31
When I woke the next morning, a red feather had been pushed beneath the door that separated my room from Lara’s.
I ran my fingers along its silky surface, wondering why Lara had put it there. Then I turned it over and smiled. The number two had been shakily written on it in eyeliner. The second object for my collection.
I placed it beside the first in my desk drawer, tracing my fingers over it reverently.
All those years I had wondered which of my relics and oddities had belonged to the Fae, and now here I was, receiving gifts from a faerie. It didn’t replace everything I had lost—but perhaps I could start again.
Now that the Earth trial was over, I finally had time to complete a task I’d been thinking about since Lara had brought me to her secret island. I conversed with Caedo as I left Earth House. Some final barrier had given way between us with Garrick’s death, and conversation had become as easy as breathing.
The realization wasn’t comforting.
Why did you want me to kill Garrick? I asked.
You wanted to kill Garrick.
No. I had to kill him. That’s different.
Is it?
I scowled, and a passing Underfae took one look at my face and skittered away. I couldn’t shake the feeling that what I’d done clung to me like a foul stench.
I didn’t want to .
The metal thrummed in irritation. If you hadn’t wanted to, you wouldn’t have done it.
Just because you’re some ancient, bloodthirsty relic doesn’t mean everyone thinks like you.
Just because you’re human doesn’t mean you have to be dishonest with yourself.
Ridiculous. You made me enjoy it . That was what disturbed me most of all. When I’d stabbed Garrick, the horror had been tainted with pleasure.
Did I?
I refused to dignify that with an answer.
I found Drustan in the quartz room, near the entrance to the brothel. He sat on a crystalline couch with a smiling Fire lady on his knee. She was gorgeous, with curling burgundy hair and bronze skin, and she looked infatuated with him. As if that weren’t enough, Drustan was grinning suggestively at a Light lady across the room while more giggling ladies looked on.
I lurked in the hallway, feeling the burn of jealousy.
I had no claim on him, but the sight of him with those beautiful ladies made me want to rip their hair out. I wanted to shove them away from him, slap him, and then kiss him so hard and deep he’d forget everything but the taste of me.
He glanced at the doorway, and I schooled my expression into something I hoped resembled boredom. I walked on, hoping he would take the hint.
He caught up with me when I was almost to our secret room just outside Fire House. Strange, that I thought of it as our room now. It was his room. I had no claim on that, either.
“Well?” he asked, casting a ward on the room for secrecy.
“I’m sorry to interrupt.” I aimed for indifferent—and failed utterly. The words came out icy.
His brows rose. “Then why did you?”
My face grew hot. I briefly considered storming out, but that would have been petty and cowardly. My bruised ego didn’t matter; the important thing was saving Mistei from King Osric’s tyranny. “I have information for you. A potential ally.”
“Oh? Tell me more, my sweet Kenna.”
I lifted my chin, still determined to project nonchalance. “Lara doesn’t support breaking neutrality, but Selwyn might.”
“Selwyn? He’s a child.”
“He’s not that young. He’ll undertake the trials in a few years. Lara says he talks about wanting all Fae to be equal. He wants to change things.” I felt guilty about sharing Lara’s confidences, but this was about more than our friendship. Besides, if Selwyn truly wanted to change Mistei, shouldn’t he have the chance?
Drustan’s eyes grew distant as he contemplated possibilities. “All this time wondering how to push Earth House away from neutrality, and I hadn’t even considered him.”
“He won’t speak for all of Earth House. Oriana has been committed to neutrality for a long time, and Lara is afraid to defy her mother or the king. But maybe Selwyn could help sway them to your cause—far better than I could.”
“I’ll talk to him. However cold she may seem, Oriana loves him. He could be a convincing voice in our favor.”
I didn’t show it, but I was proud he’d listened to my suggestion. “I’ll let you know if I hear anything else.”
His voice stopped me halfway to the door. “Leaving so soon?”
I took a deep breath and faced him. “Why would I stay? I told you what I needed to. Besides, you don’t want to keep your companions waiting.”
He laughed outright, and my cheeks burned hotter. “Why, Kenna, I believe you’re jealous again.”
“Why would I be?”
He stalked towards me. “Because you want me.”
My heart pounded frantically, but I looked him up and down, then shrugged dismissively. “I suppose you do amuse.”
This time his laugh echoed off the walls. He grabbed me by the upper arms and pulled me towards him. “This is a novel experience.”
“What is?” I was struggling to maintain my composure, but the nearness of him, the heat …
“Being an object of jealousy. The Fae don’t often feel it. We live for so long that it’s hard to hold on to any strong emotion. Humans feel so intensely, though.” His voice roughened. “It’s intoxicating.”
“I’m not jealous.”
“You saw me with others, and now you’re being cold to me.”
“I’m not cold. I just have places to be.”
He ran his hands up and down my arms, raising goose bumps beneath the thick fabric. “Would it help if I told you I only woo the ladies to gain their loyalty? To bring them to my side?”
Was that what he was doing? Using his charm to gain allies? “I’d still have places to be.”
His hands roved lower, over my back and down to grip my buttocks. A shudder went through me as he yanked me into him, his hips pressing firmly against mine. His hard length pressed against my lower belly. “I like it when you’re cold,” he whispered. “But I like it better when you burn.”
Then we were kissing desperately—like starving people at a feast, like drowning people gasping for air. I laced my fingers through his long hair and tugged so hard his lips briefly broke from mine. He grunted. “There’s the fire.” His lips crashed into mine again.
I bit him.
He pushed me against the nearest wall, his hand dipping between my legs. I cried out at the sensation, even muted as it was by the heavy dress and undergarments that separated us.
“I want to eat you up,” he said.
I challenged him with my eyes. “Then do it.”
There was a long, tense pause, and flames shifted in his gray irises as he considered it. I expected him to grab me, to carry me to the couch or even take me on the floor…but he stepped away.
“I have a meeting,” he said, still breathing rapidly. “An important one. But the things I’m going to do to you next time…”
My stomach tumbled, finding the precipice before my mind fully caught on. He was going to leave me like this?
I wouldn’t show him my dismay. What would that do but prove my jealousy? “Then you’d better impress me next time, Fire prince.”