“I’ve thought about it. A lot,” Cassius says.
Ashton adds, “Me too. Not that I’ve come up with any great ideas.”
Silence settles again, heavier this time, but different. Not hopeless. Yet.
Cassius exhales slowly. “Before… I never cared if it got better. The courts could burn each other to ash for all I cared. It didn’t bother me.” His gaze flicks to me, then away, like the admission costs him something. “Now it does.”
Oberon huffs under his breath, but there’s no real bite to it. “Peace would require trust. No one trusts anyone.”
“They could,” Ashton says quietly. “If there were something… binding. Not a treaty. Those break.” His brow furrows, thinking. “Something enforced. Something all four courts would have to honor.”
“A shared interest,” Cassius adds. “Something they all need enough to protect.”
Oberon crosses his arms. “You’re talking about forcing unity.”
“I’m talking about giving them a reason to stop tearing each other apart,” Cassius says, sharper now. “There’s a difference.”
My gaze moves between them, something strange stirring in my chest. Hope. It’s not that I necessarily care that much about what happens to the fae. I do a little. It’s more so that I care what happens to them. I hate the idea of me leaving and these four just going back to hating each other. Alone. Without families, when they could have a family in each other.
They notice me watching, and for a moment, none of them look away.
I look at each of them in turn. “When this is over, if we get out of here, I want you to promise you’ll try. That you’ll try to fix things between your people. That you’ll try to fix things between each other. Because I know you’re lonely, but you wouldn’t be lonely if you were together.”
None of them promise, but they say they’ll consider it. It’s as much as I’ll get.
Sylvian stretches his legs out, bumping my foot. “You know, it would be easier if you stayed with us.”
I blink. “What?”
He winks. “If you stay, peace is almost guaranteed. You’d have to choose one of our sides. And no one wants to go to war with a woman who can kill monsters and outsmart four princes.”
I laugh. “I’ll consider it,” I say, throwing their words right back at them.
All four men smile.
The hay is itchy, but it beats sitting on raw stone. I lean back, let the musty warmth sink into my shirt, and try to make sense of what Sylvian said about me and peace and “staying.” What would that life even be like? Once they were around the other fae, the other beautiful women, would I just become a forgotten plaything to them? Somehow, I think that’d be worse than being alone.
“It’s strange,” I say quietly.
They all look at me.
I stare at my hands, turning them over like they might tell me something I don’t already know. “When I agreed to lead you through the labyrinth… I didn’t care about any of this. Not peace. Not the courts. Not any of you.” I huff out a breath, something almost like a laugh. “I didn’t even want anything.”
Cassius’s brow furrows. “You asked for something.”
I nod. “A life.”
The word lands heavy.
“A fae’s life,” I add, softer now. “That was it. That was all I wanted. Not power. Not gold. Not safety.” My throat tightens. “Just that.”
Oberon shifts slightly. “That’s not a small thing to ask for.”
“No,” I say. “It’s not.”
Ashton studies me. “And now?”
I swallow. “Now you’re sitting here talking about peace between the fae, and I…” I shake my head, like I can’t quite make sense of it. “I don’t even recognize the person who made that deal. Or maybe I do, and that’s worse.”
