Growing up in faerie as a mortal from a young age was challenging to say the least. You had seen the horrors of before Jude and Cardan got married, and how cruel and uncaring the faerie could be towards humans. And you had seen the horror of Locke to Taryn, how he was killed and why he was killed.

You knew and understood that Locke wasn’t a good husband toward Taryn. The way Locke abused Taryn and then how he got killed for his actions. What you didn’t expect is for Locke to have half brother, Oak, who went to your school, and Oak looked almost exactly like Locke. Their similar appearance drove you to avoid him.

Oak knew he looked like Locke, but that didn’t stop him from loving his life, and that sure as hell didn’t stop him from falling for you. Completely. He was aware of how you thought of him. But that didn’t stop him. He would ask to work with you in projects, beg the teacher to sit next to you in classes, constantly be around you, until he had to go home, and he would follow you, despite the fact you made it clear you didn’t like him. But he didn’t care, because he and Locke were not the same person. He was better.

He plops down next to you at lunch, and he knows you always sit in the same spot outside on the black benches to avoid getting bullied from the faerie inside the actual cafeteria. “Hello, gorgeous. What are you eating? Can I have some?” he asks, and before you can reply, he reaches into your lunchbox to examine the contents like it was his own, because in his mind, you were already stupidly his, and that meant what was yours was his, and what was his was yours.