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The twist of his mouth echoed how I felt, thinking about the fae. They’d taken both of our mothers from us, hadn’t they? I swallowed hard and reached across the table to touch hishand.
A day or two ago, I’d have expected him to jerk his arm away. Funny how much one conversation—and, er, other activities following said conversation—could change things. He turned his hand so I could twine my fingers throughhis.
“I know,” I said. “Believe me, I don’t trust them either.” But even as I said those words, a deeper discomfort echoed through me. The way that past dragon shifter had talked about the fae, warmly, almostadmiring…
Had she really been completely deceived, or was there more to the fae than I’d been able to see in my ownexperiences?
“What do we do now?” Kylieasked.
I frowned. “I don’t know.” My gaze slid to the window. It had darkened into evening outside. “Has there been any word from the estates or any of the othercommunities?”
Nate shook his head. “I gave my kin instructions to contact me as soon as there was any news. I’ll be keeping my phone right byme.”
“Same as all of us,” Marco said. “And when we hear anything, you’ll be the first to know,Ren.”
Were the vampires really going to hold off on us tonight? I found that hard to believe. Some part of me had felt I needed to come here. Ihadto figure outwhy.
I gave West’s hand a quick squeeze before letting go and reaching for my fork. “I guess the best plan I have is to get some more dinner in me, and then go back to the records room. There’s got to be something useful downthere.”
* * *
The soft glow of the crystals was starting to sting my eyes. I leaned against the side of the armchair and rubbed them. The meal had revived my energy for a few hours, but I could feel myself flagging again. The last few tablets I’d taken out, more out of desperation than any clear sign they’d be useful, hadn’t given me any realguidance.
There had to be something more about the fae. How could we have fallen apart to the point of becoming almost enemies without any dragon shifter recording those events? They’re reported on the freaking crop growth patterns, for fuck’ssake.
I’d just straightened up to roll the cricks out of my shoulders when my gaze snagged on a glinting corner just barely protruding between two of the shelving units. Kneeling beside them, I slid my hand in and tugged. One, and then another, and then another tablet tumbled out. They must have fallen through a gap in the partly open sides of the shelves and gotten wedged backthere.
As I examined my new finds, my pulse fluttered. One of them showed a fae figure and a dragon on either side of a jagged line. I didn’t need to be a psychoanalyst to take a stab at what that mightmean.
I shoved the other two tablets onto a shelf and dropped into the chair. Time to find out what the hell had gone wrong between us and thefae.
“Dragon shifter Mirabel,” a weary voice said. “1908. It is with sad heart that I report the dissolution of our friendly relations with fae kind. An accident was made on our part, I’ll admit that, but they’ve proven completely unwilling to listen toreason.”
The images rose up and faded from one to another before my eyes. Humans settling near one of the shifter villages. One of them killing a partridge shifter who’d gone out to stretch her wings. The shifters gathering their things and moving deeper into the nearby wilderness. “Fae territory,” Mirabel said. “But they had shared with us before. And my kin had little choice of where togo.”
But the scene before me went wrong. The shifters hustled the carts packed with their belongings along through the sparsely wooded plains and sent them careening down a hill without seeing the small group of fae who’d been relaxing below. The fae shrieked and scattered, but one didn’t leap up quite in time. A cart’s wheel slammed right over hisleg.
I flinched, watching. The fae boy scrambled away, dragging his wounded leg, his face twisted with agony. One of his companions gave a shout and hurled a bolt of magic at the cart. It split in two with a sizzle, half the cargo bursting into shimmers oflight.
Precious belongings, all the shifters had left from their own home. My long-ago kin let out a wail. One of them lunged at the fae who’d cast the magic, knocking her to the ground with a slash of talons. Then the imagefaded.
“So naturally I was called in to resolve the conflict,” the dragon shifter said. “I went to see the fae monarch to resolve the situation peacefully. But she was not happy to see only me. She wished for my kin to be brought before her for her judgment. As if she didn’t trust my own. I couldn’t leave my kin to that potential vengeance. But she took my refusal as a horrific insult. Wouldn’t hear any talk of compensation formykin’slosses.”
The fae queen in the vision spun on her heel, a cloud of magic gusting between her and Mirabel. The dragon shifter strode off in the otherdirection.
“They’ve been cold to us ever since,” she said in my mind. “Driving us from lands we once shared. Refusing assistance to kin in need. The way they’re behaving, I can’t help but wonder if they’ve been simply waiting for a moment such as this as an excuse to set themselves apart from us. My mother said they once tried to steal her fire. Maybe they’ve realized we’ll never permit that, and we’re no longer of any use to them. Good riddance, in thatcase.”
Her voice faded away. I came back to the records room, clutching the tablet. My heart wasthudding.
Was that really how the animosity between our peoples had started? With a simple accident and a kneejerk act of retaliation. But I guessed tensions had been building for some time underneath, if the previous dragon shifter had suspected the fae… of trying tostealher fire? What the hell did that evenmean?
And how did you get from there to outrightmurder?
Chapter 15
Nate
I didn’t knowwhat time it was, but the moon was stark against the black sky outside my window. I shoved myself out of bed and checked the phone on my room’s desk again, as if I’d have missed it if someone had called or texted. No alerts, ofcourse.
