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“You interfered,” he accuses the other fae.
“You say interfere, I say that I’m just doing what I must to claim what’s mine. I’m not like Melisandre. The prophecy doesn’t faze me, Nine. Riley’s got enough blood in her to be a proper ffrindau for me. I want her. I’ve waited long enough to take her. Leave her with me and your debt is repaid. You can go.”
Nine reaches into his pocket. Of all things, he pulls out a rock. Seriously. A rock. About the size of a nickel, he holds it up, then lets it nestle in his palm. He cradles it like its heavier than it appears. “You don’t have the power to clear it.”
Rys holds out his hand. “Then pass it to me. I’ll gladly take it.”
What are they talking about? I thought I was confused because I was still shaking off the woozy feeling that hits me every time Rys pulls that command shit on me. Nope. When Nine looks at the rock in his palm, before vanishing it into the depths of his coat again, I can honestly say I have no clue what the fuck is going on.
“A rock?” I blurt out. “What’s so special about a rock?”
Rys grins. “It’s a token of Nine’s favor for a human.”
Nine’s entire expression closes off. “It was no favor, Rys. You know that. It was a command.”
“From a human,” Rys says again. His grin widens, turning almost predatory. “A mother’s last command to protect her infant daughter.” He traces his jaw with his slender, bronzed, pointer finger. “Though, I’ve often wondered, shouldn’t her fate free you of any debt you feel obligated to repay? Yet still you linger about my mate, like an unwanted shadow.”
His words are like an arrow to my chest. My whole body jolts as I realize with a sudden start that I’m the infant daughter Rys is talking about. The human? That’s got to be my mother.
They’re talking about my mom.
I whirl on Nine. “My mother asked you to protect me?”
“Commanded,” corrects Rys cheekily.
I can’t even look at him. Mate? That’s gonna be a nope. Maybe if I hope real hard, he can join Jason in being a statue in this freaky garden.
Besides, my attention is super locked in on Nine. He knows it, too. His silver eyes have dimmed, the razor-sharp edge of his cheekbones jutting out as he sucks in a breath.
“My mother commanded you to protect me?” I ask him a second time. I wave behind me, gesturing where I think Rys is still standing. My hands are shaking. “What does he mean by debt? And her fate? What happened to my mom?”
“Yes, Nine. Answer her,” Rys calls out. “You were at the gas station that day. You know.”
I’m sure Nine can see the hope in my expression as I gaze up at him. Apart from the grainy, black and white footage from twenty years ago, this is the only thing I’ve ever heard about the woman who left me behind.
I long ago accepted that she’d done it on purpose.
Could it be that she had no choice?
“Do you?” I ask him. “Do you know what happened to her? To me?”
Nine glares past me. If looks could kill, the Light Fae would be six feet under this candy floss grass in a heartbeat. “I left her alone after the contract was made. I have no idea what happened to Callie after I returned to Faerie. Riley’s my concern, not her human mother. And I’ve done everything to protect her, like I said I would.”
I’m used to Nine’s cold and callous attitude when it comes to humans. I’ve known for a long time that I’m the only exception when it comes to his outright disdain for anybody in the human world. I was so happy to have him care about me—even if it was in his stilted, limited way—that I never second-guessed him when he said he was sent to watch over me.
I had no fucking clue that he’d been commanded to.
This is a double gut punch. I learned two things just now. One? My mom’s name is Callie. I tuck that deep inside, that small nugget of information that brings me closer to the woman I lost. And two? Nine only ever looked after me because someone forced him to.
I don’t have my mom. I guess I never really had my Shadow Man, either.
“Is that why you visited me as a kid?” I ask him. “A… a debt?”
The
fae can’t lie, but I’m betting that Nine’s wishing that he could because it takes him a few pointed seconds before he finally nods.
“Yes.”
