“Even though you never intended to come out of hiding?”
“It’s still our mother tongue, Mr. Wood.”
Ace didn’t tell her to call him something else. He was probably mulling this information over. I wasn’t as surprised as my brother. Why wouldn’t they know their ancestors’ tongue?
What I was more curious about was their dust, and I signed this to my brother.
Cat intercepted my message. “Lily asks if you have dust like your ancestors?”
Charlotte turned her head my way. I wasn’t sure how she even knew where I was, considering I hadn’t spoken. Unless she could sense me. That would be creepy…
“Like our scales, our dust has vanished. Only the first generation had both.”
They still shine, I signed.
Cat nodded.
“If you went to Neverra, you’d probably get both back,” Cat said.
How could she entertain such a preposterous idea?
“But they’re not coming to Neverra…” Ace pivoted to take them all in. Even the youngest Daneelies had been convened to dinner. Maybe the adults were afraid to leave them alone with lucionaga swarming the area.
The children’s eyes glittered at the mention of Neverra. I couldn’t tell if it was in fear or in excitement.
“Going to our homeland was never a possibility before,” Charlotte said slowly. “Is it a possibility now?” Ace was silent for so long Charlotte’s mouth puckered. “We are not welcomed, are we?”
“You might be,” Cat said suddenly. She’d waited for my brother to speak, but when his mouth didn’t even shift, she took the decision upon herself.
A vein throbbed at my brother’s temple. He didn’t want them to return. The Daneelies sensed my brother’s reticence because scowls were stamped on many a face.
“But you would have to prove yourself first,” she added.
“Prove ourselves?”
“Your loyalty. This is no longer your ancestors’ Neverra. This is a new Neverra,” Cat said. She grabbed Ace’s white-knuckled hand. “There is no more mist, no more palace, no more cupola, no more tithes.”
“But there is still a king,” the man with the teeth mark said.
Ace whipped around toward the Daneelie. “Just like there’s a President in this country. My title is honorary and gives me the power to keep the peace.”
“Is there still a draca and a wariff?” the red-haired woman who’d freed me earlier asked.
“The political system is still in place, but I’ve also created a new council where sit an Unseelie, a hunter, a Seelie, and a Daneelie.”
“Let me guess, your wife is the Daneelie representing us?” Quinn said.
“You have a problem with that?” Ace snapped.
Some people muttered.
“I’d gladly offer my seat to a more deserving Daneelie”—Cat glowered at the ones who’d muttered—“but you’d have to prove your loyalty.”
“Like you proved yours? By sleeping with a Wood?” Quinn hissed.
Cat flinched. Ace lurched into the air and landed at Quinn’s feet so fast it stupefied the bald man. He then gripped Quinn’s throat. “Loyalty starts with respect. If you ever imply that my wife whored herself again, I will kill you.”
Tension thinned the oxygen.
Quinn’s face turned as purple as a beet.
Ace still didn’t let go. “I recognize you…where do I know you from?”
Quinn could obviously not answer.
Ace tipped his head and studied the puffing man. Suddenly my brother’s head snapped up straight. “You’re the owner of Forest Press.”
Cat gasped, but covered up her gasp with her palm.
Quinn clawed at my brother’s hand, but Ace didn’t release him, and no one interceded, not even Kiera, who looked ready to leap to his rescue.
Finally, Ace uncinched his fingers and shoved Quinn so hard he stumbled and fell. Sputtering, he pressed himself back up, hazel eyes flaring with contempt. I wasn’t sure who he was angrier at, though—Ace, who’d made a fool of him, or Charlotte, who hadn’t defended him.
“You’re the one who destroyed my book plates!” Cat exclaimed.
“They weren’t yours,” he muttered.
“Well they weren’t yours either!”
“I’m the one who told him to get rid of them,” Charlotte said. “I was afraid it would lead faeries to us.” She’d been right to fear this. “Shall we sit? The food is getting cold.” She gestured to the table.
No one looked in the mood to eat, but in waves, we took our seats. I sat in front of Ace and Cat. Charlotte slid in next to Ace, and Sam to my right. Cole dropped down to my left.
“Is it okay if I sit here?” he asked, straddling the bench as though about to spring up.
I nodded, and he pulled his leg over. Kiera and Quinn sat on one end of the table, as far away as possible from us. I only noticed then the large lump on Kiera’s forehead. She’d been whacked hard, which surely contributed to her utter dislike of us.
Charlotte tipped her head down. The others followed suit. She said the Daneelie version of grace, thanking the water for their food. Once she was done, everyone but Ace and I dug into the food—piles of steamed vegetables, platters of grilled fish, and wooden boards topped with pinwheels of creamy cheese.
“Are there more Daneelies out there?” Cat asked Charlotte, taking a tiny bite of food as though testing it for poison.
“Only my husband and Quinn’s family left the compound. When our great grandparents ran out of scales, Quinn’s grandfather decided to go into another business. All the other families stayed. As you can see, though, not many of us survived the massacre.”
I flinched at the mention of massacre, which was surely Charlotte’s intent considering the weight of her empty stare.
“How many of you would come back to Neverra if the offer were on the table?” Cat asked.
“Is it not on the table already?” Charlotte asked.
Cat placed her elbows on the table and linked her hands together. “Would you immediately agree to Seelies moving onto your compound, Charlotte?”
Charlotte considered Cat’s words. “I suppose we wouldn’t.”
“So how many of you would want to live there instead of here?”
Joshua was the first to raise his little hand. When no one followed suit, he whipped it down. But Cole, who was sitting next to his little brother, reached for Josh’s arm and pulled it up, and then he raised his own hand. Josh beamed to have his brother’s support. “Josh and I, Mom.”
Kiera glared at her brothers. More hands came up and mes were spoken—for Charlotte’s benefit. Kiera glared at all of them. Neither she, nor Quinn, nor the man who’d slammed the chair into her face when he’d thought it was me, raised their hands.
Finally, I gave in to the food, ladled steamed vegetables onto my plate, and speared a broccoli with more force than necessary, the tines of my fork scraping against the hard plastic plate. They would all be able to go there, unlike me…
“Would we be free to come and go as we pleased?” Charlotte asked.
“Yes,” Cat said, “but you’d have to abide by the same rules as everyone else.”
“Of course.” Charlotte chewed a piece of sweet potato thoughtfully. “And how will you have us prove our loyalty?”
“We’ll think of something,” Ace said.
“You can attend our wedding on Beaver Island for starters,” Cat said.
What was she playing at? Did she figure it would be condescending for them to attend a Wood function?
“Yes!” Sam said so excitedly her dreads pulsed around her face. “I mean”—she shrugged—“sure. Whatever.”
Her attempt at tamping down her elation made some of my bad mood recede.
“Behave civilly and mingle with the other faeries who will fly in for the occasion, and you might earn a ticket into Neverra,” Ace said glumly.
Cat wrapped her hands around Ace’s arm, her touch softening his grouchy mood.
>
“Understood,” Charlotte said.
“So those of us who don’t feel like sucking up to you don’t get to go to Neverra?” Kiera asked.
“Kiera!” Charlotte said sharply.
Ace leaned over Cat to have a clearer view of Cole’s twin. “I’m sorry. Did you have your hand up earlier? Because if you did, I missed it.”
She grumbled something under her breath.
“Oh. I forgot to mention something.” His voice boomed in the tent. “Those who inflicted bodily harm to my sister and the hunter won’t be allowed into Neverra. So that spares you the pain of sucking up, Kiera.”
Charlotte blanched, and Cole stiffened.
“The other two people on the no-fly list are the two men sitting beside you, Kiera,” Ace continued.
“This is bullshit!” Kiera muttered. “They came onto our land. They attacked us first!”
Attacked? All we’d done was buy weed from them. How was that an attack?
“Did anyone else partake in the torture?” Ace asked.
Cole’s lids slid shut, and then his hand darted up.
Ace looked at me for confirmation, and I shook my head.
“My sister doesn’t hold you accountable, so put your hand down. Anyone else?”
“I gave the orders to create the storm so we could trap them and glean what they knew. If anyone should be held accountable, it should be me.”
“Mom!” Cole exclaimed.
“We may have acted out of fear, but we could’ve handled it differently. Actions have consequences. I’m sorry, Lily. It won’t erase what we did, but know that I regret it.”
“I don’t regret it,” Kiera sneered. “Did you see what the savage did to Pete’s cheek? He bit him! And then she tried to gas Quinn. No. I don’t regret anything we did.”
Without turning her face toward Kiera, Charlotte said, “If this is truly how you feel, daughter, then pack your bags and leave.”
“What? You’re kicking me out?”
“Yes.”
Kiera jumped off the bench, shaking her head so hard her hair danced around her face. “Dad was right to leave you. I wish I could’ve gone with him.”
Charlotte closed her lids. I’d never even see her blink, and there she was shutting her eyes. Whoever this man was, I suspected there was blood in the water. “Now’s your chance to find him, Kiera.”
Kiera stalked around the table. She stopped right behind Cole. “Come on, Cole.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed in his thin throat.
“Cole?”
“I’m staying.”
“Staying?” Kiera’s dark eyes shot to me. “You are such a fool.”
“Wait.” Quinn stood. He tossed his napkin on his plate. “I’m coming. Pete?”
The man with the bite marks stared so hard at his plastic plate that I half expected it to melt. And then the red-haired woman beside him gripped his wrist and shook her head.
Finally, he whispered, “I’m staying,” as though it were more painful than the bite marks on his cheek.
Quinn snorted, and then he walked toward the tent flaps where Kiera was waiting, and together they shoved past the two lucionaga manning the entrance. My brother gave a small nod and one of the guards walked out after them.
“My man will escort them off the premises,” Ace said. “He will not harm them.”
Charlotte was too sullen to answer. She wiped the heel of her hand over her cheek. Joshua slid under the table and then reappeared on his mother’s lap. He locked his arms around her neck and nestled his little face against her neck.
“I won’t leave you, Mommy.”
She hugged him hard.
Silence garlanded the tent, punctuated by Charlotte’s ragged breaths. Remorse swept back some of my hatred for her. By seeking her out, I’d destroyed her family.
A gust of cold air snuck through the tent, disturbing the quiet stillness. “Ace!”
Everyone turned to look at the newcomer. Even me.
Cruz was flushed and his eyes shone. He levitated, soared over the table, and landed at Ace’s side.
Sam whispered, “Who is that?”
I crafted his name out of my dust.
“Hot name. Is he single?” Sam murmured.
Whatever Cruz had murmured in his ear made my brother lurch to his feet.
What now?
Cat’s pulse must’ve spiked because Ace’s palm glowed.
Cole leaned toward me. “Your brother and Catori are linked?”
I nodded, even though I was desperately trying to decipher from my brother’s features if Cruz’s news was good or bad.
“Does that mean she’s his prey? Or is it a romantic bond?” Cole asked.
Cruz’s green gaze slid to me. He smiled, and my heart held very, very still.
“We found the lock,” he said. “And Gregor thinks he could match it to your stamp.”
Erratic waves of heat and coldness slammed into me.
Cat shot to her feet and blurred around the table, her breathtaking speed kicking up hair ends and eliciting gasps from the Daneelies she passed. She stopped next to me, her feet bunching the turquoise fabric strewn over the bare earth.
“Lock? Stamp?” Sam sounded like she was on the other side of a portal. “What are they talking about?”
Cat placed her palms on my shoulders. Her fingers were shaking, or maybe I was shaking, or maybe we were both shaking.
“We’re going to have to cut our visit short,” Cat said. “Thank you for the feast you offered us. An invitation to our wedding will be delivered to you shortly. I hope to see many of you there.” She squeezed my shoulders, and I stood.
I didn’t thank anyone. What would I thank them for? Keeping me hostage? Injuring Kajika? I turned and walked out of the tent ahead of Cat.
It had started snowing. I lifted my face. Thick, downy pellets steamed off my face, using up more of my fire, but I suddenly didn’t care.
I would have more fire soon.
I would have all of my fire.
“Let’s go home,” Cat said.
I assumed she meant Rowan, but perhaps she meant Neverra.
Both felt like home now.
I started levitating, when Ace’s voice cut through the cold darkness. “Cruz, fly Lily over. I don’t want her using up her reserve.”
His comment brought me back down to Earth, literally and metaphorically. My boots and my confidence both sank into the thin white carpet. I closed my eyes to get my emotions under control.
“You will see the isle again, Lily. I promise you.” The proximity of Cruz’s voice made my eyes reopen. He scooped me up, and I burrowed against him, his fire warding off the chill my brother’s words and the weather had set in my bones.
As we drifted upward, I caught sight of a body on the outskirts of the compound. At first, I thought it was Kiera or Quinn, but then the person’s hand started glowing, along with my palm.
Kajika had returned.
I tried to signal for Cruz to fly me down, but he was concentrated on our upward trajectory. I let go of him to fly myself down.
I fell. Slowly, but still I fell.
Cruz dove down and bundled me back into his arms.
“What the hell, Lily? Hold on, okay?”
Cruz gripped me so tightly, even if I tried letting go, I couldn’t.
Rowan. Meet me in Rowan, I whispered through our bond, hoping that in spite of the acre of frosty night that separated us, Kajika would hear me.
20
The Lock
We went straight to the boathouse.
It was dark and bone-chillingly cold, made even colder by my exhaustion. The second Cat had closed the door, Cruz took a pen out of his pocket while Ace summoned flames on his palms to illuminate the obscurity. I touched the back of locker number four, and my portal stamp flared.
Cruz snapped a picture of it on his phone, and then he retraced each line on his own arm because cell phone screens scrambled in Neverra. He made me touch the portal again t
o light up my stamp. He checked his copy, green gaze swishing between our arms.
“Send me the picture,” Cat said. “I’ll go print out a copy in case your sketch isn’t accurate enough.”
Cruz emailed her, and then tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “I’ll be right back.”
I nodded. He pressed his palm against the portal, and the perfect circle slashed by five irregular lines flared, unlocking the door between the worlds.
Cat ran out the minute Cruz was gone, leaving me alone with my brother.
I took a seat on the worn wooden bench. Ace dropped down next to me.
I signed, The hunters will come home now?
“I’m sure some of them will.”
Kajika will be happy.
My brother’s jaw clenched.
Did you really threaten to chop him up?
“Maybe.” My brother wet his lips. “Don’t ever disappear like that on me again.”
I linked my fingers together and laid them on my lap, studying the chipped pink varnish I’d applied before my trip.
“I don’t want you hanging out with him. Not until we’ve fixed your fire. He’s dangerous and unfit to care for you. You will not talk to him. You will not breathe the same air as him. And if you so much as try to get close to him, so help me skies, I will ship the hunter on a one-way trip to Neverra.”
I sucked in air so fast I wheezed, and then I unbound my hands and swished them through the air. You don’t get to decide who I see, Ace.
“The Daneelies imprisoned you, Lily. That would’ve never happened if I had been with you.” He fisted the fingers of his right hand, extinguishing the flames he’d conjured up to brighten the boathouse.
Kiera had been so quick that there was no way to know if Ace could’ve intercepted me. Anyway, I didn’t want to dwell on what ifs. I had enough what ifs in my life.
It’s not his fault.
“I’m not discussing this anymore. My decision’s final. When you’re healthy again, we can broach the subject—”
I shook my head, tears dampening my cheeks. I never told you not to be with the person you loved.
Ace’s shoulder-blades strained his white dress shirt. “Love? Come on, Lily, you barely know him. Besides, you’re a romantic. You fall in love as fast as hunters run.”
Raging Rival Hearts Page 13
