Page 57 of Escape from the Green

"He no more wants to marry me than I do him. And he certainly doesn't want Cece to get this throne. He wants me to disappear. Who are they?" I asked, moving a step closer to Drake, realizing I was still holding his hand, and not dropping it as I turned to face his friends.

One was a woman a bit older than me, likely closer to my siblings' age than my own - tall, thin, almost painfully thin, with dark hair in an array of braids and twists, little adornments twined in. I didn't know her, of course, but something about the way she held herself said she was someone to fear. Or someone to respect. Both, maybe.

Beside her was, well, some type of reptilian fae. You could tell by the eyes, ones not even attempting to look human, even in full human-like form. Again, tall, lithe. And in his case, very handsome in a way that said he knew it, used it, and liked the attention he got from it.

"This is Smoky and Sal," Drake supplied, giving my hand a reassuring squeeze. "They helped me get back to the human realm more quickly."

"But why?"

To that, Drake's shoulders seemed to hunch forward, defeated, maybe?

"I handed off your note to your brother to a family heading to the Light Court. Cass had them slaughtered, found the note, and followed you here."

"A whole family?" The words were twinged with the ache I felt in my chest, something real enough that my free hand rose to press over my heart.

"Cass didn't get the reputation he has gotten over the years for being a kind leader," Drake reminded me as I tried to push the image of children slain out of my mind.

"I'm just going to throw this out there," the woman - Smoky - started. "Cass usually has trackers with him. And we're all just standing out here, getting our scent on the wind."

"Right," I agreed, nodding, pulling Drake with me up the steps, finding my key, letting us in.

"This is yours?" Drake asked as I opened my apartment door, inviting them inside.

It didn't look like much, I guessed. With all four of us inside, it felt packed, cramped, even though my bed was nestled back in the wall, allowing a precious few feet of standing room.

I looked around as if seeing it for the first time. And, in a way, I was. I was seeing it through the eyes of someone new.

The light sage walls.

The soft off-white curtains pulled wide to let in sunlight to feed my small array of plants scattered around.

I had a table which wasn't really a table at all, at least not one meant for dining. It was golden-legged with a fake marble top, something meant to be a side table. In a way, it was. On either side of it were two chairs - mismatched. One was a typical wooden chair, painted a bright, happy yellow, a small cushion on the hard seat - finches and flowers. The other chair was a small accent chair in a deep, emerald green, the velvet soft to the touch.

There was a teacup and saucer sitting on top of the table where I had left it earlier, a golden and royal blue floral that I had found in an antique store along with the book that sat beside it - a sad story about lovers never meant to be together.

There was a fruit basket stacker beside my kitchen counter overflowing with apples, bananas, pears, and plums - indulgences I still hadn't gotten used to. Being from the family I was, I often had fruit even in the off-season, but never as much as I could eat, never until I got a belly ache from all the sugar. Whenever I passed a market now, I couldn't help but go in and get more, even if I already had a bunch at home.

Off the side of the kitchen that really only had two cabinets, a miniature refrigerator whose rumbling noise I had almost gotten used to - almost - a sink, and a hot plate was the open door to my bathroom.

There wasn't much I could do to warm up that space - all white tiles on the floors, walls, in the shower. But I had gotten a pink and yellow shower curtain, yellow bath mats, and hung a creeping plant from a hook in a corner.

It wasn't much.

But it was mine.

And I felt a pull akin to sadness at having to leave it - this thing that was wholly mine, the only thing in life that I could claim that about.

"Yeah, it's mine," I agreed, smile a little wobbly.

"It's very... you," Drake decided, giving me a small smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I'm sorry you have to leave it."

"Do you have bags we can bring back into The Green, doll?" Sal asked, making my attention snap in his direction, finding his gaze on Smoky whose eyes was on the fruit baskets.

"The Green?" I asked, brows drawing together. "Why would I go back there? They'll find me there."

"Not with my kind, they won't," Drake told me, voice soft like he was trying to soften the blow of them. "Our land is hidden. Has been for generations. No one will find you if we go there."

I felt pulled in two directions at once.