Page 3 of Solstice

Making it momentary as a sound, [...]

And ere a man hath power to say “Behold!”

The jaws of darkness do devour it up.

So quick bright things come to confusion.

-Lysander Act I, Scene I

1

Lex

NOVEMBER

The sound of Ivy’s scream woke me. I’d always been a light sleeper, but my fiancée’s wail could reach me even in the depths of hell. I sat up and blinked against the moonlight, grabbing my cigarettes so I could light one before standing and heading toward my door.

The stoic expression of Theo, our bodyguard on duty, met me in the hallway.

“Sir?” He raised his eyebrows, expecting a response.

I waved him away. “I got it.”

“Are you sure?”

I nodded, and he turned to head back downstairs.

Am I sure?

No. I hated this. I hated that the nightmares gnawed at her. I hated that her pride wouldn’t let me sleep in the same bed with her, that I had to put on this charade of going to mine so I could wake up in the middle of the night and trudge down this fucking hallway in the dark.

It was like this the first time, right after we got back from Ireland when we were in college. They’d gone away after that fairy bitch, Siobhan, returned the ring to her. It had protected her somehow. Not anymore. Ivy had lost the damn thing on her way out of Faerie two years ago, and Siobhan hadn’t put in an appearance since she saved us at the ruins.

I stalked across the soft white carpet, taking one last draw on my cigarette before putting it out in the crystal next to her bed. It already had three butts in it. I guessed Ivy had picked up my habit in the days leading up to the election.

It all ended today—now or never. She’d run out of rope to hang herself.

Perhaps it was the stress that had made the nightmares worse this week. Maybe after this was over, they might go away permanently.Wishful thinking.

I stood there for too long, watching her writhe and moan against her pillows.

“I won’t tell you,” she whimpered. “I won’t tell you where she is. She’s mine. Go away.”

The king again this time. Or maybe the queen. Any number of those sadistic fucks could be tormenting her. I didn’t know how it worked or why, but Ivy was connected to the fairies through her gift. For most people, she had to put her hands on them to see inside their head, but the fairies haunted her subconscious, showing up whenever they wanted to rifle through her dreams.

Every night, she fought it.

Something about me sent them away. All I had to do was wrap my arms around her and kiss her forehead, and she settled into peace. The same with Carter or Miri. If they came into town, they slept in her bed, and she finally got some damn rest.

“It’s like you shield me from them,”she’d said.“Like being with you shields all of us.”

We were stronger together.

Truth be told, it didn’t matter whyit worked, only that she shut the fuck up and let me sleep. She wasn’t the only one that had a big day tomorrow. Yes, I had to be the dutiful future husband and stand next to Representative Washington on her big night, but I also had a full-time job myself.

Being an appeals attorney wasn’t a cakewalk, even though I knew when someone did what they were accused of. It shocked me to learn how many people were behind bars that hadn’t done a damn thing wrong.

Did I cheat the system by exploiting a gift given to me by a fucked-up fairy curse? Well, I’d neither confirm nor deny those allegations, but let’s say I wasreallypicky about my clients, and I usually won my cases. Which was why I was so high in demand and I couldn’t afford these sleepless nights.

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