Page 83 of Luca

I noticed Alex’s face had paled. “Who is it from?”

“The Minister of Human and Fae Relations,” Cair said and my friend cursed.

“Mother.” He shook his head, irritation replacing the elation he’d displayed only a moment ago. “I probably don’t have to ask who this child of the state is, but go ahead…”

Cair’s expression turned grave. “Theodore Lawrence.”

Alex’s head fell back, his eyes screwing shut as he let out an unsteady breath. He held up the bracelet mockingly. “Better save this for a rainy day, huh?”

Teighan tugged his mate to his chest, rumbling a soothing purr and rubbing patterns into his back. “We’ll do everything we can, my precious boy,” he whispered so quietly I almost didn’t catch it. “I swear to you. We’ll get him back.”

I saw Alex’s hair bob with a nod, and the urge to comfort my friend was strong. “I’m sorry, Alex,” I said, knowing it wasn’t enough, but it was all I had.

He leaned out of Teighan’s embrace, his eyes glittering with tears he was clearly refusing to shed. “We may not talk anymore, but he’s still my brother, and sinceyouhaven’t taken him, someone has, so we need to find them.”

My mate dipped his head. “Of course.”

Alex’s mom was powerful, dangerous, and no doubt had the means to enact exactly what was in that letter. It was no idle threat.

“This is part of the king’s plan?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“It all makes sense now,” Cair mused. I wasn’t convinced, but he had more experience with his father’s particular brand of crazy, so maybe it had all clicked into place for him. “He thinks burning the bridge between our kinds will ultimately get him what he wants, and the quickest way is by provoking the humans into driving us out of Edenglas.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if my mom has something to do with this,” Alex spat bitterly. “She hates the Fae being in the human world just as much as your father does. All this just seems too fucking convenient to not have her fingerprints all over it.”

“If they are working together, that makes this whole thing even more targeted,” Cair said. “And dangerous.”

The sound in the room was suddenly muffled in my ears, the air heavy and suffocating. A cold finger of regret traced my spine, an anxious storm welling in my belly as my unfocused gaze fell to the floor. This was my fault. Everyone here was distressed because I’d unwittingly taunted the king. “This… is all because ofme.”

A large, gentle hand cupped my cheek, tilting my head up. “Do not blame yourself, sweetling,” Cair murmured. “This is allhim.”

“Yeah, it’s definitely not you, Lu,” Alex added. “Our father-in-law is a dickbag.”

I laughed faintly.

“Our mating may have pushed him over the edge,” my mate continued. “But there is no fault on either of us for that. He has tolerated our people existing in the human world for centuries, gritted his teeth and borne his disdain because revoking the portal—as your father said—would have caused uproar. For all his harshness and cruelty, he had too much pride and would not have risked being torn from his throne for something so trivial, but now… the stakes have risen.

“You have come along, the first human to march into the Fae realm, bold as brass to take your place there, next to the heir of the throne, and he was powerless to stop you. It unnerved him to the point of irrationality. He has been shown it is possible for our realm to one day host those of human blood, to dilute the pure bloodline, and he can’t have that. He values purity above all else, and he will do anything to ensure it.”

“Even go to war?” I asked.

“Even so, but not outright. This way—” He held up the letter. “He believes he can pretend it is not his fault. If the humans use this excuse to drive us from their lands, my people will need someone to blame for uprooting their lives, and that would land on me. In turn, it may garner the king more support.”

“Or…” Teighan spoke from his position plastered to my friend’s back. “We will all be so distracted fighting a pointless war with the humans that our numbers will be too depleted to overthrow him.”

“Exactly.” Cair lowered his head but didn’t step out of my space, which I appreciated. I needed his warmth. “He must have been planning this since your arrival in the Fae realm,” he carried on, voicing his thoughts out loud. “He has prepared himself for every outcome, it seems. Whether I started the fight because of grief, or the humans did because of a sham kidnapping plot, it doesn’t matter to him as he wouldn’t be the villain.”

“And what? Killing me was just for shits and giggles?”

“He wanted to weaken me, to plant the seed of doubt in the minds of the people.” He reached out again to brush his knuckles down the side of my face, his expression solemn. “I was ready to tear the world apart for you. That would have been their vision of me, and how easy would it be to add abduction charges to a broken male already wreaking havoc?”

I groaned in frustration, my instincts clamoring at the thought of my mate being accused of anything so vile. “That fucker always has to be one step ahead, doesn’t he?”

“Then we just have to be two steps ahead,” Teighan piped up, his arms crossing over his chest in a protective stance. “We already have it in our favor that Luca lived. Our father may still be going ahead with the rest of this lunacy, but even with the threat to their homes, the people will know you well enough to realize you’d never risk losing our place in Edenglas. You’ve spent the last hundred years advocating for them. They won’t forget that so easily.”

“Desperation can weaken anyone’s loyalties or principles,” Cair said before releasing a heavy sigh. “I should know. I would have sacrificed them all if it had brought my mate back. I’d have no right to blame them if they turned on me the same way.”

“Your soul shattered into pieces,” Tee deadpanned. “I think you can be forgiven for your lapse in judgment.”

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