Page 29 of Fae Unashamed

I spun on her. Finger pointed at the giant windows, I said, “Shut your mouth unless you want to go flying through the glass.”

Hilda grinned and lifted a beer can to her lips. I paused.Where did she get the beer can from?

“I will accept goblins in my castle any day before you ever let that menace in,” Tal said, glaring directly at Hilda.

For the first time, I questioned if the two knew each other. More importantly, Tal must have known Wilbur’s brother. Did that mean he knew Wilbur? How would Tal feel about the debt that I owed Wilbur?

“Oh, big bad human turned fae is scared of a little brownie?” Hilda teased.

“We all know you murdered ared cap.Do you know how hard they are to kill?”

Hilda nodded and grinned deviously. “In fact, I do.”

While the two of them bickered, I hugged Addie goodbye. I promised her there were no hard feelings about tonight. Perhaps it played out the way it was meant to. Now that I could see that I kept straying from the right path, I could course-correct. It would be way easier once I got Rhoan back, too.

With Tal and Hilda in the background, I set about crushing the nightsmane while thinking of the one thing I wanted more than anything: a peaceful life with Rhoan. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been so selfish with my thoughts, but this potion had one intention. It was to bring my love back to me.

7

CERRI

This was it.

I gripped the potion bottle in my hand and prayed the glass wouldn’t shatter under the weight of my crushing need. Beside me, Tal tried to smile reassuringly. I could tell that he didn’t want to be here, though. There was still so much to do back at the castle, and it was weighing on his mind now more than ever.

It seemed that every part of my life was falling apart. I could only pick up the pieces one at a time. The castle was still standing. The seed of arcana in Beryl’s court was still waiting. Rhoan couldn’t wait any longer.

Faust’s dense forest stretched ahead of us. We stood on the edge between the forest that I’d stolen from Faust in my nightmare and the part that still belonged to him. The trees behind me had taken on a red-hue much like the garden of my arcana. Ahead, however, the trees were almost a deep violet. Blue spirit light flickered between the leaves as if the Sluagh were watching from the shadows.

“Are you sure about this?” Tal asked. “Last time we nearly killed Faust, it was only because we caught him outside of his own domain. And we had Rhoan on our side last time. Can’t you summon Rhoan away from Faust the same way you’d summoned me?”

I tried to dream Rhoan into existence the same way I’d dreamed the castle domain, but it hadn’t worked. After that, I’d asked Vi for help in creating a summoning circle. I could have been mistaken, but it was as if Rhoan was broken into too many pieces to be summoned. I couldn’t find a way to include all of him into one summoning circle.

When I told Tal to trust me, he gave me a dubious look. The man was insanely powerful. He’d stopped both Del and me in one smooth motion once before. Perhaps this fight was wearing him thin, too.

Then a thought occurred to me. Tal’s ex-boyfriend had up and left us without any kind of notice not too long ago.

I reached across with my free hand and took his. “Foxglove?”

Tal’s lips twisted with annoyance. He looked away, but that couldn’t hide the frustration sparking in his eyes.

“He’s buried himself in a domain that I can’t access. I know it’s to keep safe, but I wish he would have saidsomething.” He pinched his nose and shook his head. “Men.”

I squeezed his hand. “After this, I’m introducing you to a nice vampire who will treat you right.”

Tal raised a brow. “You’re handing me over to someone who’s going to want to feed on me?”

“Luca isn’t like that. He’s created a community of consent for the local vampires. He also offers a lot of other options. We don’t have a blood alternative yet, but we do have good banks of donated blood.”

Luca was Vi’s friend, so setting up the blind date would take a little work. It would probably help Morgan be more comfortable with his mate’s best friend, though. If Luca had a public boyfriend, then Morgan wouldn’t feel like Luca wanted to steal Vi from him.

I wasn’t sure if Luca and Morgan still had that kind of tense relationship anymore, but it couldn’t hurt to add a little love into the mix.

Tal seemed dreamy for a moment. “I’ve heard of the vampire you’re speaking of, but Fox never let me meet him in person. Of course, Fox spent quite a bit of time forming alliances with him.”

The way Tal trailed off told me that he’d realized something. I did, too. Fox had been cheating on Tal.

“Luca wouldn’t have done anything if he’d known.” I didn’t exactly know the vampire like that, but I was certain that if Vi caught him in the middle of a messy affair, she would have burned his ass.

---