"I don't know, I just think the whole thing is soscary," she murmured. "I mean, the Otherworld isillegal! I don’t understand how he managed to . . .” Lurielle’s voice had cut off, glancing up to Silva quickly, the tips of her long ears turning pink. “It’s just . . . what a mess. It's best that you found out now, Silva. I know it hurts, and if there's anything we can do . . . but really, thank goodness you're finding out now, before things got too serious."
Are they serious? Of course not, he's a horrifying fae creature from the other side of the veil.She had been too dead-eyed to react at the time, but now every time she replayed the interaction in her head, Silva wanted to flip the table in a rage.He was an elf from a place called Castlemartyr and he was stolen from his family!she wanted to scream. Instead, she merely pushed the hurt down, locking it away. She imagined what Lurielle had told Khash, and how smug the big orc had likely been.Probably delighted. Probably couldn't wait to go running back to the other orcs in Greenbridge Glen, to let them know they'd all been right all along. Don't ever trust the fae.
The invitation to Lurielle's small wedding was still sitting unopened on her desk, atop a stack of other unopened mail. Silva didn't think she could bring herself to attend. She couldn't watch someone else's happiness without her own emotions bubbling to the surface, and especially wasn't keen on seeing Khash anytime soon.And who could you even bring? It's not as though she likes Tannar either. Since returning to work, she had avoided the break room, deciding there was nothing left for her there, either.
"What are we having tonight, ladies?"
Ruby smiled down, and Silva felt her heart collapse in on itself like a miniature house of cards. He had stopped to chat with Ruby on their way out the door, that night she'd brought him here, ruining it forever. He'd not known Ruby, they never met a single time before, but with just a few words exchanged, they had instant camaraderie — speaking the secret language known to barfolk, not one in which Silva was fluent.
She listened to Dynah order the house special. Ris ordered it as well, and asked for an extra shot of Lysträe. When Ruby turned to Silva, her neck heated.
"Um, a Moxie Ginger Fizz?" Silva watched Ruby's expression closely. She said nothing, but Silva detected a minute raising of her eyebrow, the muscle barely twitching, not something anyone would have noticed unless they were specifically looking for it. Good. And she understood the order.
"Silva, how have you been doing?" Dynah's hand reached out, petting Silva’s as if she were a stray cat they brought in from the parking lot. "You know, if you ever want to come with me to the mixer night at —"
"Oh my stars, you're not even going to suggest bringing her to that cattle call, what is wrong with you?!"
Dynah gasped in offense at Ris's words, turning in her seat. Silva disinterestedly listened to them bicker back and forth for a few minutes, Ris calling out several of Dynah's poor matches, men she had evidently met at the mixer party.
"— Don't even get me started on that lizard guy with the permanent pinkeye. He was wearing dad jeans! He looks like the kind of guy that would pull his cocks out in the park just because it's technically legal."
Practically fornicating with themselves in public.The drinks arrived, Silva took a fast, experimental sip of hers, breathing in relief.
"Besides, I don't think that's necessary," Ris put in with a note of finality in her voice, giving Dynah a sidelong look. When she turned her attention back to Silva, her expression was softer.
"So, you and Tannar, huh?"
Heat moved up her neck, but Silva straightened her back, taking another sip of her drink before turning to Ris with a careful smile. "We've been spending some time together," she admitted guardedly. "He's . . .actuallya decent guy. There are much, much worse options out there."Like your boyfriend. Ainsley evidently no longer felt the need to pretend to be civil to Silva. The small handful of times since she had seen him since that terrible day in the office at Clover, he had been borderline hostile, seeming to take issue with the fact that she had returned to her life and was not laying in the street outside the bar, wasting away. He and Ris were moving in together, pushing her and Silva even further apart.Not that it matters.
When he found out that the property had been transferred into her name, Ainley had been wroth, for absolutely no reason. She hadn't asked for it. She would sell the Plundered Pixie in a heartbeat if it meant even the slimmest chance she could have him back . . .I told you that you’d always have somewhere to come, dove, and so you do. And so you’re here.
Silva had not yet entered the apartment. Nothing had been finalized yet, Elshona's prediction of things sitting in escrow for months proving to be accurate. She wouldn't have done so even if she'd had the key in hand. She couldn't bear it. Perhaps if it had still beenhisapartment. Perhaps if the long, low gray sofa still sat in the living room, if the pool table still sat where someone else may have placed a dining room set. If the tin tiles on the ceiling still reflected the lights in the corners of the room, shimmering up the stark white walls . . . But he was gone. Gone from her life, erasing all traces of himself on his way out thedoor. The mere thought of the cozy set up he'd created for her turned her stomach, and she couldn't bear to see it again.
Ris laughed. "Oh, don't I know it! The pickings out there aresurprisinglyslim, considering how many species live in this town. And I agree — heisa decent guy. I've said that from the beginning, I told Lurielle as much half a dozen times. I’m glad for you.”
At the mention of Lurielle's name, the conversation shifted to her upcoming wedding. It was going to be a small affair, Ris related, just a handful of family and friends, Lurielle's great-grandmother making the trip in, and a small handful of Khash's kin willing to make the journey. Saddlethorne farm was hosting, a lovely willow tree would be the site of her hand binding, with a small cocktail reception after. It sounded lovely and Silva was happy for Lurielle, but she knew herself. If she had to watch another elf have her hand bound to her beloved beneath a binding tree right now, listen to their words of happiness and commitment, she would walk into the farm's lake and be done with it all.
"They're going to be flying down south to do their fire oaths in front of the clan anyway, so this is just a formality. For his folks, at least."
"What did you tell Lurielle half a dozen times?” Silva asked suddenly, unable to let the comment go. “You – you said something about Tannar and telling her something?"
Ris looked up, her eyes widening slightly.Guilt. That was the look that passed over her face quickly, although she covered it well. "Well . . . you know how Lurielle can be about other elves," Ris chuckled uncomfortably. "And you know, I don't blame her. We all know what it's like. But she always used to say that Tannar reminded her of every guy who used to make fun of her growing up and she wassomean to him for no reason. I told her she was gonna feel real stupid when we were bridesmaidsin your wedding to him. And that he genuinely seemed like a decent guy! I mean, for an elf. Again, we all know the score. So I’mreallyglad to know that he is. And that I was right."
Dynah laughed, and Silva made a noise that she hoped was a good enough approximation of her previous carefree laughter.
"I don't even remember her not being friendly to him!" She kept her voice light, Silva of the Daytime, not a thought in her head beyond the next pretty dress and attention from the handsome elf in question. "When was this?"
Ris laughed again, the awkwardness gone from her voice. "I mean, literally every time he came into the break room to chitty chat with us. ‘Just one of the elves.’ I remember last year, it was right around the Fall Festival because her and Khash had planned on going. I specifically remember telling her one day that she was going to feel like a real asshole when she was a bridesmaid in his wedding. I can't remember if she got better after that or not."
"Not by much," Dynah supplied, and they all laughed again.
Last fall.Last fall, more than a year ago, when she was still traveling to Greenbridge Glen on the weekends, before Tate had taken her to that party in Bridgeton, before she had walked away from her family, spending most of her weeks in the apartment above the Plundered Pixie.
"Oh," Silva murmured softly.Are they serious? Of course not. We're already picking out her next boyfriend.
The thought of going back to the office the following week, seeing any of them, made her chest twist and her face heat.You were only ever a little girl playing house to them. They had written him off and chosen someone new for you before you had even chosen him for yourself.
She finished her drink, begging off another round when Ruby came back around, escaping into the night as her eyes filled and overflowed.
