Page 64 of Fire of the Fox

“What do you mean?”

He sighed and explained, “When we first met you, we thought you were Fae because you emit the same magical aura as us. That wasn’t all, though. When Dallas and Rance were outside the club with us after the attempted robbery, we could faintly sense that same aura on them. I brushed it off, thinking they’d just been around a Fae inside the club, but I’m not as convinced anymore.”

I frowned. There wasn’t anything weird about us. We were all human. Dallas and I had been friends since freshman year of high school. I would know if there was something odd about her, and I’m sure she would’ve figured out if something was up with Rance by now or if he was Fae. So then why did all three of us give off that aura?

I turned back to Rune as he continued, “I considered the possibility that you were Water Fae since you love water, but if you were, you never would’ve saved the fox at the creek since Water Fae don’t help Land Fae. Also, you seemed way too surprised and shocked when you found out that Fae even existed, so I’ve somewhat ruled that out.”

“Well, you can rule it out all the way. I’m 100 percent human. Yeah, okay, I like water a little more than the average person, but I’m not some magical being like you guys.”

“Have you ever been able to manipulate water?” he asked, glancing at me with an inquisitive look.

I shook my head. “I’ve never tried. Why would I?”

He raised his chin and said, “Maybe you should. It’s also possible that you’re descended from someone who had Fae in them. You could have an ancestor somewhere down the line that decided to get freaky with a Fae, and the Fae in you got diluted by humans with each generation.”

Considering that theory, I nodded. “I guess that makes sense. Still, it’s hard to believe I could have any Fae in me. It would be a lot easier to figure out if I could ask my parents what they knew.” I paused and forced myself to take a deep breath. Closing my eyes, I shook my head and mumbled, “Too bad that can’t happen.”

Silence filled the car, and I realized too late that maybe that was too heavy of a comment. I clearly didn’t know how to read the room, but it was something that genuinely frustrated me. Ever since Rune and his friends had mentioned that I had a magical aura, I’d so badly wondered if my real parents would’ve had an explanation for that. Would they have laughed and told me I had a great-great-great-great grandmother who really had gotten freaky with a Fae? Or could there be another explanation entirely? I didn’t have those answers, and that killed me.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

The gentle tone of Rune’s voice had me turning to look at him. He glanced at me before focusing on the road again.

I swallowed hard. “Talk about what?”

“Your parents.”

My chest tightened. Having him ask me about my parents was like a huge breath of fresh air. I never talked about them, and no one ever asked how I felt about the subject. Not even Dallas. My birth parents had always been a topic I kept hidden, only to fantasize about them when I was alone. Maybe talking would help lessen the pain a bit more, and Rune was someone I didn’t mind confiding in.

“When I was little, I would secretly stay up all night with a flashlight and my sketchbook. I’d hide under my covers and draw their faces for hours. I obviously didn’t know what they looked like, but that was part of the fun, I guess. I got to make up what they looked like, what they did for a living, where they were in the world. I’d draw and draw and draw until my hand cramped.”

“I bet they’re really good people.”

The faintest touch of a smile graced my lips as I stared out the window. Emotion clogged my throat as I said, “I hope so. I hope they’re good people, still alive and well. Even if I can’t see them, I just want them to be okay.”

Rune reached across the console to take my hand in his. Our fingers intertwined, and his thumb brushed over the top of my hand in soothing circles.

My eyes slipped closed, and I focused on the warmth of his hand in mine and the gentle pattern he trailed along my skin. The touch grounded me, and his spicy, woodsy scent wrapped around me. I inhaled deeply, and with his presence, peace settled in my core once more.

Rune was here.

He was here with me.

He was here for me.

And he was all I needed right now.

After a few moments of silence, I cleared my throat and sought for a change in topic. “Why are Land Fae and Water Fae enemies? You mentioned it briefly before, but what exactly happened?”

Rune thought about it for a moment before answering slowly. “It wasn’t necessarily a single event that made us not get along. Water Fae live in the water, but they could also survive on land. They’d come up to the surface every so often, and the more they did, the more they decided they preferred land. Water Fae started getting the idea that they could rule both land and water, which we didn’t take too kindly. Land Fae wanted their territory to stay theirs, and Water Fae wanted control of both. Thus began a century’s worth of war and slaughtering each other. We finally stopped a little less than twenty years ago.”

“Why did it stop? Did one side win?”

“Land Fae did. We’re stronger than the Water Fae, which is obvious to anyone. Land Fae all have different abilities, depending on what kind of Fae they are, and there’s a lot of us. Water Fae have some varying abilities, like Water Fae can control water, Jellyfish Fae can shock people by touching them, and so on. Still, it’s not enough of a diverse arsenal to defeat Land Fae.

“They knew it was a losing fight, so after the Land Fae killed nearly all of the Water Fae, the Water Fae King and Queen hid their son from us roughly eighteen years ago. Ever since then, most of the Water Fae that were left disappeared from our radar, most likely awaiting the Prince’s return to help them try to defeat us. They’ll still lose, of course, but they can have their hope, I guess.”

I looked up at the fading sun, my mind trying to process all of this new information. “Fighting for more than a century?” I looked at Rune and was hesitant as I asked, “So, you killed a lot of people, then?”

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