“When do I get to leave?” I tried my hardest to keep the excitement in my voice at the minimum.
“As soon as you gather your things,” Ty responded. He knew how much I’d missed the human world. The smile on his face said he was happy for me. Affection for him flooded my heart.
“We’ll have to sneak her out. Just in case there are traitors among us who report to outside sources.”
“Rian, you’ve grown too distrustful—”
“Rightly, so,” Rian retorted crisply. Ty conceded with a tilt of his head. “Conan, you will have to debrief me on the goblins. I will be accompanying Rae into the human world.”
Conan gave a short nod. “It will have to wait, old chap. I haven’t seen my love in too long,” he said, standing, and scooped Cora up. She giggled and gazed up at him. My stomach turned at the sight. Not in a disgusted way, more like a God-I-wish-I-had-that kind of way.
Ty stood. “I will send a letter to the Elvin leader, so he knows we are working to free magic. I’ll do some digging on what I can offer him to get you out of your deal. Hopefully, I’ll have answers for you when you return. I will see you before you leave.”
Stepping over to me, he bent and kissed the top of my head. My shoulders tensed, but he didn’t seem to notice as he strode out behind the lovebirds. I met the questioning eyes of the only person left in the room.
“You aren’t leaving because of a certain Fae that happened to show up, are you?” Rian’s question shook me off balance, and my throat constricted as his early accusation rang in my ears.
Gathering myself, I narrowed my eyes at him. “No,” I said and stood. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. I have to prepare for the trip.”
I flounced out of the room, head held high. As my steps ate the distance to my bedroom, I couldn’t help the guilty feeling that bit at my stomach. A part of me had lied.
I wanted to get away. It was all I knew how to do.
13
The sight from my overly large bedroom was beautiful. Staring out into the night sky, I was glad I’d learned enough control to stop the crazy weather. But I wished I could clear it enough for glittering stars to shine through. I gnawed on my lip and wiggled into a comfortable position, so the ledge of the window I was sitting on stopped digging into my legs. The tingling sensation running through me overpowered my ability to think. But I refused to think it was nerves because Roark was in the same building.
I’d rushed here so I didn’t give in to the urge to ask where he was being held. I knew the building had lower-level holding cells similar to the ones I’d been locked in, but the only thing saving me was that I didn’t know where they were. And I made it a point not to ask. As sick as it was, I didn’t think I had the strength to resist going to him. I was a contradictory mess when it came to Roark.
Part of me wanted to march in there for the simple reason of railing at him. Where had he been? Why had he chosen to believe Sabine? Just why? But the larger part was sure to fall to the floor in a heap and cry.
I slid my hand into my pocket and pulled out the note from Annie. I bit my lip at the fast-food receipt she’d scrawled on the back of.
I’m okay, stop fussing. Your ‘helpful cheating ex’ really has been awesome. I feel bad for writing that lol. I hope you can come back soon. I love you. -Annie
I flipped the scrap, futilely hoping for more. My hearing sharpened as the door to my room swished open. I rubbed my ear as other noise—the clatter of footsteps and hushed words—filtered through the wall. I angled my head down and noticed a guard striding down the cobbled steps. Those were the steps I was hearing. It should have been impossible.
“You’re not thinking of jumping, are you?” Ty joked from behind me.
My lips twitched, but I didn’t turn around. Concentrating on channeling my hearing not to extend outside the window took all of my efforts.
“It would be more of a hassle if anything. You would land, break something, and it would take you a while to heal. Overall, a bother.”
I rolled my eyes at his lecturing tone. That seemed to be one of his most common modes.
“No, oh, wise, logical one, I wasn’t thinking of jumping,” I twisted and threw my leg over the sill. Bracing myself, I hopped onto the sleek flooring.
“Getting better at being a Fae, I see.” Ty grinned, looking pleased.
“Sadly.”
His lips pursed. Shame fused me. He didn’t deserve to have me snapping at him.
“Sorry.” I cleared my throat. “It’s just that I can’t wait to get back to my human life. I’m on edge and stressed.” I fumbled over my words, not wanting him to look so down, but they had the opposite effect.
“You do not like it here? Even a little bit?” There was a hopeful edge to his serious tone, and a jittery sensation burgeoned within my chest.
I opened my mouth, ready to answer, and then stopped. I couldn’t complain. My time here had been quite the experience. I’d made friends and people I felt comfortable with. I would be lying if I said I wouldn’t miss some of this part of my life, and yes, Ty was one of them.
“I would miss you.” I didn’t want him to get the wrong idea about us, even though I’d made it strictly clear what was between us, but I couldn’t let him think that I didn’t care about him. His answering smiled disappeared with the next words out of my mouth. “But I miss
