at his laptop screen. “I have done everything that you have asked of me, and I have slowly felt my soul die.” Oddly enough, the words uttered in pain and in pleasure the night before were once again fitting. “No more!”

“You would deny us, the Komiko of the Tagata Jinja?”

“What have I ever denied the priests of the Tagata Jinja shrine, Grandfather? But this time you ask too much!”

“How can we ask too much of the half-breed mongrel who owes us his life?”

“I know what I owe you, Grandfather.” Ario closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Have you not reminded me of this every day of my miserable existence?”

“You are a Komiko, and as such you have a duty to the bloodline --”

“That is not my responsibility, Grandfather. As you have told me my entire life, that job falls to Tama as the respected first son of the first son.”

And then there was blessed silence. For a moment, Ario relished it, for he knew that it would not last. “There is a problem with Tama,” Grandfather finally said.

“What happened?” Fear sent adrenaline zinging through Ario’s blood.

He might not be Tama’s biggest fan -- in fact, he could say that he spent more time hating his bastard of an older first cousin than anyone else at the shrine. Tama was a liar, a braggart, and the golden child of the temple. It was always assumed that the full force of the Komiko power flowed through legitimate veins.

In legend, the Komiko was the one granted the ability to deliver true love and fertility through means of sexual contact. And the one with the fullest amount of that power was pampered, his or her virginity guarded until such time as a patron could come up with a large enough offering for the privilege of taking it. Ario, as the bastard half-breed, would never find himself in such an exalted position.

His grandfather sighed. “The power inherent in the family bloodline may not be as strong as we thought. He is… having some difficulties.”

“What difficulties?” Ario finally snapped, growing impatient with this conversation. “His silk underwear too tight? The gold around his neck is not pure enough?”

“Your disrespect is not welcome.”

“Well, excuse me, Grandfather.” He rolled his eyes as he glared at the man. “News of my cousin is not welcome. I have been banished to the other side of the country at his words, and now that I have made a life for myself, I find it hard to have any feelings for the great Komiko of our bloodline.”

“He is impotent!” Grandfather suddenly shouted, losing his calm for a moment before he resettled into his cold, stern visage. “He is impotent.”

“And is he blaming that one on me, too?” Ario felt no pity.

“That is not why I am on this cursed machine calling for you, Ario,” his grandfather shouted.

“Then why?”

“The family needs you. Tama needs you.”

“For what?” Green eyes narrowed in suspicion as they stared at the old man in the computer screen.

“To take his place and carry the family reputation until such a time that we can discover the cause of his curse.”

“No.” Ario’s answer was direct and to the point.

“No?” Again his grandfather was raising his voice.

“No,” Ario repeated.

“You have a responsibility to this family --”

“I have no family!” Ario roared, jumping to his feet and leaning onto his desk so that he could be closer to the computer camera. “That is what you shouted at me as you cast me from your home. You disowned me, disavowed any knowledge of me, and told me that if I were to show my face again, my life would be forfeit.”

“Perhaps I was hasty,” his grandfather allowed, trying to hide the trembling that shook his thin form.

“Perhaps now it is too late,” Ario returned.

“Tama has relented,” Grandfather spoke slowly, as if each word were a painful knife stab as it exited his mouth. “He has admitted that he was possibly mistaken about his claims that you assaulted him…”

“He told you that I attempted to destroy his prized virginity.” Ario’s breathing was growing harder with every word. “And you believed every word.”

“He -- his room was destroyed…”

“He claimed that he fought me off, yet I had not a bruise or a blemish upon my face or body.”

“He had never lied…”

“He claimed that I waited in the night to harm him, yet that was the night I was with Akio.”

His grandfather fell silent.

“Akio heard and believed those lies, Grandfather. And my lover of three years beat me to teach me the punishment to those who flout the rules. After all this, do you actually think I would lift one finger to assist Tama or you with anything?”

“Family honor --”

Ario sneered. “Between Tama and you, I have nothing but what I earned with my two hands. There is nothing more that you can do to me, can threaten me with.”

“To think I placed my trust in a mongrel like you.” His grandfather finally broke. “You are not my grandson!”

“I learned that fifteen years ago,” Ario shot back. “And if there is nothing more, O-Tagata Jinja of the Kato line?”

He gave an insultingly short bow as his grandfather huffed and broke their connection.

“Fuck you, too.” Ario sighed, running his hands over his face and scrubbing them through his hair.