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Morgan sputtered into his coffee cup. She hadn’t told him. And, from the massive smile on Vi’s face, she wasn’t ashamed of it, either. After the two shared a silent conversation with a single look, Vi turned back to me.
“I got everyone in there fighting. Through it all, I noticed a fae woman. She looked a bit like you with the ears, but her eyes were topaz. I figured she had to be the one we were looking for, so I pretended to be drunk and threw myself at her. Seeing that you managed to get away, I guess it worked.”
I bit my lip. Vi had literally thrown herself into the arms of the enemy to keep me safe. I knew that she didn’t deserve my mistrust, but I couldn’t help it, either. She was the daughter of the greatest demon lord there ever was: Lucifer.
Wasn’t that cause for alarm?
I guess he hadn’t started life as a demon lord. Lucifer had been an angel before his father cast him out. Since meeting Morgan and preventing the apocalypse, Vi had turned her fire into light. She deserved better than what I gave.
My trust issues weren’t really about her, but I wasn’t ready to admit that. Instead, I made myself an iced tea and drowned it with enchanted syrup. The blackberry was for sweetness, but the sage brought a bit of wisdom that I was going to need in the coming days.
Morgan paused. He narrowed his eyes. The slight tilt of his head held a question. “What’s in the hood of your sweater?”
I’d forgotten about the weight of the small ferret sleeping back there. His body was warm against my shoulder blades. He was cute when he slept, perhaps because he was quiet for once.
“It’s an emissary from the Seelie Court,” I explained.
Morgan raised a brow. He uncrossed his ankles, standing straight. “There is no Seelie Court here. Last I checked, there was only an Unseelie Court. Queen Beryl runs it, right?”
I nodded. “You are absolutely correct, on all accounts.”
Silence hung in the air between us. Morgan seemed perplexed, but he didn’t press. Instead, he nodded to his mate and stepped outside. How the two of them worked together so well, I would never know. They barely said a word to one another, but each knew exactly what the other wanted.
Once he was gone, Vi sidled up to me and bumped me with her hip. “So, how did last night go? Was it everything you wanted and more?”
I cut her a disgusted glare. “Are you insinuating that we fucked after he ripped the crossbow bolt from my chest?”
Vi paused, blinked, and gave an appreciative nod. “Well, now that you put it like that…I’ve had worse first dates. I mean, just the other day, Morgan had to stitch me up after I cut myself on a wire fence.”
“What were you doing climbing a fence?” I threw my hands in the air.
She waggled a finger at me. “You’re changing the subject.”
“Hm. I wonder why?” Sarcasm dripped from my voice.
Vi chuckled and moved to clean a blender. As she worked, she spoke over her shoulder. “There’s a lot going on in your life right now. I wanted to lighten the mood with some teasing. Would…would you rather talk about things?”
Though Ness was the one with will-bending arcana, Vi somehow managed to open a floodgate in me. Everything I’d been worrying about came tumbling out all at once. The tsunami of information didn’t drown her, much to my surprise.
We’d all been through the wringer. Most of us, Ness, Addie, and even Vi, were learning something new about ourselves every day. Unloading all of this didn’t come as a surprise to Vi.
“I don’t want to be a princess. I want to be Cerri James.” I was pouting, and I could tell.
Vi put the blender away and turned, crossing her arms over her chest while she leaned against the counter. “Who said you weren’t also Cerri James?”
I paused, taken aback. Wasn’t I the one sipping the wisdom syrup? How did Vi spit such simple philosophical ideas so easily?
“Even if that’s true, I still have to face this new truth, too. I don’t want to do what everyone is asking me to do. They’re all acting like I’m going to go on some sort of magical crusade like a modern King Arthur.” My cup crinkled in my clenched hand until I forced myself to soften my grip before my tea ended up all over the floor.
Pausing, another idea crept to the surface. “I don’t like the idea that I’m not my parents’ daughter. I belong to a king and queen I don’t even remember. Parents who stole a child away just so they could hide me somewhere. Why couldn’t they have left the both of us? I could have had a sibling…and I wouldn’t have wondered why I wasn’t shifting with everyone else.”
My fae parents left me in that shifter pack without once looking into what kind of man was running it. It wasn’t right of them. They could have done better. I didn’t want to trade the parents who raised me for anything, but I did blame my fae parents for their shitty choice.
“Who does that?” I ask under my breath.
“People who are desperate.” Vi gave a sorrowful half-smile. “What do you know about the circumstances yet? It’s obvious that their court fell. Why?”
I scowled as I thought.
