That’s why I’m so desperate to see if that man really is the long deposed Summer King of Faerie in disguise. If that’s Oberon and I can present him with the chance to take care of Melisandre for me… that would just be perfect.
He’s my only hope.
Nine tours the neighborhood with me, too. Since the formal claiming, that final touch, the last of his sensitivity to the sunshine has finally disappeared. He doesn’t like it, and he insists on wearing shades whenever we go out during the rare times it’s not raining, but Nine can walk out into the sunlight without any side effects.
Not that he would stay behind, even if the sun still presented a threat to him. Callie hadn’t been kidding when she said a bonded fae found it difficult to be separated from his mate for too long. It’s like, every time I turn around, Nine’s right there.
I wouldn’t have it any other way.
About a week and a half into our search, the weather finally plays ball with us. The sun is bright, hanging high in a lovely blue sky. There’s not a single cloud in sight. The puddles on the asphalt dry up and, slowly but surely, as it warms up, the homeless start to fill their corners again.
And there, propped up in his usual spot as if he’s been waiting for us all along, is the man with the vivid green eyes.
I couldn’t tell you if his face was the same or not. It’s terrible to admit, but I never really paid all that much attention to him; his bright eyes were the only thing that stuck out at me and, now that I’ve heard all about the Summer King, I can’t help but wonder if that was on purpose or not.
Know what I do notice? His props are missing.
The blankets are there, sure, but that’s it. The crumpled coffee cup? Gone. The scattered newspapers, the cardboard sign? Nope.
Just him.
Just us.
As our shadows fall in front of him, his head picks up.
And he smiles.
“It’s about time. I’ve been wondering when you wouldn’t just see me, but see me.”
Nine frowns. Not me. I know what he means. I know what he’s saying. The day he gave me back Carolina’s note, he said it was because I see him. And I did. I saw a grimy old man, begging with an almost empty coffee cup in front of him, and that was about it.
I can’t see through glamour. There was one time that I thought I could and, thinking back, I wouldn't be surprised if that was just a glitch or my overactive imagination. Or maybe, like when Gillespie showed off his ears, Rys finally lost control over how he wanted me to see him.
Right now, I wish I could see what the homeless man really looks like because, well, he certainly isn’t any kind of king. But those eyes…
As green as grass. Wide. Knowing.
This is Oberon. I don’t know how I can tell, but I can.
“Please. I need your help.”
“Why would I help you? I’ve done more than enough already. I gave you everything you needed. Helped you. In Acorn Falls with the rogue halfling. Here. That’s much more than you should expect, and much kinder than I’ve ever been. I might have fallen from grace, child. I haven’t forgotten who I was.”
“Who are you?”
He smiles again.
“I could… I could pay you. I don’t have much left, but whatever I have, it’s yours. Just hear me out. It’s not even a favor. It’s a bargain. I have something you want.”
He leans back, resting his head against the brick of the wall behind him. “I’ve been trapped in this world for close to two centuries. Adapt and survive. A king lives for revenge. A king requires wealth. Don’t be fooled by my glamour, Shadow. I have more riches than I could ever need.”
Nine goes eerily still. “You know who she is.”
He nods. “As I know of you, Ninetroir.”
His name. This guy knows Nine’s true name.
“No human would dare use that name unless they were desperate. Only a fool would claim to be the missing Summer King when face to face with a Cursed One.”
Oberon laughs. It’s low, yet sweet, almost lyrical.
It’s a laugh that belongs to a fae.
“A Cursed One with a weakness.”
“My kind of fae has always drawn strength from the shadows. My Shadow just so happens to be Riley. A mate doesn’t always have to be a weakness.”
Oberon nods, conceding the point. “Agree to disagree. Just hope that your consort doesn’t turn on you and send you to your death. Brinkburn isn’t worth what any female offers.”
Brinkburn. So he really did get sent there.
“Like you said. Agree to disagree.” Nine gestures at Oberon. “You survived.”
“I did.”
“It’s supposed to be impossible.”
“Nothing’s impossible,” I mutter.
Oberon tilts his head in my direction. “You’re learning.”
I reach out and, hesitating for only a heartbeat, I lay my hand against the elbow of Nine’s long jacket. “I had the best teacher.”
“You’re learning,” the king says again, “but not enough.”
“Hey—”
“Why you?” he asks suddenly. “What makes you so special? You’re a halfling, born of a Blessed One and a human. But you wield the shadows like you’re Unseelie. What are you?”
Is that a question? Or a test?
Feels like a test.
“I’m Riley. Just Riley.”
“She’s the Shadow,” cuts in Nine, standing up for me. “Destined to end Melisandre’s reign.”
Oberon’s face goes unreadable. Okay. I get the feeling like we just flunked his little test. Then, when he says, “Well, pity you’ll never be able to do it on your own,” I’m sure of it.
Does he think I don’t know that? “That’s why I thought you’d want to come with us. Come on. You’ve gotta want revenge. I can… I don’t know… distract the queen and then you can—”
“Can what? Kill Melisandre for you?”
When he puts it like that, it sounds like a lot to ask. But I’m desperate.
“Why not?”
The fae have no problem with murder if it suits them. I lost my sister thanks to Rys’s indifference toward humans and an inability to understand that her cruel murder would hurt me. Carolina? She starved to death because Melisandre wanted to make her pay. His old mate—wife—whatever… stole Faerie away from him for two hundred years and he doesn’t want even a little bit of revenge?
One look at Oberon and I’m thinking: guess not.
“I gave you the prophecy. Did you read it?”
“I memorized it.”
“Tell me. Does it say anything about the Summer King?”
“Well, no—”
“Oberon?”
“No.”
“Any Seelie?”
I shake my head.
“‘...when Dark mates Shadow…’” he begins.
I finish the quote for him. “‘...the Reign of the Damned shall come to an end...’”
Oberon raises his eyebrows knowingly, then shrugs. “Prophecy’s a prophecy. I can’t jump in and finish, no matter what I owe her. It’s between you and my former consort. Facing Melisandre… that’s up to you, Shadow.”
Yeah.
Of course it is.
15
So, Oberon was a bust.
I’m not so surprised. It sucks, though. Not gonna lie. I was really hoping that the so-called Summer King would want to get revenge on Melisandre for stealing his crown. If it was me, I’d want to. Still, I get it. He was banished from his realm for more than two centuries because he picked the wrong chick to screw. He thought he was getting a mate and she tried to kill him.
Not what you call happily ever after, huh?
I guess it makes sense that he refused. If we’re going based on the Shadow Prophecy, it doesn’t say when the Dark and the Shadow pawn the whole thing off on the Summer King, does it?
Would’ve been amazing if it did, though.
I break the news to Callie and Ash. I know they tried not to
get their hopes up that Oberon would be our Hail Mary play if only because they didn’t want me to get my hopes up. It was a little late for that. I so wanted him to be my way out.
Ash’s old sword is tucked in my bedroom where I’ve kept it since he gave it to me. Nine has his hidden in the shadows. I might not have wanted to rely on their weapons to finish this but it seems more and more likely that my lessons are gonna have to come in handy.
I’ve known all along that it’s her or me. Continuing to hide out… it’s what I’m used to, but it can’t last forever.
What to do now?
Hell if I know.
Since our only hope has proven to be a wash-out, the four of us sit in the living room, trying to figure out what our next step has to be. Ash and Callie are leaning into each other on the loveseat, I’m curled up in the corner of the couch while Nine sits on the edge of the armchair, boots to the floor, his shadowy duster flaring out behind him.
I nibble on my bottom lip. “I don’t know,” I say. “Oberon has a point. Sooner or later, Melisandre is gonna do something about me. I just—”
“Sooner.”
“What’s that?”
He doesn’t answer me. Instead, he gets to his feet, moving toward the front door. Tucking his hair behind his ears, I notice that the pointed tips twitch as if he’s heard something that the rest of us haven’t.
He turns back, looking straight at me. As our eyes meet, I notice that the golden gleam is almost orange all of a sudden.
“It’ll be sooner,” he says again.
I chuckle nervously. “Um. Ash. You sound kinda sure there.”
“Oh, daughter. I’m sorry, but that’s because I am.”
Callie gasps. “Not again?”
When my dad nods, she hops off the sofa, flying into Ash’s open arms.
Uh-oh.
I don’t like this.
Neither, it seems, does Nine.
“Aislinn?” He unfolds his lithe body, rising up from the armchair. “What do you sense?”
Ash holds my mom close, rubbing her back soothingly as he keeps his ears cocked, obviously listening.
“Seelie. More than a few. I can sense them coming. The wards were holding”—Ash’s golden gaze flares, his slender body bowing as if he’s been hit but is still desperate to shield Callie— “but they’re gone. They’re on their way.”
“It’s just like last time,” Callie whispers. “They’re back. They want our baby.”
“I won’t let them have her. I vow it.” He looks over her head, staring straight at me. “Riley, you have to get out of here before they make it to the top.”
Get out of here? Already on it.
I immediately start to gather shadows, drawing them toward me. It’s daylight. Barely afternoon. The fae surrounding the building would have to be Light Fae. If I shade-walk out of here, if I bring my family with me, we can escape Melisandre’s soldiers before they can find us.
I’m not ready. I don’t know if I ever will be, but I sure as hell know I’m not ready yet.
Callie turns away from Ash, her big blue eyes widening when she sees what I’m doing.
“No shadow travel. We can’t. Ash… he’s still a Light Fae. He’s still Seelie.”
Shit.
I let the shadows scatter. How could I have forgotten?
Callie could go. Nine, despite losing some of his luster while living in the human world, is a Dark Fae. The shadows are like a second skin for him. But Ash… the trip from Faerie over nearly killed an immortal fae. There’s no way I can whisk him away with the rest of us.
“Okay. No shadow travel. But what can we do?”
Releasing Callie from his hold, he points toward the front door. “Go out in the hall,” Ash says. “Get in the elevator. It’s your only choice.”
The elevator? That kind of makes sense. Callie told me how it was purposely reinforced with iron on all four sides, including the opening. It wasn’t possible to line the entire building, but Ash is right. The elevator is our only hope if we want to get out of here without a confrontation.
Hey. It worked before, right?
Taking the elevator… that was the exact same escape plan my mother had when the Fae Queen’s soldiers tracked down my parents more than twenty years ago. While Ash stayed back to confront the soldiers, he sent Callie—and baby Riley—into the elevator. None of the fae invaders would have dared to take the mechanical contraption. Not only would the iron drain them, but a fae fresh out of Faerie would be full of far too much magic. Even if they tried to weather the iron, their power would short the electricity and trap them in the metal box.
They would take the stairs. Ash seems sure of it, and I’m betting he’s right.
Our apartment is so close to the top. They would have a long-ass climb ahead of them—but we still don’t have much time to get out of here before the soldiers find us.
I’ve been in the elevator before. A bunch of times already, actually. It’ll be a squeeze, but the four of us could fit.
“Okay. Come on. Let’s go.”
Ash looks over my head now, purposefully meeting Nine’s gaze. “Who has the pebble? You or my daughter?”
Nine slips his hands into his pocket, pulling a fist out. Unfolding his fingers, he reveals the pebble nestled in his palm.
Relief passes over Ash’s sculpted features.
“Protect her, Ninetroir.”
“Melisandre will have to do more than turn me to stone to get her hands on my Shadow,” vows Nine.
“What about you?” I ask Ash.
He sets his jaw. “They came after me before. I survived them once. I can do it again.”
Callie turns in his arms, gripping him by the upper bicep. “And, this time, you’ll have me.”
“Callie—”
“Ash.” She squeezes him, shaking her head frantically, the white-blonde mane swishing back and forth. “She has her mate. Don’t send me away from mine.”
Oh, she’s good. Even before Ash nods, I know that my mom is going to get her way. Besides, there’s no time left to argue. We have to go.
Now.
I’m not thinking clearly. My fight or flight reflex is already kicking in at just the thought that the Fae Queen’s soldiers are somewhere nearby. They can’t pop into our apartment, thanks to the wards and the crapton of iron built into this place, but Ash is right. They’ll take the stairs if they have to, and they’ll be fucking quick about it.
It doesn’t even occur to me that, with Ash and Callie staying behind, I can create a portal and hop through it with Nine. I blame it on the adrenaline and the fear coursing through me.
Nine follows close behind me. I can sense him at my heels, the whisper of his hand against the small of my back as if he’s pushing me toward the elevator. I jam my thumb into the down button. Because the elevator is still on our floor, the doors open right away and the two of us file in.
“Come on,” I mutter under my breath, hitting the doors close button again and again until the ancient steel doors begin to inch their way closed.
It seems to take a hundred years. I let out a sigh of relief right as the doors finish sealing shut—and that’s when I hear the female scream.
No.
I jab the doors open button with my thumb even though I know I’m too late. The car is already moving down.
That’s okay. I start pushing the 14 key, hoping that the elevator will bring me back to our floor as soon as possible.
The scream settles it. I don’t know what the hell compelled me to think it was a good idea to leave them behind. I can’t abandon them up there if someone—or someones—is making my mother scream.
Nine has been inspecting the elevator panel the entire time we’ve been inside. I know he’s never been in here before—even now, trapped in the iron cell, he’s looking a bit sickly and sallow—but you could’ve fooled me. He immediately shoots out his hand, one long, slender finger reaching right for the red knob that reads pull emergency stop.
&nb
sp; He pulls it.
The elevator grinds to a sudden halt.
What?
“No,” I yelp, slapping at his pale hand. “I’m going back up there.”
“I can’t let you do that.”
Like hell he can’t.
What is wrong with me? I’m being a complete moron. I’m the Shadow, right? Might as well prove it.
I don’t need the elevator to move to get back to the apartment. Not when I can create a portal with my shadows.
Nine sucks in a breath, his cheekbones jutting out from his otherworldly face as his cheeks hollow. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like?” I snap. “You won’t let me take the elevator back up? I’ll find another way.”
“No, Riley. You shouldn’t—”
He’s right. I probably shouldn’t—but I have to.
I continue to pull the shadows toward me. It’s hard, and the iron lining the elevator’s wall might not affect me, but it’s also not doing my power any favors.
Frustration overwhelms me as my pocket slowly begins to form. Slow. So, so slow. If Callie is already screaming, that means the soldiers already got to her, right?
“Ninetroir, please.” I clench my fists, pleading up at him as the wisps fill the corner of the small room. “You’ve got to help me. I have to go back!”
His eyes flash, darkening to a deep gun-metal grey for a moment before they’re gleaming again.
“It doesn’t work with mates,” he tells me. “You can’t compel me with my true name.”
I wasn’t trying to. “I don’t want to force you. I’m asking you for your help. Please. Help me.”
His expression softens. “Don’t beg me. That’s even worse.”
Am I begging? I might be. “They lost twenty years trying to save me. I shouldn’t have left them behind.”
“You wouldn’t have if Ash didn’t compel you to.”
Is that what happened? I thought I heard him say something to me as I hesitated in the front room. Did he use my true name and tell me to go? Maybe. Maybe not.
“It doesn’t matter. You heard the scream, didn’t you?”
“I fought alongside Ash. With his human with him, he’ll be unstoppable. A fae will go to any lengths to protect their mate. He won’t let them get to her.”
Touch (Touched by the Fae Book 3) Page 14
