Reyna looks away, getting back to work. They don’t exchange any small talk while Reyna stitches the edges of the cut back together and gently wipes the healing salve over the wound. The whole time he watches her curiously but doesn’t say another thing. Not until after Reyna gives him healing instructions and a tub of healing salve to take. Not until Reyna is at the door ready to leave.
“Thank you, Reyna, your kindness won’t be forgotten.” Shock pulses through her at his knowledge of her first name, at the ominous tone of his words. Reyna whirls around, but the male is, somehow, already gone.
Shakingoff the unsettled feeling that follows her from the clinic proves difficult. Reyna can’t help but cast glances over her shoulder a few times while she hustles through the dark streets towards the apartment. It’s past nine; she’s late.
When she finally makes it to the building, she glances around one last time. Satisfied that nothing seems out of the ordinary, she pushes open the doors to the ground floor lobby and slips inside. After three flights of stairs, she slides her key in the lock and pushes the door open, stepping inside and shutting it behind her, quickly re-locking it.
In an instant, Khortland is at her side, a comforting arm around her middle.
“Are you okay?” he murmurs into her ear before kissing the crown of her head. Reyna leans into him, feeling her body relax in a way only he can provide.
“Better now,” she says. Khortland nods, stepping away and allowing Reyna to face the room.
Aerin, Malice, and Emrys are spread throughout the space. Malice is near where they stand, close to the door, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. Emrys sits in a desk chair in the corner. He dwarfs it, the small Human chair not meant for a creature of his height. He seems to be doing anything in his power to avert his gaze from where Aerin stands, by the single window in the apartment looking out. She is about as far away from Malice and Emrys as possible in the small space.
Aerin turns to face them, looking ethereal as always. Her sun-kissed skin practically glows in the low light, and there is alotof it on display. Reyna tries not to feel jealous of the Princess’s breasts straining against the top of her shirt or the long expanse of skin on display from the tops of her thighs down to her ankles. In comparison, Reyna feels like a child.
Pausing, Aerin assesses Reyna like she had in that bathroom—a predator looking at prey.
“You’re late,” Aerin finally says, cutting the silence in the room.
Reyna drops her bag and jacket on the floor by the door before moving to the small kitchenette, shrugging as she does.
“I had a patient walk in right before closing,” she explains, finding a glass and filling it with water from the tap. She needs something to do with her hands.
“Well, now that we are all here,” Aerin says with an exaggerated sigh as she sits down on the edge of the bed. “I met with the Witch today.” Aerin pauses, her gaze not drifting from Reyna.
Khortland’s impatience shows when he immediately asks: “And? Did you get the locket?”
Reyna’s eyes fall to the item she hadn’t noticed before, a small gold locket around Aerin’s neck. Aerin’s hand drifts up to it, as if to confirm Reyna’s suspicion.
“I did,” Aerin says only to Reyna.
Khortland begins to cross the room to Aerin, but Aerin whips her head towards him and gives him a deadly glare. Reyna grips her cup to still her hands. Whatever game Aerin is playing, Reyna still isn’t sure she wants to be a part of it. But she also isn’t sure she has a choice anymore.
Khortland stills.
“It was made for her,” Aerin says slowly, her fingers playing with it. “Only she will take it. Only she will use it.” Aerin’s words feel ominous, but Reyna rolls her shoulders back and finds some confidence.
“Will it work? Will it turn me Fae?”
Aerin looks back to Reyna, her golden eyes almost bored.
“Work? Yes. Turn you Fae? No. Not inherently. It won’t give you magic. But it will change your physical features to that of a Fae.”
“So, it won’t protect me?” Reyna asks, deflating. Aerin tricked her, made her think she could solve all of Reyna’s problems.
“Isn’t that what your Prince is for?” Aerin asks her, as if the males aren’t even in the room.
Reyna looks at Khortland, who’s glaring at Aerin, but his mouth stays shut. Apparently, Reyna is handling this on her own.
“It would be nice to be less…” Reyna trails off.
“Human?” Aerin asks her with a tick of her perfectly shaped eyebrow.
“I was going to say fragile,” Reyna replies. “But Human, I suppose, works too.”
“Making you less Human is farther down on my to-do list. Considering my to-do list gets longer by the day, you might be waiting a while,” Aerin says.
