The only person she’d told me I could trust was Mara, so I was going with that. Mara and Elle were my family. I trusted Trissa, too, but found myself second-guessing everything these days. How were we supposed to live life here in Faerie once I helped awaken the queen and restore it, while the Halflings outside died off? That wasn’t right—we’d be just as bad as they were.
I couldn’t bear the thought of ever bringing harm to Liam. Even though I was insanely mad at him right now, I couldn’t let him wither away and die, but I was stuck at the mercy of the Elders…for now.
A knock on my door jarred me from my thoughts.
Please don’t be Indra.
Crossing the space, I opened the door to reveal my bestie, armed to the teeth and ready to stab something.
Elle frowned. “I thought you were coming over.”
I sighed, then filled her in on the Indra drama as we walked. I’d told her about the sleeping queen last week, and she had been shocked but excited, as it meant we actually had a chance to restore Faerie.
“Why did you put in a formal request?” Elle asked. We were at the river’s edge now, almost to the blue door that cut into the rock wall.
I snorted. “What else would I do?”
My bestie rolled her eyes, her brown hair shaking as she did. “Tell them to go fuck themselves and that you won’t find another goddamned crystal for them until they agree to your terms.”
I grinned. “I’ll save that demand for right before I get the final crystal. I’m pretty sure telling Indra to go fuck herself now would get me thrown in the cages.”
In between the village and the farmlands, there was a copse of trees with cages made of sticks hanging from their branches. They were rarely used, and only for a short time, but they were effective in teaching a fae not to break the rules.
Elle shook her head. “You don’t get it yet. They need you. Like, more than anything. You are the most important fae we have right now.”
I squirmed. “Well, then, I might as well demand a bigger house, too.”
Elle grinned. “Now we’re talking.”
With a smile, I opened the blue door and stepped into Mara’s office. The desk had been repaired after the last earthquake, and her office was back to normal. Two chairs with five-point harnesses sat on the left far wall, but the redheaded fae was nowhere to be seen.
“Mara!” we shouted, just as the enslaved fae peeked her head in through the doorframe.
“Hey, girls. Let me guess, New York City?”
I grinned, nodding.
She held up a golden-cuffed hand. “All right, let me take these brownies out of the oven. I don’t want them to burn.”
She scurried away, and Bashur trotted into the room, licking our hands and smelling our shoes. Ever since Jasper had revealed that Bashur might in fact be an Urisk demon fae—and Mara had all but confirmed it—I was nervous in his presence.
“Oh, get over it,” Elle told me, sensing my apprehension. She squished Bashur’s face. “He’s adorable.”
Mara came in, eating a freshly baked brownie. “Right! Off to New York.”
“Hey, sharing is caring.” I crossed my arms and frowned.
She gave me a wicked grin and winked. “These are adult brownies, dear.”
Oh.
Elle and I shared a look and burst into laughter.
“Hey, we’re adults. We’re, like, beyond adult age.” Elle wagged her eyebrows.
Mara just shook her head, wearing a big smile. “Buckle up.”
I looked forward to this time with Mara every day. Not having my mother was a little easier with her around. Mara turned some dials and pulled knobs on her desk, and the whole room spun. The spinning sensation of the portal pulled at my gut, and then we were stopped suddenly.
“I’ll wait here. Want to take Bash?” Mara asked. We’d been taking him on walks every day, since she was magically bound to her house by the Elders and couldn’t go out.
“Sure.”
Twenty minutes later, Elle was letting Bashur pee on the Shakespeare Garden trellis while I placed my hand on the Seeker stone.
Come on, baby. Anywhere but Seattle.
The map appeared, and a picture of a crystal etching hovered over…
Seattle.
Fuck.
“Maybe it’s not Liam,” Elle whispered over my shoulder.
“He lives there,” I growled. “That’s where Mara took him after he dumped me.”
Elle shrugged. “I mean, his dad was there, too. Maybe we should just check it out.”
Go and see Liam? I might stab him to death.
No. I needed more time.
“Let’s check back tomorrow. One more day.”
Elle groaned. “Nothing has changed for weeks.”
Turning, I met my best friend’s gaze, my throat tightening with emotion. “I need…time. One more day.”
Her face pinched, and she reached out to grasp my upper arm. “Okay.”
I didn’t bother placing my feet in the earth to seek a crystal, because that wasn’t working, either. Everything pointed to Seattle. I sulked on the way back to our New York apartment, all the while thinking of how cruel the universe was. The only crystal it kept showing me was his.
How could he do that to me? Leave me like that after I publicly begged the Elders to let him live with us? Gods, it was mortifying.
By the time Mara opened the door to our apartment and looked inside, I’d realized I needed a break from Faerie. “Hey, Elle, you go on back to Faerie,” I said. “I’m going to spend the night here.”
A frown tugged at my bestie’s lips. “You sure? I can stay, too. We can watch normie movies.” Her face lit up.
“Yeah, I’m sure. I just need…” I didn’t even know how to finish that sentence. I didn’t know what I needed. I needed Liam to love me back. I needed twelve crystals and an awake queen to restore Faerie so I could
