Page 48 of Magic Forsaken

“Where did you meet him?”

Her eyes closed, as if she couldn’t bear the answer to that question.

She’d never told us anything about her life before we met. Never explained how she came to live alongside us, not truly a prisoner, but forced by our captors to use her magic at their demand.

“At the Fae Enclave,” she admitted finally, her voice so quiet it was almost a whisper.

I just barely kept my jaw from dropping.

“You lived at the Enclave?”

Her nod was almost imperceptible. “I grew up there. My mother was a part of the Elduvars’ court. My father, of course, was human. A single reckless night that my mother later regretted, but she brought me up at the Enclave with the other court children.”

I could imagine how that had probably gone. Given the fae prejudice against half bloods, her life could not have been easy.

“For some reason, Crown Prince Llyr decided I was his favorite target. No one knew I had any magic, so I was easy to torment. The only one who ever stood up for me was…”

Her chin dropped. Her lips trembled, fingers clenched.

“Prince Rath,” she whispered shakily. “The fae at the park was Prince Rath. And I think he recognized me.”

My heart took a quick detour into my stomach as I tried to process that information. The new Crown Prince of the Fae washere. In Oklahoma City. And he knew Kes.

“From the way you’re reacting, I’m going to guess that he didn’talwaysstand up for you.”

Her eyes met mine swiftly. “He never hurt me,” she said, a fierce note entering her tone as she defended him. “But the part he played at court was that of a genial idiot. Always smiling. Never taking anything seriously. It was not who he was. Rath was as fierce and dangerous as the rest of them. But it meant he could not always stop them without giving away his game. And that sometimes, they hurt him too, for daring to help me.”

Oh. She was afraid that he associated her with his pain.

“Isn’t he supposed to be king now?” I didn’t know a lot about fae politics, but it was impossible not to pick up some tidbits from living among them for so many years.

“He was part of those who took down Elayara last year. He survived, and was preparing to be crowned after his father disappeared. But the day before the ceremony, Dathair came back. Picked up his crown as if nothing had happened. Said Rath wasn’t ready.”

Suddenly, the pain in those silver-gray eyes made all the sense in the world.

“Why didn’t you want to see him?” They’d been allies once, so it seemed unlikely that he would want to hurt her.

Kes’s gray eyes met mine, swimming with tears. “You know what I’ve done. What I helped his mother do. She used my power in so many terrible ways, including against her own son.” A low sound of pain ripped from her throat as her eyes shut and she tried to hold back sobs. “Raine, Elayaragave him those scars. How can I face him, knowing that I may have been a part of his torment? And if he knows, how could he not hate me?”

I rose from the floor, wrapped my arms around her shoulders, and let her cry. Hoping this moment might be even the tiniest bit less painful because she was not alone.

But I had nothing to say. There were no words for this kind of pain. Only a silent promise to myself.

Never again. I would do everything in my power to prevent her from ever being hurt this way again. Kes was a kind and gentle soul who’d been deeply scarred by the things she was forced to do. Sometimes it was even difficult for her to accept that the kids and I knew everything and loved her anyway.

If the ones who’d tormented us were truly dead, then there was no way for me to find them and make them pay for what they’d done to her… to all of us. But I could still devote myself to ensuring that no one else ever suffered the same fate. No matter what it cost me.

Callum hadn’t toldme what time to show up the next day, and I’d been too tired and shellshocked to ask. But it seemed that among humans, the typical workday began at eight, so that’s when I presented myself at my new place of employment the following morning.

As Angelica had promised, restoration crews were already at work. The ugly words had been removed from the wall, the broken glass was gone, and a new window was being fitted into place.

Wait, speaking of broken glass… Every window in Callum’s apartment had been shattered, so where had he slept last night? Was he even here, and if not, how could I find him?

Clearly, our business relationship was going to need some improvements. Also, we would need some way to communicatethat didn’t involve me having a phone—those could be too easily tracked, and it wasn’t like I could pay for the service.

“Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to step away from the building.”

I turned from peering in the window to see a uniformed security officer bearing down on me, mustache bristling with indignant protectiveness. His starched white shirt bore the logo of a local security company, so he wasn’t one of Faris’s people. And considering the stun gun he wore openly on his belt, he might actually be human.

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