My mind rapidly searched for an explanation. Luckily, I remembered why I’d set out in search of him. If what Aric claimed was true, that would give me a reason to be sad. I latched on to that and ran with it. “It’s what I came down to tell you. I remembered—”
A soft knock on the door interrupted me, followed by Tanner’s voice. “My King? Is everything all right?”
Caden’s gaze didn’t leave me as he all but growled, “Everything’s fine. I’ll be in to see you when I can.”
“Wait!” I shouted, scrambling out of Caden’s lap. He frowned, but I ignored that and the flare of pain that shot through my body.
“I’m…I’m waiting,” came Tanner’s tentative response through the door.
“We’re not done talking,” Caden told me.
“This involves him.” And it did. Also, I seriously doubted that Caden would pursue his earlier questioning while Tanner was present. The older fae was also the perfect buffer. “Please come in.”
The door didn’t open. Confused, I looked at Caden, who sighed. “It’s okay,” he announced, draping an arm along the back of the couch. “You may come in, Tanner.”
My brows lifted. “Really?”
He winked. “I’m the King.”
“Whatever,” I muttered as the door opened.
Tanner entered, dressed as if he were about to go out for a round of golf. Beige, pressed trousers and a light blue polo shirt, wrinkle-free. All he was missing was a glove. He couldn’t look more…human. The silvery hair at his temples was spreading, proof that he didn’t feed from humans. Sometimes I wondered if my mom had developed a bit of a crush on Tanner, one that had been reciprocated. Mom liked him, so I trusted Tanner.
He wasn’t alone.
A dark-haired fae followed him in. Faye’s silvery skin was darker than Tanner’s, often reminding me of a stunning pewter shade. While Faye had the most impressive resting bitch face I’d ever seen, and I often wasn’t sure if she actually liked me, she had a no-nonsense mentality, and I trusted her. She, like Kalen, another fae, were warriors. They didn’t feed on humans, so they could be killed a lot easier than those who did, but they were still faster and stronger than any human could ever hope to be.
Faye’s cousin Benji was one of the missing younglings, and I suspected that he wouldn’t be returning to the hotel. There was a good chance that he, like the others, had somehow gotten ahold of Devil’s Breath, a liquor laced with a drug derived from theborracherotree. It turned humans into virtual zombies, and the fae into evil creatures controlled by the Winter fae.
“We’re sorry to interrupt,” Tanner said, clasping his hands behind him as he glanced over at me. “We were just worried.”
“We heard you shout in the hall,” Faye explained.
Well, that explained how Caden had found me. “I’m fine.”
Faye lifted a dark brow. “You don’t look fine.”
I couldn’t be offended by Faye’s bluntness. “I feel better than I look.”
“I would hope,” Tanner murmured.
Faye walked to where I stood, her gaze coasting over my face. My muscles stiffened as I forced myself not to flinch or take a step back. It had nothing to do with Faye, but with the fact thatAric had been really good at teaching me to be wary of anyone getting too close. Oddly aware of the tension radiating off Caden, I held myself still as she placed a hand on my shoulder. “I heard that it was you who killed Aric.”
“It was.”
Her eyes glimmered. “The next time I need backup, I know who to call.”
Pride swept through me like golden fire. Out of everyone, Faye never doubted my ability to fight and defend myself, even though she saw my thirst for revenge as a risk. She hadn’t just seen me as theWillowto theBuffy, something that had taken a while for Ivy to recognize.
“I’m not sure how I feel about that,” Caden said.
“It’s a good thing you don’t have a say in what I do,” I retorted.
Tanner’s eyes widened while the glimmer in Faye’s deepened.
“But I do have a say in what she does,” Caden remarked.
I shot him a look, to which he simply grinned. Then I remembered what Caden had told me. Ivy and Faye had helped to change my bandages while I was unconscious. “Thank you for helping to take care of me.”
