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For a moment, I waited for the creature to speak again, but it became clear it had nothing more to say. “Good evening,” I said, curtsying with the orange in my hand.
As I walked past her, the dryad said, “You haven’t changed yet.”
I peered at the tree-like woman and shrugged. “I suppose not.”
“If you don’t change, I wonder who will get the house. I hope it’s her.”
“Who? Get what house? What do you mean ‘change’?”
The dryad turned and silently slipped into the darkened hall at the back of the kitchen.
23
Rafael
My bedroom door rattled as someone tried the knob, but I didn’t rise from my couch. I twirled my favorite dagger between my fingers.
“Brother, let me in.”
With a wave of my free hand, the door swung open.
Hector blazed in, scowling and rustling the ivy that grew up the walls. A few of the birds nesting in the nooks at the base of the domed ceiling ruffled their feathers in annoyance.
“You look like a horse just stepped on your foot.”
He walked toward the open floor-to-ceiling windows and stared out at the flashing lightning in the distance. “Fabian’s man is following her.”
The dagger stopped spinning. “What?”
“Sinsorias didn’t return to his carriage or enter any room in this house. My magic came up empty in every room. All I can figure is that he followed her.”
I rushed to the windows, scanning the grounds below. “She’s outside?”
Hector shook his head. “She feels safe here. Did you not warn her?”
“I specifically told her there were monsters.”
“You should have specifically told her which ones.”
My eyes narrowed at my brother. “You fetch her this time. I…fear I should not.” The library had nearly gotten out of hand. “You don’t think he will try to take her away, do you?”
Hector stared at my reflection in the glass. “You care for her.”
My jaw flexed several times before I found the right words. “You cannot think me capable of destroying her.”
“I think you fully capable. It was, after all, your idea.”
His barb cut straight to my dark soul. I spun and threw a punch where his face should have been, but he’d already moved, leaving only a ghost of a reflection where I’d punched.
“Missed again,” he said with a smirk.
“When you fight without magic, we’ll see who wins.”
He lifted two hands. “While I see that you’ve changed your mind about her—still foolish, if you ask me—I can offer no solution. Running from Fabian will only ensure that every assassin employed by the Sun Court will never stop hunting you, including the Hunters themselves.” He moved to stand beside me again, only this time, he stayed a little farther away. “Do not throw away what you’ve built here. Do not bring more ruin on yourself for her sake.”
This past half-century, I had found a semblance of peace here. A way to endure. But it was a veil to be torn, a veneer destined to shatter.
I wanted to believe Hector, to agree that her life wasn’t worth the effort it would take to save. But… “Her parents love her more than any fae ever loved a child.”
