Page 24 of The Fae Lord

“I miss you,” I whisper. “I wish I could hug you, just one more time.”

Kayan’s smile is tinged with sorrow. “Me too. More than anything.” He moves closer, his form shimmering. “But I’m here. We got more time together. We have to be grateful for that, don’t we?”

Tears prick at the corners of my eyes. But beneath the pain, a flicker of warmth settles below my heart. He is with me still, in whatever form fate has allowed.

I square my shoulders and lace my fingers together. “Then we’ll figure this out together. Whatever I’m meant to do, whatever you’re here to show me. We’ll figure it out.”

Kayan nods, his eyes shining.

“It’s nice to have a true friend beside me again,” I whisper, picking up a stick and tracing circles in the earth.

“You have Briony and Finn,” Kayan says, staring out at the lake. “Are they not true friends?”

His question feels different from the other words that have crossed his lips.

Briony and Finn.

“You don’t think they are my friends?” I turn and try to meet his eyes.

Slowly, Kayan turns to look at me, too. “I can only help you find your own answers, Alana. I cannot give them to you.”

I narrow my eyes at him, then try to laugh, attempting to dislodge the unease that is congealing in my stomach. “Cryptic Kayan is going to be heaps of fun,” I mumble.

He laughs too, but as we sink into comfortable silence, I cannot ignore the ball of unease that has settled in my chest.

Briony and Finn?

Finn . . .

He loves me. He would never hurt me.

And Briony is my best friend.

I can trust them.

Can’t I?

TEN

Alana

ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO

We are gathered under the light of the moon. The lake glistens, her surface dancing with the caress of the pale yellow light that filters down from a starry sky.

Any other night, it would be beautiful.

Tonight, it is the ugliest moon I have ever seen.

I am standing at the back of the crowd that has gathered by the lake. Kayan appears beside me and takes my hand. He squeezes it hard, and leans down to press his forehead against mine. “I’m sorry,” he whispers.

Rosalie is at my other side now, and she too grabs my hand. “I’m sorry, too, Alana.”

I cannot answer them. Grief hangs so thick in the air I can barely breathe. Mine, my parents’, my friends’.

Gathered together on the eastern side of the lake are the fae who killed my brother. The ones who were escorting me from the village when he tried to stop them.

They have not been punished, or stripped of their ability to use weapons, or banished from our village.

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