The Water Fairy's Affair

Leviathan

"Levi, you know I love you," Sam said as she stared into my eyes. "I will always love you."

Her sky-blue eyes contained the tears she refused to let fall. She was my best friend, the one I confided everything to, and now she was leaving me. I've lost so many from my life over the years. It never gets any easier, but this was by far the worst

"Save it, Samara. I don't want to hear it. You're basically signing your death certificate by doing this, and you know it." I turned away from the hard stare of her eyes to look out the window of the living room and into the darkness of the night. I just couldn't face her right now, not while my brain was going a million miles per minute.

She sighed in frustration, putting her golden-brown hair on top of her head in a messy bun. The beautiful, unmated woman who was perfectly chosen to produce children with me years ago was now irritated with our traditions, with being me .... and with the fact she has been living a secret life. I honestly don't blame her, not one bit, but purity is the way of a dragon's life. It always has been, and must continue to be. But here she was, giving everything up for a fucking werebear of all orders.

"I'm done, Levi. I'm done with all of this. Bruce doesn't deserve to be kept like he's my dirty little secret. He's a great man, and he's been extremely patient with me all of these years while the children have grown. He deserves SO much more. The old school ways of our kind are completely absurd, and the council is nothing more but a group of controlling bigots," Samara calmly explained, even though there really wasn't a need to.

I inhaled a deep breath to control the emotions that I never allowed to show so that I could turn around and face her once again. "Do you have any idea what will transpire when they find out that you left the North West dragon kingdom to be with a werebear? Do you honestly believe that they will not hold Sol, Celeste, and me somehow accountable for your actions?"

"Tell them whatever you want! I don't care! You're their deity, Levi!" she yelled as she pointed at me. "They'll believe you no matter what you say. Whatever you tell them, I'll go along with it. But I'm not going to keep Bruce wondering when he's going to see me next and if I'm going to come back to him or not. You knew this time would come. Whether I died of old age or left you, a time would come when I would no longer be here." Her eyes continued to beat me down yet again, as if her words didn't cut me deep enough on their own.

The harsh honesty of what Samara was saying hit its mark. She was right about all of it. I couldn't argue with her, and I couldn't deny her the happiness that she deserved. I wouldn't, not anymore. "Samara, you're going to go with Bruce, and you're going to go far away from the heart of the territory, away from here. I'm going to tell everyone that you stuck it out until the children were grown, for their sake, but you couldn't take living with me any longer and finally left. There will be no mention of Bruce, nor where you end up going. To ANYONE. Do you understand?"

"What about Sol and Celeste? What will you tell them when they start asking questions?" Sam asked quietly. "The notes I left them didn't give any explanations." There was pain in her voice. A pain I wish didn't have to be there.

"Until more needs to be said, for everyone's safety, the only one who will know the full truth will be me. The kids will be no different. Everyone knows you were chosen, that we're not mates, and they will sympathize with you. I'll simply say that, for your own mental health, you needed to get away. There won't be a single dragon that won't understand, though no one will ever admit to it, because that'd be saying they don't agree with the council," I explained in a strict, no-bullshit tone.

Sam took a few steps up to me and embraced me in a tight hug, giving me one last kiss before she left. It wasn't a kiss shared by two people who were madly in love, but by two people who were put into a difficult situation and became close friends because of it. I owe this to her, if nothing else. I owed her a chance to be happy and fully experience true love.

After our hug, Sam took a step back, reached up with her small, delicate hands, and cupped my face to make sure I didn't avoid eye contact. She smiled at me, a genuine smile unlike many of the fake ones I've seen her perfect over the years. "Levi, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for this."

I reached up and took her hands in each of my own, removing them from my face. "I want you to be happy, Samara. You never picked this life, but when it chose you, you agreed to it. I don't think that anyone else could have made the situation as pleasant as you have."

"I agreed to it for multiple reasons, Levi," she said softly. "You don't have to thank me. I wanted children, and it was the best opportunity to have them for an unmated female at my age. I did it for our kind. And I also did it for you."

I raised an eyebrow, curious where she was going with that last part. "For me? You've got to explain that one."

"My dear, did you see the other unmated females? I couldn't allow someone like you to spend years with one of them. Their ugliness on the inside made them unbearable to look at. I did you a favor." A playful smile crossed her face as she winked at me before turning to pick her bags off the floor and make her way to the front door.

"But if it was one of them, it wouldn't be nearly this difficult to watch them leave, and I wouldn't have any desire to protect them," I told her, and I meant it. I wanted her to know that before I never saw her again.

Sam paused before reaching for the doorknob, turning back to look at me one last time. "I guess that your gift is also your burden. Emotions look good on you, Levi. Stop being afraid of them just because you're a deity. You deserve happiness just as much as anyone. Get out there and enjoy life a little. You know, Seraphina and Conláed will be taking over as the new fairy Queen and King shortly. They'll be having a large ceremony for their daughters taking over the kingdoms and Seraphina's sisters' retirement. Why don't you go with Sol and Celeste? Almost all of the other deities will be there."

I quickly shook my head. "I hate parties, and you know it. I have no desire to be around a bunch of drunks with music playing so loudly that I can't hear myself think."

Sam chuckled. "It's called having fun, Levi. You really should try it sometime."

She gave me a final look of love and appreciation before she opened the door and left my life forever; she left OUR lives forever.

I knew Sol and Celeste would be broken-hearted, but they're more than mature enough to understand the reasoning I will tell them.

I let out an emotional grumble after Samara left. Maybe she was right. Maybe getting away from the stress for a night would be a good thing.