Page 84 of Faerie Marked
“He said you were too honorable to do anything about your situation, so it was up to him to do it for you.”
Mike sucked in a breath and shook his head, his normally bright-gold hair gone dull. “He was my best friend,” he said slowly. “We’d known each other since my first visit to the mortal world. I can’t believe he was—”
It hit me then: Mike couldn’t have known Roman was half wolf-shifter.
“—a murderer,” Mike finished.
“We can’t always know everything about a person,” I said softly. Thinking about Uncle Will and how if I had my way he’d never know where I was. My heart lurched. “And I think it wasbecausehe was your best friend that he did what he did. He cared so much about you, he wanted to make sure you earned your spot in the academy. Even if it meant picking off those he saw as serious competition.”
We approached the door to my dorm and I stopped, not ready to go in just yet. Wanting the two of us alone for as long as I could manage. There were still a lot of unanswered questions. “Whydo you need a spot at the academy, Mike?”
Instead of answering, he kept his gaze on his shoes, mouth zipped closed.
I sighed. If he wanted things to be this way… “We all have our reasons for being here, and maybe we don’t want other people to know them. But maybe we should work together instead of standing against each other in competition. And one day, when we feel safe enough, maybe we can share our secrets.”
I wanted to tell him, I realized. I wanted to tell him everything about me down to my last secret, even when he had the power to destroy me entirely.
Mike only smiled. “I agree. One day.” Then he bent and placed his lips on my cheek. And the simple action rocked my world to the point where everything tilted and I knew, nothing would be the same again.
My mouth rounded in an O. I didn’t let him see it.
“If you’re up for it, do you want to meet at the library tomorrow? Five o’clock?” he asked. “We still have a few tests coming up before winter break and Christmas. I mean, I don’t want you to push yourself if you’re not feeling well, but things haven’t been the same without you, Tavi, and I could really use some normalcy right now.”
How could I say no? “I promise I’ll be there.”
I watched him leave, Mike glancing over his shoulder at me before he turned out of the hallway. My heart fluttered at the sight.
Oh, crap.
Thelastthing I needed to add to my crazy life right then was falling in love with the future king of Faerie. Yet that’s exactly what was happening to me. My head was screaming at me to run but my heart didn’t seem to care.
I didn’t want to stop it. No matter how dangerous.
No matter what Kendrick Grimaldi would do tobothof us if he found me.
The End
