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Uh-uh.
Nope.
Scurrying away from the nearest beast, I turn to look for Rys. I just manage to avoid walking into Jim, swallowing my aggravated sigh that he’s right there. He gives me one of his charmingly crooked grins—my stomach lurches again—and I dance out of his reach to hurry around him.
“Babe?”
“Stay with the carriage. I’m, uh, going to go ask Rys what this is all about. Okay?”
Jim shrugs. “Sure. No problem.”
Easy for him to say.
I wish I was being too sensitive, but Rys has been super careful to avoid me since last night. A lot of it has to do with my very own shadow—no matter where I go, Jim’s sure to be only a few steps behind me—but every time I’ve tried to talk to him again, he finds an excuse to walk away from me. Making plans with Nine, flirting with Riley, laughing when Nine barks at him to leave his mate alone… it’s almost as if he was hoping to go on this journey without me and Jim.
Oh, that’s right. He was.
I go back inside. Rys had actually sat down to eat breakfast with the rest of us which is how I got a front row seat to how different he acts when he’s around Riley and Nine. After everything Saxon told me, it’s easy to see that Rys is doing it more to get a rise out of the Unseelie than anything else. It’s harmless flirting. I shouldn’t be so jealous.
Key words there: shouldn’t be.
And maybe it’s the height of hypocrisy to let the easy way he gets along with the mated couple bother me when, all throughout breakfast, Jim sat next to me, trying his best to keep me close while also respecting our conversation from the other night. Between my undeniable envy and my overwhelming guilt, I could barely eat half of my plate. After reminding Jim not to eat the faerie food that Lolly served specifically for me, I ran upstairs to make sure I was all packed and ready to go. Once I figured I had killed enough time up there, I tiptoed down the fancy spiral stairs and snuck outside to get some fresh air.
Of course, that’s when I stumbled upon the stallions and… yeah. Jim must’ve searched me out then and I’m betting that I only have a few minutes to hunt down Rys before he comes looking for me again.
For once, luck is on my side. As soon as I walk inside of Rys’s house, I find him standing in the center of the front room. Breakfast must be over because he’s by himself, reading something on a piece of paper.
He glances up as I stomp over to him.
I don’t waste any time. “What the hell, Rys?”
His tawny eyebrows rise as his lush lips curve just enough that maybe I can call it a smile. Maybe. “And hello to you, too.”
“You didn’t say anything about a carriage.”
“I didn’t think I had to.” Folding up his paper, Rys slips it into the pocket of his tailored white pants. “Horse travel is common in Faerie.”
“Trust me. I know. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
“That’s why I arranged for the carriage. I didn’t think you’d want to ride on horseback, and the carriage carries four inside.” He cocks his head slightly, noticing the way I’m fidgeting. “What’s wrong, Leannán?”
How to explain?
I never told him about my ride in the back of Bram’s caravan. Honestly, I didn’t even realize how much that fucked me up until I came face to face with Rys’s carriage and just the smell of “horse” threw me back to those terrible days. Between trying to come up with a way to escape, the horrible hours where I suffered from cramps when the soldier didn’t feed me any faerie fruit, and the pressing anxiety over what fairy jail would be like… I guess I wanted to forget all about it. In a way, I did.
Turns out I don’t have to explain. One look at my face and Rys can tell that I really, really don’t want to ride inside of the carriage.
“It’ll get us to the Winter Court faster, but if you’d rather walk, Leannán, then I’ll send the horses away right this moment. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”
And I don’t want to be a pain in the ass.
Ugh.
He’s not wrong. Faster is better. On the one hand, the quicker we get to the Unseelie Court, the quicker we get this all over with. On the other, if we extend this trip, that’s more time I’m going to be stuck in a super awkward situation between Jim and Rys.
“How long will it take if we walk?”
“To the border between realms?”
