Page 9

“Yes,” I said too quickly. A lie was only a lie if it was to a good person, and a long time ago, in the dark cargo hold of a Far Darrig ship, Rook had told me from behind bars never to trust anyone.

I should have listened to him.

“And your cat? Is he friend or foe?” The recognition of Goose’s former life as a living cage to hold daora had almost slipped my mind. He had become so much more to me. He had become home in a strange way. Safety. Where Goose was, I was protected.

“Would you believe me if I told you?” I pitched back to him.

We felt like junkyard dogs squaring off, tentatively sniffing at each other hoping that there wouldn’t be a brawl, but on our toes for the slightest indication that the other would strike.

“Not even in the slightest.” He gave me a playful smirk that reminded me of the night he had given me time to learn my new body in that hideous tent.

“Then why ask?”

“Seeing if you’ve learned anything since the last time we saw each other.” He pressed a kiss into the tidy part between the woman’s braids and looked over at me. The quiet comfortable ease between them twisted my guts with jealousy. Could I have once had that with Emrys? “Do come in, Cricket.”

My eyes flicked to the dust and the subtle thrum of magic pulsed within my chest as it twisted through the soil reminding me of a dark corridor under a rotting palace, where a lone Fae was held captive. There were no runes, no spells or indication that magic should be here in this place of humans, and yet the electric thump of it pulsed in my blood.

I had only two choices—risk it or run for it.

I silently weighed my options on a milliseconds-long deliberation that got me nowhere. Goose waited for exactly two steps before he followed.

“Did I pass your little test? Do I get to dance at your lil speakeasy now?”

The woman snorted. “Oh, I like her. She can stay.”

“I thought you would, Cora.” His tone was so casual and yet so intimate. It twisted the ever-present knife within me even deeper.

I couldn’t help but stifle a small gasp as my eyes darted wildly between the two. Too long in the palace of the Fae and the simple act of hearing someone’s name felt like he had all but stripped her bare and fucked her in the dirt before me.

Cora turned her raw umber gaze to me and smirked knowingly. “You’ll find that things are a little different here than where you’re from. Don’t get used to it, but Havenhome is a bubble of safety.”

“For the most part,” Rook grunted as he wove his fingers into hers and gave me a nod to follow them.

Every connection between them radiated a warm and lived-in adoration, and I hated it. It reminded me of the agony that lanced through me with every breath, and the gaping, vacuous black hole shaped like a massive dickheaded Fae who I wanted to hate with everything I had in me and couldn’t. It reminded me of all the ways I had never given him a chance and all the reasons I fabricated on why I couldn’t. It reminded me that despite all my bristling to the contrary, I had cared for him more than I should have ever allowed myself to. And now, through my own idiocy, I had nothing but the scraps I collected before our flight.

I didn’t want to be reminded. I didn’t want to feel the twice-placed misery cutting me to ribbons so I ignored it. I pushed it away and shoved it into a box with a strong lock.

I looked back at Goose to make sure he was at my heel and followed them as Cora kept talking.

“You’re welcome for a week, same as everyone else. After that, you either need to keep moving or you’ll need to find a way to contribute. No one stays for free, but you can stay if you’re seeking asylum or safety.” We passed human after human, none of them seeming to be pressed into labor, and none of them looking worse for wear. It was like I had fallen down the rabbit hole a second time, but now it was into a place that was so much stranger than the last.

It felt too good to be true, and I was instantly suspicious of anything too good to be true. Could the other three be safe here? I couldn’t stay. There was not a single Fae among them. And whether I walked or talked like one, I was not human. Not anymore, and I never truly had been.

“How?” I finally breathed out in utter wonder.

Rook and Cora shared a look and she nodded, wandering off as Rook turned on me. “I know how rough you’ve had it, Cricket. Don’t ask me how I know. I don’t know the details, but I know enough. I can’t tell you the secrets of this place but know that it is in fact safe.”

His deep gaze darted across my face, measuring if his words were getting through.

“Wasn’t it you who told me not to trust you because you were just trying to survive?” I watched my words land on his face. We were back to the junkyard dogs circling each other again.

“I did. And if you’d listened to me, you wouldn’t be here. I can be wrong occasionally.”

“Most of the time,” Cora called out from a patch of garden she was tending with a small woman who barely came up to her waist.

Rook snorted his amusement. “Okay. Most of the time, apparently. Either way, this place is safe. Most runaways don’t stay too long. They are welcome to do so, but they don’t usually. The Fae occasionally come sniffing around, but they can’t get in if they are here just to snatch folks.”

“Is Cypress here too?”