“What happened?” Liam and I both asked in unison.
“Mara held up her cuffed hands. “This. Among other things.”
What the fuck? Was Mara saying she healed a human and that’s why she was given life imprisonment? No way. Surely that wasn’t something severe enough for the elders to do such a thing … right?
Liam’s eyes were wide. “Did it work? Did it heal the human?”
Mara shook her head. “Temporarily. But there is a rebound effect that takes them quicker. Fae magic is not to be used on humans.”
Liam’s shoulders sagged and I wondered why he was so interested in this topic.
But suddenly I felt so tired. That pain elixir was working on me.
“Where to?” Mara asked, starting to tinker with her dials.
“Seattle.”
“New York,” we said at the same time.
He shrugged. “She can do whatever she wants. Takemeto Seattle.”
I glared at him. “Mara, take us to the New York apartment. The first place the Winter King will look for him is Seattle. Clearly, he can’t think straight.”
“Clearly, you don’t let a man think for himself!” he yelled.
I stepped closer to him, “I rescued you today. Clearly, you need me to think for you.”
He stared down at me and heat bloomed in my chest as the blue light pulsed between us. “And I saved your life.” His breath washed over my face and something uncoiled inside of me.
“Strap in. I know where to take you both,” Mara snapped.
I’d forgotten she was here. That shut us both up.
Liam pulled his heat away from me and we both strapped in. The room spun, the blue light on our chests pulsing slow and steady with our heartbeats. When we stopped, Mara pointed to the door at the office.
“I’ll pick you up in the morning and we can go over the plan,” she told me. I yawned. It was midday. Not even dinnertime and I was ready to sleep for a week.
Liam just grumpily unstrapped his buckle but also yawned as I reached out and opened the door. The second I saw a small cabin with windows that looked out onto thickly treed woods, I looked back at Mara.
She nodded. “Ashville, North Carolina. One of my favorite places on Earth. It should have everything you need.” She winked and I frowned.
Okay.Vague AF.
I stepped out into the space. Liam groaned and grunted the entire time behind me.
“Fucking Ashville. I said Seattle!” he growled as I shut the door and we stepped out into the living room. It was a bit dusty. Clearly, it hadn’t been used in a while.
Liam spun, chest heaving as he glared me down with glowing amber eyes. His wings stood straight up and started to smoke at the tips. “Listen, you’re not my girlfriend. Or my soulmate. Or whatever, okay? I can fucking take care of myself.”
His words stung, because Iwashis fucking soulmate, and knowing he didn’t want me was like a punch to the gut. The blue light was going crazy as our heartbeats sped up. “Yeah! Clearly.” I pointed to our chests. “And you’re doing a great fucking job taking care of yourself! You’re welcome for rescuing you by the way. TWICE!”
He clenched his fists and screamed in frustration: “I got captured because I was saving you! If you didn’t exist, my life would be fine. You came in like a fucking tornado and took everything from me!”
My head reeled back like I’d been slapped. “I … took everything fromyou?”
Rage built in my chest and the entire room swathed in blue light. “Your piece of shit, psychotic father killed the only person in this world that loved me!” I shouted, tears spilling out onto my cheeks. “And stole the fucking crystals from Faerie, causing the largest genocide of my people known to history. So GO FUCK YOURSELF!” I shouted and spun, tearing through the house with no idea of where the hell I was going.
This fucking asshole was not who I thought he was. He was incapable of saying thank you? Or seeing reason? Or listening to his intuition? What a shit show. The gods had paired me with a soulmate who was the exact fucking opposite of what I wanted in a guy.
