Page 116 of Magic Forsaken

“Not here.”

Oh. Well, it was still better than being back out on the road. If Faris was willing to offer us protection from the other courts, we could find a way to deal with Blake on our own.

“That’s fine,” I told him. “If we can at least stay till morning, we’ll be out of here as soon as the kids wake up.”

The look he shot me was full of irritation and impatience, but also something more. As if those emotions were just a cover for a deeper feeling he didn’t really want to admit. “I’m not kicking you out onto the street,” he growled. “I keep apartments just up the road for some of my employees. Still temporary, but better than here. If you’d rather let the kids sleep, we can move you in the morning, but I don’t want to wait too long. Even with my guards, this place is too vulnerable to attack.”

I couldn’t help it. My jaw dropped. My mouth opened and shut a few times like a stranded fish, but Faris wasn’t finished.

“I’ll also be expecting you back at work come Monday. Kira and Draven will be getting married soon, and they want to do it at the club, so I’ll be needing extra help while they’re fussing over the details.”

I didn’t understand, and I almost couldn’t find words to express my confusion. He was doing so much for us, and I still didn’t knowwhy.

“Why are you doing all this?” I asked quietly. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful. Incredibly so. But no one helps for free. Especially not when there’s so much trouble involved. You have to know people will be coming for us. If there’s a war, my family may be at the center of it, and your own people will hate you for harboring us. So… why?”

“My own people?” he echoed. “Raine, in case you haven’t noticed yet, my ‘people’are the Shadow Court. And from the moment I employed you, that included you and your family.” There was no hesitation in that claim. No wavering. Just absolute certainty. “Every one of my people has their reasons for being here, but the main rule we live by is that we protect our own, and everyone in the Idrian community knows it. So they are well aware that if they attempt to harm you, they will have me to deal with—laws or no laws.”

It sounded unbelievable. Too perfect to be true. And Faris was eyeing me as if he knew exactly what I was thinking.

“But you still want to know why.”

I nodded slowly. “I don’t know how to trust, Faris. I especially don’t know how to trust good things.”

And yet, I’d been willing to trust Callum, a mystery that would probably haunt me for some time to come.

Faris took his time in answering, but I waited. Needing to know what he would say before I could accept that we might—against all odds—have found a place to call home.

“Because,” he said at length, with a sigh that held echoes of old pain, “justice is blind.”

I waited for him to explain.

“You’ve seen the statues. Lady Justice with her scales and her blindfold. I built this place because of that blindfold. We need rules and laws, yes. But they can’t protect everyone who deserves to be protected. They can’t foresee every messed up thing people do to each other. It’s always the weakest who fall through the cracks, and they needed somewhere to land.” He was looking almost uncomfortable now, as if he’d revealed something deeply personal. “This is that place.”

It was almost as if he’d heard me talking to Kes. Heard me crying out for someone to see us.

“And also,” he admitted grudgingly, “because a couple of dragons nagged me until I agreed to come down here and make sure you were okay.”

I wanted to laugh. I wanted to cry. And I wanted desperately to ask himwhichdragons, but I didn’t. It was actually a little alarming how many there were to choose from.

“Is…” I didn’t know how to ask without revealing too much.

“Is Callum okay?” Faris finished the question for me, his sharp green eyes seeing far more than I was comfortable with.

I nodded.

“He’ll find his way.”

That wasn’t much of an answer, but Faris had already talked a lot more than I would have expected.

“Is everyone else okay?”

He shrugged again. “No one died. Angelica took a few too many darts, but she’ll recover. Turns out the rest were all drugged by the wine they used to toast the signing. Whatever Blake used was slow-acting. Meant everyone got an equal dose and went down at the same time.”

As villainous plots went, it had been masterfully planned and executed.

Blake just hadn’t counted on Callum, who I knew hated human alcohol.

“What about Rath and Yolande?”

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