Page 58 of To No End

Momentarily, I set aside my anger about his lies and the ever-expanding list of questions I had for him. I stepped toward him, and he flinched—physically recoiled from me.

“Cress, we aren’t lucky. This place might as well be a death sentence. There’s a reason they want us to cut ties with our former life.”

His assumptions were bleak. I don’t know that I could argue with them, but I couldn’t ignore feeling relief that a familiar face was here; his face. Everything about this place still felt unknown, but I felt safer just knowing he was here too.

“We have no idea what they might do if they knew we had known each other in that way…” his words trailed off, almost too ashamed to acknowledge the truth.

He sank his face into both hands, rubbing his palms against his temples. I crouched down to eye level with him and slowly reached my hand out, longing to console him, but again, he pulled away.

“How am I supposed to ignore the fact that you’re only a few doors down from me? I despise that you’re here. You were the last good thing from the life I left behind, and now I can’t even take solace in that.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, trying to hide the cracking in my voice.

My presence here had upset him. I couldn’t deny that the thought of him being mere steps away at night was going to be nearly impossible to ignore.

Trace finally looked up from his hands and I felt myself drowning in the green and brown flecks of his eyes, remembering all the times I had looked into them with deep, unwavering affection.

“Promise me you’ll do this my way. Just let me figure out exactly what’s going on here and if it’s safe or not. I want to protect you, protect us both. For now, we can act friendly, like acquaintances, but they cannot know our history.”

I didn’t know what else to do other than nod. I didn’t have the same concerns as Trace, but maybe I was being naive. It wouldn’t have been the first time.

“I’ll follow your lead, for now, but I have more questions and youwillanswer them,” I acquiesced.

“Later, I promise. When I can find somewhere safe for us to talk.”

He suddenly lifted his hand and ran his palm across my cheek, pushing aside a long piece of my hair to expose my ear. And the feather earring.

I tilted into the warmth of his hand against my skin, beginning to crave him in all the ways I could not act on. He ran his finger down the length of the black Nightwing feather and leaned in, resting his forehead against mine. “You’re going to be the death of me,” he rasped.

Everything in my body wanted to press my lips to his, but I knew if either of us crossed that line, there would be no coming back. Not after all the loss we’d faced, only to be gifted each other back in the strangest of circumstances. He pulled away from me to stand, and I did the same, feeling empty and unfulfilled.

“Please don’t wear that. It will only make this harder for me. And whatever you do, please work on your mental shields. I don’t trust these people; they’ll crawl inside your head and use anything they can against you.”

I wasn’t sure if it was all the years of Trace being a black cloak—whatever that was—or just paranoia, but he didn’t give much weight to Idris or Saryn saying these people were our new family. He was operating like they were quite the opposite. Trace peered out into the hallway, ensuring no one was watching, and urged me to make my exit.

I stopped briefly by my room and laid the earring down on a table next to my bed. I looked at it with far too much longing and hurt from being told to take it off. Shortly thereafter, I made my way back to the common room to find the others scattered about, lounging on couches—except for Nori, who was nowhere to be seen.

Varro was sitting in a far corner by himself, perusing a book, and I couldn’t stop myself from glaring anytime I looked in his direction. I sat down next to Gia, who appeared to be overcome with boredom, and Cairis, who was cleaning the underside of his nails with the tip of a dagger. It became apparent they hadn’t gone through our bags and removed any weapons, which was promising. A detail to later point out to Trace about why we should trust them. If they had wanted us unarmed, that might have been cause for concern.

“It’s a shame you’ll be missing your sister’s wedding,” Gia said with disinterest.

I turned my head in surprise. If I was being honest, I didn’t know anything about these people, well except for Trace and Varro’s father.

“How do you know about that?” I inquired.

“All the members of the High Court received invitations, did they not? My mother, being the absolute snob that she is, wasgossiping to my father about it, despite their unwillingness to attend.”

“Does that mean you’re of Royal blood?” It was highly likely given the statement that they wouldn’t attend.

“Yes, not that it’s ever made a difference to me.”

I was relieved to hear her say it. It would have been a shame if the only person I had attempted to befriend so far had ended up being pointlessly judgmental.

“I think you’re the only Honored Fae here, anyway,” she added.

Suddenly Cairis chimed in, “I’m only a half-blood, so feel free to bucket me in with Cress.”

He shot me a smile of camaraderie. I grinned back at him, trying not to laugh at the obvious fact that he was entirely too large for the chair he was relaxing in.

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