Page 75 of Beltane

Questions hurdled at me faster than I could hear them, but it was too late. My heart had been set free. My conscience weighed nothing for the first time in my life. I walked off the stage to an astounded Giana, her eyes the size of entire planets.

“What did you do?” she said, grabbing my shoulders.

“I’m sorry for the added stress I’ve just caused you,” I said. “But I’m not keeping them a secret anymore. We can spin this however you want. I’m tired of hiding.”

She balked like I’d slapped her, blinking a few times before grabbing my shoulders and staring me dead in the eyes.

“Do you know what you’ve done?” she said.

“Not a fucking clue,” I replied with an enormous smile. “But it feels great.”

“You’re out of your mind.” Giana laughed and pulled me into a big hug. “You have to get to that wedding before she says I do.”

I nodded and held her tighter. “Thank you, Giana. For everything.”

“Ugh, your mother is going to kill both of us.”

“I don’t care.” And I meant it with every part of my being.

I’m going to get my girl.

29

Lex

It wasn’t all fairy wine and wild bloody orgies in Faerie. After Miri and Ivy sent the ruby dust careening into the fairy king, he woke up with his factory default settings, and the queen’s council argued for the next few hours over what they should do about it. The battle maidens and theFiannacame out of their stupor like nothing had ever happened, and the ones that had been wounded in the fight were miraculously healed, maybe from the queen’s magic, though she would never admit as much.

With the veil permanently closed, the angry, maniacal version of him technically was no longer a threat, but he’d found a way through before, and he’d do it again. Because of that, Finn and hisFiannaurged caution.

I sat in the queen’s royal library tent, searching through ancient tomes for anything that might help me get home. Of course, half this shit was in a language I couldn’t read or understand, so I spent most of my time chasing my tail.

After I’d woken up near the ruins, Siobhan and Donnelly had taken pity on me and brought me back to their lodgings until I could find my own. But I didn’t plan on staying that long. I had agreed to this deal to save my beloveds. I didn’t want to be here.

Something Diana had said when we’d returned to Faerie and greeted her audience, something in the way she had worded it, stuck out to me at the time. She’d been very deliberate, and she’d kept her focus on me while she muttered her Faero-Gaelic incantation afterward.

“I owe you my thanks,” she’d said, and I wondered if her thanks meant something more tangible than pretty syllables.

Every day was the same. I woke up at dawn, ate before the others got out of bed, and headed to the library, where I sat and researched until my eyes burned. Occasionally, Donnelly would join me, gaze narrowed while he lurked in the corner and reluctantly translated whatever I found. Most days, I reminded myself of Ivy, like we were stuck in that cabin in the woods, trying to figure out how to kill an immortal fairy king. At night, when I couldn’t hold my head up anymore, I dragged my sorry ass back to their tent and passed out before they started fucking.

I’d only had to walk in on that once to know I didn’t want to be there when it happened again.

I missed my spouses too much, and watching their intimacy had me aching for my own. Fucking fairies. Fucking prophecies. Fucking human realm that had to be so damned far out of my reach, I had no idea how I’d ever get there again.

This went on for a week. And finally, when the three of them couldn’t stand my bullshit any longer, they found me hunched over a book I couldn’t read, flipping through pictures I barely understood.

“See, I told you.” Donnelly looked smug as he crossed his arms, walking into the tent with muffled footsteps. Of the three, he prided himself on being the most stealthy, and honestly, the way he silently crept around had scared the hell out of me on more than one occasion. “The fucking library.”

“Alexei…Mate…” Siobhan shook her head and sighed as she came closer. “You can’t hole yourself up in here for the rest of eternity.”

I took a deep breath and leaned back in my seat, rubbing my palms over my eyes before reaching into my pocket for my remaining two cigarettes. I’d been saving them for a special occasion, but if something had brought the three of them here, then I figured I might as well brace myself.

“I saved the world,” I said, taking a long drag and relishing the buzz that came with it. “I can do whatever I want.”

“Hmm.” Siobhan scowled as she grabbed the chair directly across from me, flipped it around, and sat, resting her elbows on the back rung.

“What brings you to the library?” I raised my eyebrows and gestured around. “Looking for a book on fairy sex magic? I think I saw a good one over?—”

“Don’t be a prick,” Finn said, lowering his massive body into the chair next to Siobhan.

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