She bowed her head in shame and took another step back.
I looked Liam in the eyes, not caring that they were lined with tears, not caring that he looked hurt by my words. Leaning forward, I plucked the crystal from his hand and put my dagger to his throat. “I can’t believe I ever loved you,” I whispered and dared myself to drag the knife across his neck.
I hated him at this moment. Absolute hatred. He took my mother from me and lied about it. He made me fall in love with him and held this dark secret. I fucked him. I fucked my mother’s killer, and he said nothing.
I hated him, and yet I still loved him, and that was maybe what I hated the most. Maybe I hated myself right now. I couldn’t hurt him. I couldn’t pull that knife across his neck, and it made me hate myself more.
When I pulled back, the emotional agony on his face was undeniable.
“Let’s go,” I snapped, clutching the crystal and heading for the door.
“Come with us,” Elle whispered to Cam, but the wolf shifter just shook his head, looking at me like I was the devil as he cradled an injured arm to his chest.
“Elle!” I barked, and she trailed after me. When I got to the door, Liam spoke.
“My dad… took the other crystals to Montana. The sword too.” His voice was breathless, and for a second, I wondered how badly hurt he was.
I spun. “Stop helping me!” I snapped at him. “If you want to help me, then you’ll die and forget I exist!”
Elle sucked in a breath behind me, and I stormed out of the abandoned house, wondering if I’d turned into a monster.
We drove the short five minutes back to the safe house in complete silence. Other than telling Mara to take us back to Faerie, we were silent in her office as well.
In fact, I didn’t speak to anyone until I clicked the crystal into the baseplate at the Tree of Life.
It wasn’t until my eyes fell on the second one, the one that Liam had placed there a mere few hours ago, that I felt my heart thaw the tiniest bit. He and his brothers needed this to survive on Earth, and yet the first crystal he found, he brought to me.
Although not all the crystals in the world could atone for my mother’s death… it was a step in the right direction.
“Elle,” I called for my bestie, my voice cracking.
“Yes, Princess?” She was pissed at me. I could hear it in her mocking voice.
I took a deep breath. “Take Kira to North Carolina, and heal Liam and his men. We may need them as allies later on.”
Her body sagged with relief. “Right away.”
She took off running, and I started to pace the elders’ previous home, wondering what the hell I was doing and if I was ruining everything.
An hour later, I had all of my personal effects moved into Indra’s old room. She’d stripped the bed and taken everything out of the drawers and off the walls. Trissa had delivered my letter, and the elders had moved out without a fight. So now that I was moved in, I just sat there and stared at the baggie holding Liam’s hair.
Did I want to know what memories this contained? Was I ready? Could I ever be?
Padding across the hall past where the Queen slept, I slipped into Kira’s room. She had already started to half-unpack her tinctures and herb jars. It only took me a moment to find the ones I needed for the memory spell. I stuffed them into the mortar and pestle and then padded back out into the hall, past the Tree of Life, and into my room. I was just about to shut the door when I heard the slam of the front door.
I popped back out into the hallway, anxious for word about Liam. Elle entered, her shirt covered in blood, and my heart lodged in my throat.
He killed her. He killed my mother. I had to remind myself.
“Will our ally survive?” I tried to keep my tone cold, uncaring, but failed.
Elle’s gaze was still filled with anger. She was mad at me over the way I was handling the situation, but I didn’t care.
“Yes,” was all she said before waltzing to her room and slamming the door.
I was ready now, ready to see if Liam was worth saving. Did he kill my mother in cold blood? With her back turned? Or was it self-defense? A scuffle?
Would it matter?
No.
He killed my mother, and nothing would fix that.
Nothing.
Chapter 4
I stared at the spell paste I’d mixed with a wary gaze. The grief over my mother’s death was fresh, brought back to the surface by the knowledge that the man I’d loved had killed her. I wasn’t sure if I was mentally strong enough to go through with this. But I had to know, I needed to see the truth. Wiping a thick glob of paste on each of my eyelids, I muttered the memory incantation and lay on my back, prepared to be in Liam’s mind.
My heart pounded in my chest as I was sucked into the memory.
Liam ran down a city street, the Seattle skyline dancing behind him, a crystal clutched between his fingers. I could feel the anxiety spike through him and therefore into me. I lay on my bed, looking through Liam’s eyes as he burst through traffic and down a dark alley. A motorcycle stood at the end, propped near a trashcan. Looking over his shoulder, he cursed as he saw my mother. Her long pink hair trailed behind her as she ran after Liam.
Reaching out, he shot a block of ice at one of her legs, causing her to trip and fall.
“Leave me alone! You don’t understand. I need this. My brother is sick,” Liam begged her as he started up the bike.
My mother’s face looked murderous. “Those crystals belong to
