He didn’t have to tell me again.
I got out of that condo as fast as my two legs would carry me and I made it down the long hall, to the steel elevator doors before I stopped and looked behind me.
“What are you doing?” I whispered, knowing I should just hit the elevator button and go. He wasn’t my responsibility and just because I could appreciate his hotness didn’t mean I liked him.
Because I didn’t.
I stared at the elevator button.
Plus I had to figure out what the hell I was going to tell Tanner and Faye about Elliot and his weird as hell eyes. It would take Faye no leap of logic to jump to the conclusion that if Elliot had gone all evil fae, there was a good chance her cousin had too.
Turning from the elevator, I pulled my phone out of my back pocket. “Damn it,” I muttered, folding one arm across my stomach as I called Tink.
He answered on the second ring. “Hey, Lite Bright, I was getting worried.”
“I’m okay, but there is a problem.” I glanced up the hall. “I’m with the Prince.”
There was a pause and then, “Like the Prince?”
“Yes.”
“As in Fabian’s brother?”
“Yes, Tink, unless there are other Princes I’m unaware of.”
“Why are you with him?” Tink demanded. “Oh my God, did you really have a date tonight and then lied about looking for younglings? Oh, my God, you hussy.”
“Tink—”
“Hussy Brighton got good taste, though. Hold on, I need popcorn for this conversation.”
“Tink,” I snapped. “Come on, I’m not on a date with him and you don’t need popcorn for this conversation. I was out looking for the youngling and I ran into the Prince.” I figured I’d leave the whole Elliot part out at the moment. “He was shot multiple times.”
“Oh, dear.”
“Yeah, and he’s in pretty bad shape. He didn’t want me to call his brother or anyone from Hotel Good Fae.”
“You just called me,” he pointed out.
“I know that.” Exasperated, I closed my eyes and kept my voice low. “I called because he’s in bad shape and he hasn’t fed.”
“He should still be okay. Probably needs to sleep it off—”
“He hasn’t fed in two years,” I cut him off.
“What?” Tink shrieked. “Are you serious right now? I need to call Fabian—”
“Don’t call him. He asked me not to.” I had no idea why I was following his orders. “Look, is he going to be okay or not?”
“No, Lite Bright, he is not going to be okay!” Tink yelled, and my stomach sunk. “If he hasn’t fed in two years, he’s basically mortal except it’s just going to take him longer to die!”
“Crap,” I muttered, turning back toward the Prince’s door. “Well, this sucks, because he’s alone at his place, and I’m not sure I can lure a human back for him to snack on.”
“You can feed him.”
“What?” I almost dropped the phone. “Are you out of your mind?”
“It’s not a big deal. Trust me. You’ll probably like it.”
My mouth dropped open.
“Brighton, he can’t die. Do you understand me? If he doesn’t feed, he will die and if he dies….”
“He’ll be dead?” Screw this. “Go ahead and call his brother. I don’t care if he gets pissed at me. I’m—”
“There’s no time to call Fabian. He’ll be dead by the time Fabian can get to him. You either need to offer yourself up as an all you can eat buffet of Brighton or you need to go kidnap some person and serve him up a dish of unwilling human.”
I had no words.
“And considering his background and all the terrible shit he knows he’s done while under the Queen’s spell, I’m sure he’ll be down for that,” Tink continued on.
There was another pitch to my stomach. “That sucks, but this isn’t my problem.”
“You called me, so obviously you think it’s your problem.”
He had me there.
“He can’t die,” Tink said into the phone, his voice more serious than I’d ever heard him before. “If he dies, then the entire Summer Court will be weakened.”
I started to say that also wasn’t my problem, but it kind of was. When the Queen came back, because she would, the Order and the world would need the Summer Court at full power.
“And if he dies, then Fabian becomes King and he… he can’t be King, Brighton.” Tink’s voice had dropped to a whisper. “If you can’t help him, then I will.”
“You helping him means you’re going to kidnap someone.” I turned, dragging my hand over my head. Crap! I hated my life. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Will you?” Tink asked. “Because like the entire Court and the world rests on you taking care of this.”
I rolled my eyes. “Are you not at all worried he’s going to suck me dry?”
“No.” He was so quick to answer that I frowned so hard it was no wonder it didn’t break my face. “He would never hurt you, Brighton. Never.”
My face smoothed out as surprise rippled through me. It took me a second to even formulate a decent response. “Why would you even say that? You don’t know that.”
“I do know, because it’s true.” Tink took a big enough breath that I could hear it through the phone. “The Prince wouldn’t hurt you. Not when he already saved your life once before.”
“What?” I laughed. “What are you even talking about, Tink?”
“You said I saved your life the night you were attacked, but I didn’t save your life, Brighton. I just found you,” he said. “But it was the Prince who saved your life in the hospital.”
The memory of seeing the Prince suddenly resurfaced as I clutched the phone. I saw him there, but I thought… I thought it had just been some weird trauma or drug induced hallucination.
“You were going to die, Brighton. Too much damage had been done, but he did something. Do you understand?” Tink asked. “He saved your life and now you must save his.”