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Emerald mulled over this, then hesitated. “You said you think your friends and a family member might be involved in your attempted demise?”
Thinking about it and talking about it was one thing, but hearing it from another person had his chest tightening in betrayal. He brushed it off.
“Yes.”
“Don’t assume. Sometimes things are not what they seem and the people you think are the culprits are innocent. You might end up sentencing the wrong person to a hellish life.”
This time, she looked him in the eye, jolting him with how clear and dark they looked in the night. They were also very sincere in trying to get her point across as if she had experienced it first-hand. The abrupt intimacy of it had him looking away first.
“Obviously. That’s why I need to investigate…if we can get out of here.”
He waited for her assurance that they would, but even the woman with the powers didn’t seem to have concrete answers. Rick let it be since he didn’t have any either. They walked the rest of the way in almost companionable silence, senses perked for any sign of buzzing wings or hissing little mouths. When they arrived in a bushy area, she stopped.
“There it is. I saw it earlier but didn’t think to explore it since the ocean was my main goal. But now…”
Rick narrowed his gaze until he spotted the cave opening sitting snugly at the side of yet another cliff. Understanding, he blocked her before she could enter, clearing his throat.
“Let me do the honors.”
“Of checking a cave without any weapons?” she asked skeptically.
He smirked and showed off his shield, letting it hum before turning it off. “This is all that I need.”
He entered without waiting for her response, checking the walls first to make sure there were no surprise openings or trap doors. When he spotted a bank of water that was waist-deep and also held no surprise openings, he sent a signal until she ambled in.
“Water,” he said triumphantly. “Our best weapon against those violent little things.”
No sooner had he said it, one violent little thing fluttered toward them, delicate wings glittering in the dark. Rick put his shield up…and Emerald cleared her throat and rushed forward.
“Yu!”
Chapter 3
“You have names for them?”
Emerald couldn’t blame Rick’s incredulity, even while she hesitated between shutting Yu out and asking the Fae to lower the shield. Instead, she answered his question.
“I didn’t name all of them. Just him. He told me his name.”
“They don’t speak our language,” he pointed out.
“He doesn’t have to. We can communicate through gestures.”
“Oh. And you and…he couldn’t gesture at his peers not to attack us like little shits?”
The man had a point, but she couldn’t help focusing on the words he used. Fae folks and vampires from prestigious houses spoke formally and wouldn’t be caught dead using crude language, while this Fae spoke like he was used to it. It piqued more curiosity about his past, but she set that aside and scrutinized Yu.
“Yu, are you alone?”
She gestured with her hands and body, ignoring Rick’s raised brow. After some nose wrinkling and visible confusion, Yu’s black eyes lit up and he nodded frantically. Something about the movements called out to her and threw her hesitation out the window.
“Let him in.”
Rick gave her a wary look. “It could be a trap.”
“Then I’ll handle it if it is. You can raise your shield back up the moment he enters.”
The man still didn’t want to, but he gave in and lowered the shield, then glared at Yu when the pixie rushed in. The shield was back in place in no time, still invisible, and no other pixie came in sight. She sighed in relief.
