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I was just being sassy now. The white had a moonstone-like sheen to it that suited Cerri. It was like being poisoned left me uncomfortably grumpy or something.
Cerri pointed a finger at me. “You’re lucky I forgave you. Rhoan considered leaving you on the table to die.”
I gave a half shrug. “That’s fair. I would have done the same if he had stabbed my lover.”
“You…have a lover?” Arven interjected.
“I can’t imagine Del settling down with anyone,” Rhoan said with a laugh.
Someone came up with a baby on her hip. She passed the infant off to Rhoan. He lifted the child high in the air and laughed heartily like he’d been handed the most valuable treasure ever to exist. I couldn’t help but sneer in disdain.
He lowered the child to his own hip. The little girl stared at me with a pair of familiar eyes that made my stomach hit the floor.
“You reincarnated Beryl?”I looked between Cerri and Rhoan with a creeping sense of dread trying to dig its claws into my body. There was no logical reason to bring that horrid woman back into the world of the living. They were going to make a whole new generation of fae suffer once she rose back into her full potential.
Cerri’s eyes narrowed at me. She slid between me and her family as if that would stop me from ending Beryl’s existence once and for all. The heavy weight of my crossbow settled into my hand. I didn’t immediately lift it because I was waiting for a decent explanation to the madness that was going on.
“We’re giving her a second chance. Beryl was only a monster because the world pushed her into a corner.” Rhoan bounced the giggling child on his hip.
Her laughter was like nails on a chalkboard to me. I couldn’t stand it.
I threw my empty hand in the air. “I was also traumatized and pushed into a corner, but look how I turned out!”
Both Rhoan and Arven snorted at this. I didn’t need two of them turning their noses up at my logic right now. So, I casually pointed my crossbow at Arven and fired. He snatched the bolt out of the air and gave me an unimpressed look, but it helped me vent a bit of my frustration, nonetheless.
“This is stupid.” I unsummoned my weapon and turned away from the group. “I know my way out of here. Don’t follow me.”
The spiral staircase in the far corner led upstairs into the restaurant above the underground court. I expected the black furniture and wine-red carpets that Beryl had left behind, but I was greeted by white walls and hanging plants. Someone had taken the time to refurbish the wood floor that Beryl had hid under the garish carpeting.
If this was any reflection of the couple downstairs, then I had nothing to worry about. They’d turned Beryl’s moody gothic restaurant into a modern, cottage-core haven. Nothing bad could happen in a place like this.
Still, I wanted to sulk at the decisions that I didn’t understand. Why wouldn’t they want to get rid of Beryl once and for all? If I had the chance, I would wipe Arven from the face of this world so that no one else had to suffer his presence.
“Oh shit,” said a tall, athletic woman said behind the front counter. She leaned with her arms folded on top of a pastry case filled with all sorts of baked goods. “I never thought I’d see you again.”
I narrowed my eyes at the blonde. A divine light radiated beneath her skin. It should have looked beautiful, but I couldn’t help but think of a garish nightlight plugged into a hallway socket. Perhaps, I was just in a sour mood.
“Do I know you?” I asked, taking a defensive stance.
She pointed a finger-gun in my direction. “Nope. But I’ve heard of you. You’re the one who put a blade through my friend’s chest.”
Taking a half-step back, I prepared to run. Arven had brought me into a den of enemies. Each of them had a vendetta against me, mostly for the same reasons. They were a tight knit group, and if you betrayed one, you betrayed them all.
Then the woman dropped the finger-gun and waved her hand in the air. “That’s all in the past now. Want an energy drink? Or a coffee?”
The turn this conversation had just taken left me with whiplash. My entire body recoiled in confusion. I couldn’t even process her question as she narrowed her eyes at me.
Then she nodded. “Coffee it is. No one ever wants my energy drinks.”
“Energy drink?” Arven asked, suddenly beside me.
The woman behind the counter paused and looked him up and down. “Well, you’re a big one. Aren’t you? Do they all come in your size where you’re from? Or are you special?”
“I wouldn’t exactly call myself special, but I can tell you that there aren’t many like me in any realm.” Arven bowed his head.
The woman looked to me, pleasantly shocked. “He’s a sweet one. Keep your eye on him before someone else comes up and snatches him away.”
A mixture of emotions slammed into me. I was jealous, repulsed, and angry all at once. My hand was on Arven’s forearm before I could even think to stop myself. He didn’t move, but I saw the flick of his eyes darting towards me.
