I’ve been staying on campus since spending the night at Tristan’s when I was poisoned, and Allison has been looking out for me. She hasn’t mentioned seeing Evan since Danielle tried to kill me, and I haven’t asked. If she thinks seeing him in secret is safe, I have to trust her. I need my best friend.
I use the rest of the day to work on readings and get started on a couple of assignments. I’m stuffing my face with cold pizza when someone knocks on the door. I holler at them to come in, but when the door doesn’t open, I get up and open it myself. On the other side stands a tall guy with sharp green eyes and cropped dark brown hair. He’s dressed casually in T-shirt with a black leather jacket and jeans.
“Uh, can I help you?” I ask, holding onto the door.
The guy wrinkles his nose as his eyes flicker across my face. “Is Allison around?”
I offer a smile. “You must be Evan,” I say in lieu of an answer.
He nods, pulling his hand out of his pocket and sticking it out to me. “You’re the roommate, right?”
I glance at it, then shake it gingerly. “Aurora,” I say. “Allison isn’t here.”
“That’s too bad.” He lets his hand fall back to his side. “Maybe I could come in and wait for her?”
I grip the door a little tighter. “I don’t think so. I’ll let her know you stopped by. I’m sure she’ll call you.” Unease slithers its way up my spine, and considering the last interaction I had with a light fae, it’s not unwarranted. My mind goes to the bottom drawer of my desk where the iron stakes I’d picked up weeks ago are hidden. Maybe I should have one on me all the time now.
He glances at where my knuckles have turned white. “Relax, I’m not here to hurt anyone.”
“Forgive me for not trusting you. The last light fae I knew tried to kill me.”
He frowns. “I wasn’t aware. I’m sorry.”
I blink at him. “Allison’s in class,” I say, ignoring his apology. I start to close the door, but he raises his hand.
“Can I come in?” His eyes flick between mine. “Please?”
My pulse kicks up. “No,” I say in a firm, unwavering voice.
“Look, I need to talk to you. There are things you need to know, and I can’t talk about them in the hallway.”
I glare at him for a moment and then exhale harshly. “Fine.” I step back, opening the door so he can come in. Once he’s inside, I leave the door ajar.
I turn to face him. “Speak.”
“I care about Allison. A lot. Not all of us want to be involved in the war, Aurora.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “She is going to get in a lot more trouble if whatever the two of you are doing continues. Does that not matter to you?”
His eyes narrow. “Of course it matters.” He shakes his head. “What am I supposed to do? Walk away from her?”
“That would help.”
“No. It would hurt her.”
“Temporarily.” I sigh heavily. “The last thing I want is for my best friend to get hurt, but I’d rather she be heartbroken for a little while than have to spend god knows how long in prison for sleeping with the enemy.”
“I’m not the enemy!” He glances to the door and frowns briefly. “I’m sorry, but I’m no threat to you, her, or Tristan.”
“Okay, fine. I don’t know what you want me to do.”
“You can get Tristan to meet with me,” he offers.
I scowl. “Do you think I’m his secretary or something?”
“No, but I know you have influence over him.”
I press my lips together to keep from bursting into laughter. “Um, we are talking about the same fae leader here, right?”
He arches a brow. “He’ll listen to you.”
What has Allison told him about me? About Tristan?
I lean against the side of my desk. “Say I could get him to agree to meet with you. Why should he want to? So you can plead your case to stay with Allison?”
“Would that be enough for you to agree to try?” he asks.
“If it’ll make my best friend happy, I’ll do it. But that’s me. I doubt it’ll be enough for Tristan to listen to you.”
“But there’s a chance, so I have to try.”
“Look, maybe the two of you should just take some time away from each other. At least until things get—”
“Better?” he cuts in with a sharp laugh. “We’re close to war, Aurora. Things are going to get a hell of a lot worse before there’s even a chance of them getting better.”
“What happens if Tristan says no? Are you going to stop seeing Allison, or are you going to take the chance of her getting punished?” It occurs to me that I don’t know whether Evan would get punished by Jules, or whether the light leader even cares that he’s with one of the dark fae.
“Then we’ll figure something else out.” He meets my gaze. “Tell me you’ll try. Please.”
I inhale slowly through my nose, and let the air out through my mouth. “I’ll try.”
He nods. “Thank you.”
I drop my gaze. “You should go.”
He steps back, heading for the door. “It was lovely to meet you, Aurora. Your reputation precedes you, and I must say, it’s remarkably accurate.” His lips curve upward. “I’ll see you around,” he says and leaves.
I stare at the back of the door, my mind reeling with what Evan said, and what I agreed to do.
I make a point never to be late for class. I consider it practice for the real world. If I’m late for work, that says I’m not dedicated to my job. This morning would be no different except I sleep through all three of my alarms. I’ve been in a state of exhaustion since being poisoned. I don’t know whether it’s remnants of fae magic running through my veins that makes it difficult to keep my eyes open all day, but I’m sleeping more often and longer than usual.
When I do wake up, I grab my phone to check the time. My loud groan fills the empty room. Allison didn’t wake me before she left; that’s if she slept here last night.
Throwing my comforter off, I force myself out of bed. I pull a comb through my tangled waves and brush my teeth while trying to throw together a presentable outfit. I’m out the door with a breakfast bar and my bag in less than fifteen minutes and all but sprint across campus. I’m still half an hour late. Of course, today’s class is held in the largest lecture hall, and my professor has a guest speaker scheduled.
As I approach the double doors, I pray for an open seat along the back row that I can sneak into without interrupting. I silence my phone and slip it into my bag before I hold my breath and open the door. I tiptoe in and scan the room. A couple of heads turn when the door shuts. I hurry to an empty seat, three rows from the front of the room, which means everyone watches as I make my way to it.
Once I’m seated and have my laptop on the small fold-out desk in front of me, I let out a slow breath.
“Glad you could join us, Aurora,” Richard, my business finance professor says.
“I’m so—” Words stop forming the moment my eyes shift to the guest speaker. Fuck. “Sorry.”
Tristan stands at the podium, front and center, grinning like a cat in his usual business attire. “As I was saying . . .”
Sliding down in my seat as if my laptop could hide me, I pray to anyone who will listen that this lecture ends early.
It becomes apparent that no one is listening to me when over an hour passes before Richard announces a break before the second half of the presentation. I groan and whip out my phone to occupy myself. Now would be the time to gather my things and get the hell out of here, but if I leave, I’ll never hear the end of it from Tristan.
“He’s so young looking, so attractive—it’s unfair,” the girl beside me squeals to the girl next to her.
“Unfair? It’s inhuman. Jesus, if he was our professor, I wouldn’t miss a single lecture. In fact, I’d apply for extra credit assignments”—she pauses—“with lots of after-hours work.”
“Mmm, me too,” the first girl gushes.
The sudden urge to rip my hair out makes annoyance simmer in me. I sit lower in my seat and press my lips together so I don’t respond.
“Oh my gosh, he’s looking at me,” the one beside me whispers and slaps the other girl’s arm.
“Uh, no he’s not, babe. He’s looking at her.”
I don’t have to look up to know the her they’re referring to is me. Keeping my head down, I stare hard at my phone screen.
Students who left for the break file back in, and the second half of the lecture gets underway. With Tristan’s focus on the lecture and addressing the room, I use the opportunity to look at him. He’s dressed how I’m used to seeing him at the office, and today it looks like he skipped shaving. It’s a look I could get behind.
He speaks passionately about how he grew his business from the ground up, starting with an idea and a goal. Admiration floods through me as I listen to the story. His eyes pause on me, and recognition flashes in them. Something tells me my emotions are on display. He smiles at me as if we’re sharing a moment, as if we’re the only two people in the lecture hall, and then his gaze shifts across the room as he continues to speak.
My phone vibrates, and I glance down at the screen. I have a new message from my mom, giving me an update on Adam’s chemo treatment. She says, “So far so good.” Adam is taking it like a champ, which I knew he would. Still, an ache blossoms in my chest. I wish I were there with him through this. My parents are doing the best they can while still working full-time, and I visit as often as my course load will allow. Adam doesn’t want me to fall behind by staying in Mapleville too long. He’s always trying to put everyone else before himself. He’s the most compassionate twelve-year-old I’ve met.
I’m still typing my mom a reply when I notice people leaving. The room empties, and I attempt to throw my things into my bag to follow them out. Only a few others remain in the room. If I’m going to get out without—
“Miss Marshall, a moment, please.”
I glance up and lock eyes with Tristan and hesitate before I offer a curt nod. Leaving my bag at my seat, I make my way to the front while Richard and the remaining students chat on their way out of the room.
Tristan is packing his things, appearing to be in no rush to leave.
I slide onto the large desk off to the side and let my legs dangle over the front, swinging them back and forth.
“What was this morning about?” he asks, zipping up his fancy leather bag.
I look over at him and shrug. “I was late.” I should tell him about Evan stopping by and what he said, but here doesn’t seem like the place to talk about it.
He leaves his bag at the podium and approaches me. “I know that, Aurora. I’m asking you why. You’re never late for work. I imagined school would be the same.”
I sigh, rubbing my hands over my face as I recall I didn’t have time to put on any makeup before I sprinted to class. “I’m tired. It’s no big deal.”
He steps in front of me and grips my wrists, pulling my hands away from my face and setting them in my lap. “It’s been over a week since—”
“I know,” I cut in. I don’t want him to say what went down the night Danielle poisoned me, or the day in the ballroom. It all felt too intimate. “It’s fine. I just need to grab a coffee.”
“Have you spoken to Skylar?”
“About this?” I ask in a sharp tone.
He chuckles. “No. About the charity event.”
“Oh,” I mumble. “I was going to head over and meet with her now.”
“I’m going there, too. Why don’t you ride with me?”
I catch my lower lip between my teeth. The idea of riding in a car alone with Tristan sets me on edge.
“Aurora,” he says in an amused tone.
“Yeah, okay,” I say. “Before we go, why didn’t you tell me you were coming today?”
“And miss the look on your face when you saw me? No way.”
I narrow my eyes. “For an all-powerful fae leader, you sure can act like a twelve-year-old.”
He chuckles, arching a brow. “All-powerful, huh?”
I push him back a few steps and slide off the desk. “Why are you here? You wouldn’t waste your time teaching humans without your own agenda. You won’t teach me.”
“You must be upset about that, considering this isn’t the first time you’ve mentioned it,” he points out with an arrogant smirk.
“Whatever. Stop avoiding my question.”
“I was here to monitor a situation.”
“A light fae situation?”
“I want to make sure you’re safe.” His eyes meet mine and soften. “I don’t want you targeted because of me.”
“Screw that. Who I spend my time with is no freaking concern of the light fae.”
Tristan smiles as if he’s trying not to laugh.
“What?” I snap.
“Nothing. Just you.” His tone is confusing.
“Yeah, go ahead, laugh at the human who can’t protect herself from the supernatural. I’m hilarious.” I roll my eyes. “Mark my words, if I catch wind of more light fae targeting me, you can bet your ass I’m going to cut a bitch.”
“Take a breath, sweetheart. It won’t come to that.”
“Danielle tried to kill me. What makes you think someone else won’t try?”
“I won’t let anyone hurt you,” he vows in a deep voice.
I glance away before nodding. “We should go.”
Never did I think I’d be walking out of class with Tristan beside me. While I’ve gotten used to his presence, I’m not used to the eyes that follow us the entire way to the parking lot.
Tristan goes through the Starbucks drive-thru on the way back to the hotel and orders himself a coffee. As I’m about to tell him what I want, he orders my usual iced caramel macchiato and drives to the window. He’s paid attention to the coffee I drink at the office. Something so minimal shouldn’t stick out to me so much, but it does.
Max pulls Tristan into a meeting the minute we get back to the office, so I drop my stuff and find Skylar in the conference room, poring over a stack of papers.
“Hey,” I say.
“You’re late,” she snaps.
“By three minutes,” I toss back, ignoring her defensive tone, and sit across from her. “What are you working on?”
“I’m going over the donors for the event. We’ve got more than enough, and I’m still waiting on a few companies to get back to me.”
“That’s great. Is the guest list finalized?”
Skylar pushes a sheet of paper across the table, and I scan it. “This looks good to me,” I offer.
“I don’t care what it looks like to you, human. I need you to take it to Tristan and get his approval.” She doesn’t spare me a glance.
I bite back my retort. It won’t do me any good. Pushing the rolling chair away from the table to stand, I grab the guest list and head for Tristan’s office. I knock and wait this time, knowing he was pulled into a meeting. One of his employees answers, and I hold out the list. “I need Mr. Westbrook to sign off on this.”
“Sure. Wait here,” he instructs, taking the paper from me.
I stand in the hall and wait for him to return.
“That’s not what I’m saying,” Max growls from inside the room.
I bite the inside of my cheek. Whatever the meeting is about, he’s unhappy with it.
“What are you saying?” a female voice asks.
“We can’t keep letting them attack. Our numbers are dwindling as it is. We have to take action. Fight back. Now.”
Someone slams their fist on the table, and I suck in a breath from behind the door. There’s a pause in conversation when the employee returns to the door and hands me back the list.
“Thanks,” I say. He closes the door in my face without a word as if he’s worried I’ve already heard too much. I return to the conference room and give Skylar the list. “All good.”
“Fine. I need you to call the bartender to confirm what they’re bringing.”
“Sure.” I glance at my hands then back at her. “Can I ask you something?”
“If you must,” she answers.
“When I went to Tristan’s office, he seemed to be in a pretty important meeting about the issues that have been going on with the light fae.”
“That’s not a question.”
“Right. I was wondering why you’re sitting here working on this human event and not in there offering your opinion. I’m sure you have one.”
She laughs, stapling some pages together. “I chose to sit out of that meeting. I sit in enough meetings for Westbrook Inc. as it is. I lead the physical training. Teaching fae how to protect themselves and each other. Max gets to sit in there and take notes, which I’ll be briefed on later. This power struggle between the two sides has been going on for a long time. Too many of ours have died. We’re going to retaliate soon, and we’re going to make sure we have the resources and power behind us to win. That takes time, training, and planning.”
“When is this going to happen?” I’m not sure I want an answer.
“Don’t worry about it,” she grumbles, and with that, she goes back to work as though I’m not there.
All I can do after that is worry about it. What will happen once the dark fae launch their retaliation? How many innocent humans will get killed in the crossfire? What will happen when Allison finds out the dark fae—her people—are going to kill the light fae, including her boyfriend? What the hell is going to happen to me?