Page 104 of Samhain

“I know,” I said. “An independent woman is such a dangerous creature.” I stomped on thin ice at this point, waving a red flag in the bull’s face and daring it to impale me on its thick horns.

She shot her stern gaze to me. “Do you think this is about independence?”

“This is about you having different expectations for your granddaughters than you have for your grandsons.”

“Of course, I have different expectations for you.” She pushed to her feet, and despite the fact I had at least five inches on her, she dwarfed me. “They have different expectations for you.”

She meant them—out there, the world, England, the public I’d sworn to serve. I snapped my mouth shut because she was right. I’d known this my whole life. It was the same reason Lex could sleep around in his adolescence and I’d been called a whore for doing the same.

She brushed a piece of my hair behind my ear with her cold, bony fingers, attempting to be maternal for the first time in my life. “I’ve already lost a son and daughter,” she said, almost tenderly, her eyes softening for a moment as she mentioned my parents. “I won’t lose you, too.”

“I’d like to have my own space,” I forced myself to say. “An apartment. A few blocks away. Close, but far enough to live my life.”

It landed like a dead fish at her feet. Her expression hardened again as she dropped her hands to her side. She gave me no reaction, but that was the worst one. It meant my request wouldn’t even be considered, much less granted. If anything, now that I’d mentioned it, she might tighten her grip.

“We’ll see,” she finally said. “For now, prove to me you want to be a member of this family and update me on your progress with Danae Enterprises.”

Shocked and outraged that there wouldn’t even be a discussion about my living elsewhere, I forced myself to say some words about the Prince of Monaco’s donation and how we needed to secure more funding to make a dent.

“I’d like to see you get America involved,” she said. “They’re one of the biggest polluters on the planet, but they have a liberal government right now. See what you can do.”

See what I can do? As if it was as easy as that.

I nodded and said something like, “Of course, Grandmother.”

“Anything else?”

I shook my head and left when she dismissed me, wandering the cold, isolated walls of Kensington Palace back to my apartment on the third floor. It was the same hallways, the same portraits, the same people bustling about, but it all seemed so…comical compared to what I’d lived through.

I’d made a fairy vow in a different realm that etched itself on my palm, binding me to three other people for the rest of my life. I’d stopped a fairy king from enacting his maniacal plan. I’d grown kilometers of thistles in seconds, using nothing but my bare hands.

Look at these naïve, ignorant people.

They had no idea the chaos that would be headed this way. My grandmother thought that what some wanker said on the front page of a magazine was the most important thing about me. How…ridiculous.

It made me laugh, and the more I thought about it, the more idiotic it seemed. I could cover this whole world in ivy, choke the life out of everything in it. And she thought keeping me trapped in this castle would keep me safe?

Ohhh…how little you know me, Grandmother.

On the other hand, staying here would keep them safe. If Alberich came looking for me, the first place he’d check would be here. He brought the queen to heel with very little effort. What would he make of my aging grandparents? My cousins? My uncles and our hundreds of employees?

Yes, I had to stay, I agreed. But not for my protection, and certainly not because my grandmother thought it was the best for my reputation. If Alberich came, I’d have to protect them. If Alberich came, I’d be the only protection they had.

So, begrudgingly, I went back to my apartment, determined to fall in line.

30

Carter

NOW

“Wait, what’s this?” the talking head said, catching my attention as I hung up. “I’m being told now that Ivy and Lex are missing. No one can find them in the marital suites.”

I shot to my feet, alarm ricocheting down my spine.

Son of a bitch.

My phone rang again.

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