Chapter 21
We hadn’t even gotten out of the state of Louisiana and I was already ready to duct tape both Tink and Fabian’s mouths shut. A few hours into the trip and I’d learned two things.
Fabian could make everything sound like he was insulting me. And Ren had this magical ability to tune everyone out and focus on driving.
Rubbing my forehead, I stared out the window as we cruised on down I-10. The outside was a blur of buildings and trees, and somehow the conversation in the back seat had moved on to me and my hair.
“I don’t think she can honestly brush it,” Tink was saying. He’d leaned forward so he was halfway between the seats. “Because when she does, it just turns into a giant poof.”
Counting to ten, I slid a glance over at Ren. A faint smile played across his lips, and if he hadn’t been driving, I might’ve punched him.
“So she doesn’t comb it all?” Fabian asked, sounding genuinely confused.
I looked over my shoulder. “I comb my hair, you assholes.”
Ren snorted. “I’ve seen her do it. When it’s wet.”
“Let’s talk about something other than my hair, okay?” I suggested before I climbed into the back seat like a rabid spider monkey and strangled all of them.
“Like what?” Tink sat back. “I’m bored.”
“You’re bored already and we have like another twenty-some hours left,” I reminded him.
Tink groaned. “I’m not going to make it.”
“I could entertain you,” Fabian suggested. “We could—”
“Yeah, no,” I jumped in, because I had a feeling his version of entertaining Tink wasn’t PG-13 and I didn’t want to witness any of that. My gaze zeroed in on the Summer Prince. He was obviously into Tink, but the fae were pretty much into anything that walked and had a hole. A wave of protectiveness seized me. “Let’s talk about you, Fabian.”
The Summer Prince stretched an arm along the back of the seat and inclined his head. “I have no problem with that.”
“Of course not,” Ren muttered under his breath.
I fought a smile. “How old are you?”
The Summer Prince raised a fair brow. He looked like he was in his late twenties, but instinct told me that wasn’t his real age. “Older than some of the trees planted along this road.”
So my suspicions were correct. I glanced at Ren and saw that he was listening. “Then that means you feed, because you sure as hell aren’t aging like Tanner.”
“I am the Prince. All of the royal court feeds.”
“Really?” I said, my hand balling in my lap. That was something else that Tanner had not disclosed.
“You don’t like hearing that.” A smirk appeared. “And yet you fed to save your life.”
“It wasn’t a choice I made,” I said.
Tink leaned forward again. “What Fabian is leaving out is that they have people who volunteer to be fed on. They’re not being forced.”
My brows lifted. “Volunteered or under a compulsion? I remember the people Drake had in that house. Some looked like they wanted to be there, but I doubt any of them knew what they were getting themselves into.”
A shadow crossed Fabian’s expression. “Those who allow us the honor of feeding from them do so under no compulsion. They know what we are. They choose to help us as we help them.”
I didn’t believe that for a second. “And how do you help them?”
“In my community, we protect the mortals who allow us to feed. They want for nothing. Money. Healthcare. Security.”
Sort of reminded me of escorts, but I figured I’d keep that part to myself. “And they know what you guys are capable of? How you can drain them to the point they turn into mindless, psychotic creatures?”
His eyes narrowed. “We never take more than we need. If any of my subjects were to, they’d be executed on the spot.”
“Really?” Ren’s gaze flicked to the rearview mirror. “That’s pretty hardcore for a race of beings that has always put themselves first.”
“As if you know anything about our race,” Fabian replied. “We have been here far longer than you know. Think about that.”
“I’m thinking about it,” he replied dryly.
“You knew nothing of the Summer Court or that our courts have taken up residency here. There is a reason for that. We do not kill. We do not abuse mortals. Believe it or not, we view them as equals.”
“I know it sounds hard to believe,” Tink chimed in. “But he’s telling the truth.”
“How do you know?” I asked, eyeing Tink.
He met my gaze. “Because why would he lie?”
“Oh, I don’t know. So we don’t kill him?” I offered.
The Summer Prince snorted. “I am not easy to kill.”
“Yeah, back to that. If you’re the perfect example of a non-homicidal fae who loves and cherishes humans, then why won’t you tell us how to weaken Drake?”
He laughed, and the sound was too cold for a Summer Prince. “You don’t trust me. Why in the world would I trust you? You may be a halfling and he may be Boy Wonder—”
“Boy wonder?” Ren wrinkled his nose.
“But the Order has already betrayed us once,” Fabian continued, his stare hard. “The fact that we are working with you now to stop the Winter Prince puts me and my people at an incredible disadvantage. Do you think I chose to ride with you just because of him?” He glanced at Tink. “Someone needs to keep an eye on you two and I will not risk any of my consul in doing so.”
Tink didn’t look at all bothered by that statement.
“How did the Order betray the Summer Court?” Ren asked, sliding a hand over the steering wheel. “Tanner mentioned it. Now you have. We’re in the dark on what happened.”
“You’re in the dark about a lot of things,” the Prince snarked, and then smiled when I swore I could feel steam coming out of my ears. “Do you ever think about that?” His gaze met Ren’s in the mirror. “Really think about why the Order and your precious Elite kept so much from you—from the very people willing to kill and die for them without remorse or challenge? Did any of you question that perhaps you were killing innocents? That not every fae wants to rule the mortal world? Did any of you once, in your incredibly short lives, ever ask if you were fighting on the right side?”
Uncomfortable with all the truthiness he was speaking, I flipped around and faced the windshield. A moment passed, and I glanced at Ren. A muscle thrummed along his jaw as he stared straight ahead. What the Summer Prince questioned had struck a chord with him too.
How could it not? He’d been right. We’d killed and died for an organization that had lied to us. And here we were, judging Fabian and his kind.
“What did they do?” I asked quietly, unsure if I was ready to hear it or if I wanted to.
Fabian didn’t answer for so long that I thought he might never, but then he did. “Everything you know is practically a lie.”
Ren’s knuckles were bleached white from how tightly he was clenching the steering wheel. “You going to fill us in?”
“We did not start this war with mortals,” he said, looking at the window while Tink watched him quietly. “We were not the ones who broke the treaty between our kinds.”
A frown pulled at my brow. “What treaty?”
He smiled in a way I imagined parents did right before they wished they could crate train their children. “We used to be able to travel more freely between our worlds. Some would grab humans and take them back, but trust me, when they did, it was usually people you would never miss. People who deserved their fate.”
Tink arched a brow.
“Others came willingly.” He raised a shoulder in an elegant shrug. “After all, we are beautiful and mortals are drawn to beautiful things. There used to be a lot more halflings.”
I bit down on my lip. I still had no idea if it was my mother or my father who was the fae. I’d probably never know.
“The Order has been in creation since we first crossed over, and our treaty remained in effect for hundreds of years. They hunted the ones who killed mortals in this world and left ones alone who did not, and when our world began to falter, and more fae crossed over, we worked together with the Order to ensure what was happening to our world did not happen to yours. We confided in them our weakness. We shared our secrets and helped them seal the doorways, but in the end, everything we showed and taught them, they used against us. It was not the fact that they took the Crystal from us that created the rift between our two kinds. Did Tanner tell you that? I’m sure he did. He wouldn’t want to overwhelm you with the truth.”
The inside of the car felt icy. “And what is the truth?”
He turned from the window. “Once we sealed the gateways, the Order slaughtered every fae that had fought beside them, took the Crystal we used to close the doors, and then killed our King, ultimately weakening the entire Summer Court and forcing us into seclusion.”
I gasped in surprise.
“We’d already been weakened, having lost our Queen and my brother many decades before in the fight with the Winter Court,” he continued. “The Order knew that. We trusted them.”
“Why?” I asked after a moment. “Why did they do it?”
Fabian tilted his head to the side. “That is a question we have waited many years to have answered. I have a feeling we’ll have that answer sooner rather than later.”
Talking abwe reachedout cold-blooded betrayal and what was tantamount to murder sure killed the vibe in the car. The only blessing was that it shut Tink and Fabian up for the next several hours.
I spent most of the time mulling over what Fabian had said. Initially, I wanted to deny everything, because it was hard to let go of years and years of a different history, but I knew the Order had lied. We’d seen the evidence of that. The question was how much had they lied about and why had they turned on the fae that had been helping them?
I didn’t have the answers, but when we stopped about eight hours into the drive, somewhere in the never-ending state known as Texas, to fuel up and get something to eat, I used the brief alone time with Ren to get his thoughts while he pumped gas. Tink and Fabian were in the convenience store that was attached to a fast food joint. Our convoy had joined them with the exception of the fae named Fred. He was just staring outside the glass windows of the convenience store, obviously taking watch.
“What do you think about everything Fabian was saying?” I leaned against the passenger door, squinting into the fading sunlight.
“Honest?” He shifted so he was facing me. “I don’t know why he’d lie. What would the point be?”
“I know.” I sighed as I reached up, pushing a curl out of my face. “What about the whole feeding thing?”
“You and I both know there are people who enjoy the feeding.” He pulled the nozzle out. “It’s quite possible that they have a harem of people willing to give away a little of themselves in exchange for money and protection.”
I snorted. Harem of people? For some reason, I pictured a bunch of people barely clothed fanning the Summer Prince with palm fronds.
“And to be honest, I don’t even know where I stand on that. A couple of months ago? I would’ve been dead set against it, but now? Everything has changed.” Placing the nozzle back, he brushed his hands on his pants. “I think we’ve got to let go of some of our beliefs.”
I nodded slowly. “I think you’re right.”
“I’m always right, don’t you know?”
I snorted. “Keep telling yourself that.”
Grinning, he stopped in front of me. “Processing everything we’re learning about the Order isn’t easy. Makes you think about . . . about some of the stuff we’ve done.”
My stomach shifted unsteadily. “Yeah, it does.”
Namely it made me think about how many innocent fae I might’ve killed in the past. It wasn’t like every fae I’d hunted had been caught red-handed. Some had run from me.
And I chased them down like . . . like an animal and killed them.
“Hey,” Ren said softly, drawing my attention. I looked up and saw concern pooling in his gaze. “Where is your head at right now?”
“Just thinking about who I’ve hunted. If they were innocent or not. Like I could’ve murdered—”
“Stop.” He leaned in, eye to eye with me. “We can’t go back and change what we did. We’ve got to live with that and deal with it. Doesn’t mean it’s easier to deal with. Just means we’ve got to.”
I found myself nodding again, because he was right. We couldn’t change what we did or didn’t do. “We can only change what we’re going to do.”
“Exactly,” he replied, looking over the roof of the SUV. “You want to head in with me or hang out here?”
“Hang out here.”
Ren dipped his chin, kissing my temple and then the corner of my mouth. “What do you want me to grab you to eat? And don’t say nothing. You haven’t eaten in hours.”
“That’s bossy.”
He kissed me then and when he pulled back, he nipped at my lower lip in a way that sent a jolt right to all the interesting parts. “What do you want me to get you?”
“A burger and some fries,” I relented.
“‘On it,” he murmured before kissing me again, and then he was off, swaggering across the parking lot.
He did end up getting me a burger and fries, and I ate it—all of it—except the tomato, because ew. Ren had taken the limp slice from me, slapping it down on top of his burger.
The burger and fries sat weirdly in my stomach, and afterward, a brief craving for something more hit me. It was almost like wanting a smoke after dinner, but I focused on Ren, Tink, and Fabian, who were arguing about the speed limit of all things, until the craving passed.
Somewhere in the middle of the night, Tink fell asleep, and so did Fabian. I offered to take over driving, but Ren was insistent to keep going. I ended up dozing off with Ren’s hand resting on my thigh.
It was the sudden pitching forward motion and Ren’s arm smacking me in the chest that woke me hours later. I grunted, my eyes flying open.
All I saw at first was the dark road and the faint glow of red taillights. “What’s going on?”
“Faye has stopped up ahead.” Ren reached for the cellphone as Tink and Fabian stirred to life in the back seat. “She shouldn’t be stopping.”
I looked out the window and saw literally nothing but darkness. “Where are we?”
“About to cross into Arizona.” He lifted the phone to his ear. “The other group is ahead of—”
Lights flipped on several yards ahead, the glaring intensity blinding as it pierced the blackness.
Fabian was suddenly leaning between the two front seats. “What the—?”
The night air erupted in gunfire.