Fairest in the West- Chapter Four:


Every member of the household was in the room in five seconds flat, plowing the two boys down in their haste. They stood in a circle around the bed, staring at the dark-haired figure as she stirred in her sleep. No one spoke, as if they thought making a sound would break the spell that seemed to hang about the room.

Letting out a small sigh of contentment, the girl opened her eyes and sat up, smiling sleepily at them as if she woke up with a circle of boys around her bed every day. “Good morning.”

The boys all turned their eyes to Dalton, looking to him to reply to this stranger.

She was quite pretty, with black hair that was falling out of her bun to frame her pale face. Her lips were deep red and Dalton wondered if she was wearing paint on them. She must be. No lips could be that red naturally. Her eyes were big and dark, like little lumps of coal that sparkled and shone in the light.

She stretched a little and looked from one boy to the other before resting her gaze on Dalton and saying, “You must be the owner of this quaint little cottage.”

He nodded, at a loss for words.

“Cottage?” Hawk mouthed to Cyril who just shrugged and shook his head, his expression saying he thought the girl was out of her head.

She pushed the covers aside and swung her legs out of the bed, reaching down to put on her shoes, which sat on the floor. “I can’t thank you enough for the use of the bed. It was most refreshing.”

Dalton just nodded again.

Hawk, rolling his eyes at his guardian’s lack of talking, spoke up. “You the one who cleaned up this place?”

She nodded, a smile playing on her lips. “Yes, it was quite a mess and I thought it was only fair in exchange for the room.”

“What’cha doing here anyway?” the boy demanded. “And in Dalton’s bed?” He turned to fix the man with a gaze as if it were his fault there was a girl in his bed.

“Are you a fairy?” Aaron breathed. Which opened the door for all the other boys to ask their questions too. In a matter of seconds they were tripping over the others words, trying to be the one heard above the others.

“Oh, please,” the girl tried to say, a hand to her mouth. “I- I can’t answer all of-”

“QUIET!” Dalton roared above them all.

The room fell silent and all eyes turned to him.

“Everyone out,” the man ordered. “Girl or no girl, you’ve all still got chores to do. So, hop to it.”

There was a fair bit of grumbling but Dalton’s glare kept most of it at bay. The boys filed out of the room until it was just Dalton and the girl.

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