Chapter one
It looks like I have died. My flat is cold, dark and gloomy. Everything is covered in dust sheets or packed away. It is no longer a home, it is merely a space.
Not that it ever really was my home. It was Cooper Evan’s. A persona I was playing. Nerdy coder geek. Working unobtrusively at the British headquarters of a huge Chinese tech firm.
Now he has abruptly decided to retire to Australia having fully embraced the FIRE way of life. Spending nothing, investing nearly all your income, all in order to be able to retire in your thirties.
I can’t imagine what Cooper Evan’s would do in retirement. Stay at home playing computer games, is all I can think of.
My heavy sigh echoes around the lifeless room. What Cooper would or would not do, is no longer a problem. He no longer exists. Today I start a new mission and a new persona.
I remember when that used to excite me. I’d be thrumming. Buzzing with the possibilities, the adventure. Now, I just feel tired. Maybe it is time to retire for real.
After this mission, perhaps. Infiltrating our fey invaders is important work, and I am honoured to be chosen.
With one last glance around, I turn off the light and shut the door on my old life. Time to start anew.
Less than an hour later, I’m strolling down a leafy avenue on my way to a coffee shop and a date. I am no longer a tech nerd, I am a Namaste dude. Complete with a man bun and yoga pants. A confident smile and no glasses. Thank fuck. It feels sofreeing to not have anything on my face. Ironic, because in an hour, if everything goes to plan, I’m going to be enslaved.
I smile and make eye contact with a woman passing me on the pavement. She smiles back warmly and for a moment, it is startling. Nobody ever smiled at Cooper. Not that he looked at people much. He slouched and kept his head down.
It is still a fascinating display of human behaviour. I have the same face, the same body. All I’ve done is change my clothes and my attitude, and voila! I’m being treated completely differently.
As if to prove my point, as soon as I go to cross the road, a red car stops and waves me across. I hold my hand up in thanks and jog over. Cooper would have been stuck there for ages. Damn, I hadn’t realised just how much I had missed pretty privilege. I’m going to enjoy being liked. Being noticed.
I reach the coffee shop and find the female agent sitting outside with a K9, a very adorable German Shepard. I hurry up to them, fuss over the dog, kiss the woman on the cheek, and take my seat. The sun is shining and it is a lovely spring day in the heart of London.
My date smiles at me, and I see genuine attraction in her blue eyes. It is a little startling. Am I really good-looking enough to distract a professional? Maybe it is the yoga pants. They probably don’t leave much to the imagination. Otherwise, I guess I do hit a fair few of the conventional standards. Tall, with an athletic build. And since my father was Jamaican, I definitely tick the dark-haired, dark-eyed box that appeals to a lot of people. Add in the Nordic features that I inherited from my white mother, and it appears to be a combination that appeals to most people.
It seems not even highly trained agents are immune to it. But Sophie, as she is currently called, doesn’t let it distract her for long. We both seamlessly fall into our roles. Two moderately successful thirty-something year-old Londoners on a first date after meeting on Hinge.
The bustle of an inner city buzzes around us. People going about their days. It has been over a year since the fey conquered us and I’m still surprised how quickly everything returned to relative normality. Looking at the scene around me, it is impossible to tell that anything has changed.
I’m not going to let it fool me. This benevolent overlords act isn’t going to last forever, and even if it does, I still don’t want my people to be ruled by an alien race. No matter how nice they are.
“Shall we go for a walk in Hyde Park?” says Sophie.
Her words make me jolt. I was expecting them, it is part of the script we were given. But for some reason, it has fired off an uncharacteristic bout of nerves.
Grinning, I reply, “I’d love that.”
Together we stand, weave our way out of the tables and set off for the park. I can feel myself jittering and I don’t think it is from the coffee. Sophie flashes me a quick, discreet, sympathetic glance. I’m about to be captured by the fey. Claimed as a pet. It is dangerous. It is degrading. It’s daring. She’s letting me know it is totally acceptable to be apprehensive about it. Only a robot wouldn’t be.
I take a deep, calming breath in through my nose and centre myself. A little bit of nerves are only natural, but too many are detrimental. It affects the ability to concentrate, and that’s when mistakes happen. And in this line of work, mistakes are deadly.
As we step into the enormous park, I shiver. Though that could just be the biting wind. Despite the sunshine, it is still early in the year and yoga pants don’t exactly give much protection.
Sophie falls quiet. I think it’s fine. There is nobody close enough to see if we are talking. Besides, walking in silence while a dog bounds ahead sniffing at everything, is normal behaviour.
Slowly, but steadily, we make our way over to the oddly named Rotten Row. A wide sandy path lined by majestic trees. The place where English nobility used to strut about in regency times.
The sound of softly jingling bells makes the hairs on the back of my neck rise. He is here. The fey prince who wants to be king. The one willing to overthrow his brother and give humans far more power in their own affairs. The man who is going to make me a slave.
My body turns towards its fate. As inevitable as the tide. A comet pulled into endless orbit.
At first, all my attention is taken by the horse-like beast. It is as dark as shadows, but with flame red eyes. Impossibly tall. Cloven hooves and wicked sharp horns.
Eventually, my gaze finds its way upwards. To the man riding the nightmare creature.
