I’d wanted a new home. A place to remake myself and forget my past.
“You’re running away,” Shade had said to me all those years ago. And he’d said it right here, in front of Zenaida’s house. “I understand. But at least own what you’re doing, Ajax.”
“Not all of us have a home to return to, Shade,” I’d bitten back. “My family and the woman I loved are dead. Gone forever.Annihilatedby a sadistic fuck who called himself a king. I have nothing left for me there. I’m done. I’m moving on.”
He’d considered me for a long moment, then he’d nodded. “You need to find your family. Then you’ll come home.”
I’d snorted at him, assuming at the time that he just hadn’t understood a damn thing about my situation.
But then he’d said something at the cemetery that had me wondering if it’d actually been me not understanding him. That perhaps he’d actually foreseen something in that moment that had convinced him to let me take this path.
“Perhaps you should bring your new mates here for a visit,” he’d suggested as he’d settled on top of a random tombstone with my familiar on his shoulder. “Introduce your new family to your old family. Let them see your home. Let them knowyou.”
Fortune Fae had a knack for riddles.
And Shade uttered them in spades.
“Are you going to flutter about or come inside for some cookies?” a soft female voice asked from behind me. “I made your favorite—oatmeal chocolate chip. Even made sure they were dark cocoa chips, too.”
My lips twitched at Zenaida’s familiar presence as I faced the dark-haired woman. She might be Shade’s grandmother, but she didn’t look a day over thirty.
Midnight Fae aging slowed significantly in our twenties, most of us living to be five or six thousand years old.
Zenaida was still quite young, despite having been born over a millennium ago.
“Hello, dear,” she greeted me. “Playing hide-and-seek?”
My lips curled. Of course she knew why I was here. “Just wanted to drop in and thank you for the spell.”
Her eyebrow arched. “What spell?”
I gave her a look. She knew which one I meant—the taming spell—so I didn’t bother clarifying. “It worked.”
“Did it?” she asked, blinking her large, blue eyes.
I nodded. “But it seemed to hurt him.”
Her nose crinkled. “In what way?”
“I think it brought up memories of a time that spell was used to harm him.” Thinking about Az’s reaction had me swallowing uncomfortably. I’d been angry.Veryangry. And the thought of making him feel what he’d inflicted upon me had definitely appealed to me at the time.
But now…
I wasn’t sure what I wanted now.
He’d done everything I’d requested these last two weeks. Beyond that, he’d been forthcoming and had allowed me more than one glimpse into his mind.
He’d wanted me to know him. To understand him. Toforgivehim.
I hadn’t yet.
However, I wasn’t angry anymore. I still didn’t agree with what he’d done, but now I had a better understanding of why he’d done it.
He truly thought he’d been protecting me.
Because he cared about what happened to me.
He cared about what happened to Cami.
