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Chapter16
“Tell me, Raina, how much do you know about your new friends?”
The fae at my feet hadn’t made any move to hurt me, but the threat was still very evident.
“How much can you really know anyone?” I responded cagily.
“Do you know his plans for people like you? Innocent human women?”
I averted my gaze down to the floor. “I can’t be sure when I only have one side of the story.” And I didn’t want to know, either.
At some point, I had become so swept up in Jaiden himself that I allowed myself to stop thinking about his plans. The women he’d already stolen. The women he planned to take still.
Who cares if the women want it, as long as the fae got what they wanted.
Seran reached into his jacket and pulled out some pictures, handing them over to me.
I gingerly took them and looked them over. Three beautiful women. Prettier than me, that was for sure. Younger too, though not by much. I wanted to ask who they were but I didn’t want to hear the answer.
Not that Seran left me in suspense for long. “These are the women who have been taken so far. Sienna, Grace, and Mia. Do you know how King Jaiden took them?”
It was the first time he’d used Jaiden’s name. A sign that he was giving up all pretense of playing dumb.
“He asked them nicely and they happily went over?”
He chuckled. “You’re funny. But no. One of the meanest generals there is, Kier, came over and threatened to utterly destroy the Earth if virgin, fertile women weren’t provided. So soldiers found girls with no family or connections, stole them from their homes, and tossed them to the fae like sacrificial lambs to the slaughter. They haven’t been seen since. Is this who you’re trying to help?”
As much as I tried to ignore what he was saying, images of soldiers banging down my door and stealing me away hit hard. It would be terrifying. And Jaiden was behind it.
And he was going to steal me too. Even though I said no. Even though I begged to be let go.
How many other women were going to be stolen away?
I shook my head, clearing away the doubts. At this moment, they really didn’t matter. It was the man in front of me who I needed to be concerned about.
“There’s nothing I can do to help you,” I said finally.
“I wouldn’t say that, sweetheart. I think there’s a lot you can do for me.”
Let the fae kings fight each other. Why did I have to be in the middle? And why on earth was I rooting for Jaiden to win, even though he himself had admitted to doing these things?
“How did you find me? I thought magic was limited here.” It was a shameless attempt to change the subject, but I was at the point of being shameless.
Seran was all too happy to brag, though. “When I offered the government my help against this oppressive new threat, they were all too happy to give me whatever I wanted to stop Jaiden from threatening them. Drones, satellites, recording devices everywhere. You might not have magic, but it’s fascinating what I can discover with the click-clack of a few buttons.”
That was terrifying on a whole different level. “And why do you want my help then? I’m just a human. I know how you people think of us. You can’t really expect me to help you.”
“Don’t underestimate yourself. I happen to know that the women who have been brought over have caused their partners to develop an...attachment. Do you think Jaiden has developed an attachment to you?” As he spoke, his hand moved farther up my thigh.
There was no heat in his gaze, though. I didn’t feel like he was coming onto me. I felt like he was sizing me up.
But his words told me something new. It told me that he didn’t know what had happened with the witch. He didn’t know about the mysterious mate bond that Jaiden told me about. And he didn’t know that there was no such bond between him and me.
Would he ever believe me if I told him?Yeah, Jaiden totally handpicked me as his personal human pet, but there’s no bond at all. So just let me walk out the door and we’ll pretend this never happened!
Even I wasn’t that naive. “Jaiden doesn’t care about me. I think he was attracted to me, for some unknown reason. The second there was trouble, he told me to get the hell away and I did. There’s nothing more to it than that.”
“Do you think you’re helping them? The good guys?” He leaned in closer and reached out to me, running his fingers down my cheek. “Do you think I’m the bad guy, Raina?”
I angled my face away to stop his touch. “I think I’m neither judge, jury, nor executioner. So instead of asking me questions I have no way of answering, you should let me go home.”
“Someday, I’m going to tell you exactly what Jaiden is guilty of. And then you won’t be so hesitant to help me.”
I snorted. “If you actually had something to say, you’d say it now to shake my confidence instead of just lording it over my head as an empty threat.”
“Oh no. I want to tell you at the perfect time. And I want Jaiden to see the look in your eyes the second you realize you could never love him.”
