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My arcana was weak, though. As badly as I wanted to tap into the untamed magic that sat beneath my own garden of power, I knew that there was a chance it wouldn’t be enough, and I wasn’t about to waste any of it.
Instead, I shoved Foxglove aside and pushed past him so I could head to his kitchen. There was one thing I knew I could do no matter what, and that was potion-craft.
Of course, Fox had a glorious kitchen. It was pristine and white with marble countertops that had ornate flowers and vines carved into the edges. I glared at them with envy before throwing the spice cabinet open. The selection of herbs available gutted me at first sight. I’d expected a fae man to have more at hand.
I would make do with whatever I could.
Rhoan
Cerri ranoff to the kitchen, probably to make a potion that would knock some sense into Tal. I watched my friend with a dubious hesitation. The aura around him had changed. I could see the curse clinging to his mind, like a wreath of thorns hovering above his head.
I stalked over and tried to grab at the crown, but my hand passed right through it. With a snarl on my face, I half-turned and gestured to Tal’s curse.
“Can you not see this?” I asked Fox.
Tal sobbed into his hands. The sound left me unsettled. I’d never seen the man so distraught in my life. As long as I’d been alive, Tal had been an emotionless figure in the background of every fae celebration. This wasn’t like him.
Foxglove looked from me to his sobbing partner. I sure hoped they weren’t involved anymore. Fox might have been the one to pluck Tal from the realm of humans and shape him into an immortal fae, but that didn’t mean Tal owed him anything.
That was like saying I owed everything I was to Faust. Those who harmed us weren’t the ones who made us. We made ourselves when we had to put the pieces back together.
I stomped around the couch with no regard for my surroundings. My heavy footfalls made a decorative vase tumble from a nearby table. A painting fell off the wall and the delicate frame splintered. Ignoring the damages, I dropped into a crouch in front of Tal.
For a moment, I didn’t know what to do. I reached out to touch him then hesitated. Was that what he would want? I knew little about Tal because he kept so much of himself under wraps. Again, that made me glare at Foxglove again, because I knew he was the reason Tal remained so guarded.
“You look at me as though I am to blame for this!” Fox threw his hand wide.
I narrowed my gaze. I’d expected grander battles in our attempt to reclaim Cerri’s throne. My feet should have been on a blood-soaked battlefield with thousands of shouts ringing out around me. Instead, I was here, watching someone I considered my best friend suffer while his ex-boyfriend gaslighted all of us into thinking everything was fine.
“You are complicit,” I growled. “Though, I don’t know what you’re getting out of this.”
“We lost,” Tal whispered. “We lost. I’m so sorry I couldn’t save her for you. She was the light of our court. Without the lantern to guide us, we are lost for sure.”
Fox came over to turn Tal’s chin so that he had to look up at him. “Let’s run away. You and me. We can go to another court or we can run somewhere with no ruling fae.” Fox’s voice dropped huskily. “We could build our own court.”
Yep, that’s what he wanted all along.
With a sigh, I threw Tal over my shoulder and carried the fae man out of the room while Foxglove shouted behind me. He just wanted Tal for his power. Now that Tal had committed himself to helping us, he’d left Fox behind. And Fox resented us for that.
In the kitchen, I set my friend on the breakfast nook table. Cerri looked up from her potion-crafting and asked a silent question with her wide eyes.
I gave a half shrug. “Fox is a dickhead.”
She gave an appreciative nod. “You’re not wrong.”
I fidgeted and flexed my hands because they were useless at the moment. There was no larger threat to fight. My friend suffered in a way that I couldn’t stop. Claws pressed against the insides of my fingertips, but they would be of no use if I let them out.
Scowling, I stepped closer to Cerri to see if I could make myself useful. When she asked me to back up, I nearly gave in and shifted. I knew there was no point, but I needed to do something. I needed to fight, to protect, to save…
Cerri put a hand to my chest and met my gaze with her own worried eyes. “He’s going to be fine.”
I glanced back at Tal who was staring at Cerri like he might drive the knife through her himself.
“She’s not an illusion,” I growled in warning.
Tal’s attention snapped to me. He looked me up and down like he was weighing his options.
“You would be tricked by an illusion,” Tal sneered. “You would let your emotions get the best of you if only for another chance to hold the idea of your lover again.”
