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She pointed a finger my way. “Don’t forget there was you in the middle there. There were definitely a couple of years where I did what you told me to do. Once you got a bit of power, you didn’t mind shoving your friends around. You spent a couple of days in my world and decided you knew everything.”
Maybe we did need this fight. “Sure. I think I’m so smart.”
“Well, you sure as hell don’t listen to anyone, and you never compromise.”
I felt my jaw drop. “You think I don’t compromise? That’s bullshit. What you’re really saying is you don’t think I’ve had to sacrifice. Not the way you did.”
Her eyes flashed fire, and she was out of her seat. “No. You didn’t.”
A low growl had started, and Puff was standing between us, the dark hair on the back of his neck standing up.
“You didn’t sacrifice anything, Kelsey,” she said, a fire in her eyes and her hands twitching like she knew the magic should be there. “You never have to. You fuck up time and time again and everything works out for you. Whatever you need it’s provided for you, and you don’t even have to work for it.”
Did she remember my childhood? “Yeah, I’ve never felt a second’s pain.”
Her eyes rolled. “You don’t feel it the way the rest of us do.”
“I assure you I do.” I was sick of this and I’d only had to deal with it for a couple of days. “Olivia, I’m sorry for what happened to you, but I lost twelve years. Twelve fucking years, and I’m still not certain you weren’t involved. After all, the queen mentioned you had something to do with the search for Dev. Arwyna died, you know.”
Arwyna was the queen of the pixies. Her kaleidoscope had moved to Dallas years before when Devinshea had become the High Priest of the Fae. Liv had decided to spell the little queen in order to find Dev. The spell had not gone well. I’d been there when she’d come through the painting and died in Dev’s hands.
Liv waved a hand in the air. “And she came back to life. And that should prove to you that I had nothing to do with that painting. I didn’t know. If I did, why would I bother spelling a pixie? I would have known Dev was on some outer Fae plane.”
“Would you have warned me? Or would you have chosen Myrddin?”
She shrugged. “We’ll never know, but we do know who I’ll choose now. I’ll choose the one who picked me.”
“I hate that you’re like this. When did you become thepick megirl? I’m sorry. I was getting married. I’d just found Fenrir. I wanted to be happy for a couple of days. You seemed to be happy with Casey.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I did not need you. What would you have done for me? You would have been like all the rest. You would have told me lies about being patient. You would have kept me down, and when I couldn’t help you anymore, you would have forgotten about me. Did you think I was going to be satisfied being Casey’s nightly meal?”
“I thought you were in love.”
“You didn’t think at all about me,” she said with a dismissive wave. “I wasn’t useful to theNex Apparatusanymore, so I wasn’t on her mind. If you hadn’t been getting married, I doubt I would have seen you at all. I often wonder why you didn’t have your new bestie be your maid of honor.”
“The queen isn’t my best friend. I am sorry for what you went through.” I sank down on the couch, utterly exhausted by the conversation. “I really am. I did think about you, but I know what Meredith said.”
Liv took a step back and Puff stopped growling, jumping up on the couch beside me.
“Meredith? The liar? The fucking companion who tricked Casey into becoming addicted to her blood and sold us all out?” Liv asked.
I did understand why she might not want to believe what Meredith had said that terrible night, but I had my reasons. “She was dying, and Eddie felt no lies from her. I know she wasn’t talking about her contract when she said what she said, but Eddie believed her, too.”
Meredith had been drained by a rogue vampire that night and as she lay dying—not so far from where Liv was doing the same—she’d told me that Liv could get her magic back if she was patient.
Liv had proven less than patient.
“It wasn’t coming back.” Liv’s arms crossed over her chest, turning away from me. “It was gone.”
“Like my wolf was gone?”
Now she turned my way, righteousness stamped on her face. “I made sure the wolf part of your soul was safe.”
Could she not hear herself? “You’re the one who ripped her out of me, Liv. And I forgave you. I didn’t even question it. I knew you loved me and they forced you to do it. You can’t give me the same grace?”
“The situations are different,” Liv said stubbornly. “I was trying to save Casey.”
“And I never forced you to follow me into danger. You wanted to help. You wanted to be a hero and you were.”
