“Thanks, Mara,” I told her.
She just nodded.
I shoved a handful of dried fruit and nuts into my mouth and started to walk up the stairs.
“Wake me in a few hours,” I said to Trissa.
As I kicked off my boots, my gaze fell to the rumpled covers of my unmade bed, and a sob stilled in my throat.
Liam.
The bed was unmade from our lovemaking, and it made me sick to my stomach as grief tightened in my chest.
“I’m so sorry, Mom,” I whispered, falling into the bed. I’d promised to avenge her, and I ended up falling for her killer. What an awful feeling to carry for the rest of my life. I worried that my mental anguish would keep me awake, but I easily slipped into sleep, only to toss and turn all night, having nightmares of Liam killing my mother in a hundred different ways.
***
“Lily.” Someone shook me awake, and my eyelids snapped open. I was drenched in sweat and staring into Trissa’s wide eyes. “You were whimpering in your sleep,” she said.
My gaze fell to the window and the light that came from it. “How long did I sleep?” I sat up.
Trissa rubbed her eyes like she was barely awake herself. “About six hours. I fell asleep too. Elle just woke me.”
Six hours! That was six hours that the Winter King was getting farther and farther away with Faerie’s crystals!
“We need to go.” I searched the room for my boots, but Trissa stopped me.
“Wait. There’s something you should know…” She held out a hand, placing it on my chest and pushed me back down onto the bed.
Oh, gods… That look. “What is it?”
My heart pounded in my chest.
Trissa chewed her lip. “Liam came while you were sleeping… He… returned a crystal.”
Shock ripped through me. “What?”
Trissa nodded. “He banged on one of the blue doors until Mara showed up. She took him to Faerie, and he walked in, laid the crystal at the base of the tree, and left.”
Confusion washed over me. Why would he do that? Unless he got all eleven crystals and decided to give me one as a pity parting gift. A ‘sorry for killing your mom.’
“Okay, whatever. Great.” I crossed my arms.
Trissa reached into her pocket. “He gave Mara this to give to you. Said you would know what it was for.”
With that, she pulled a plastic baggie from her jacket and handed it to me. “I’ll be outside when you’re ready to go.”
I took the baggie, completely mystified as to why Liam would give it to me until I saw the thin piece of hair lying inside.
His hair.
It hit me then.
The memory spell.
Liam was giving me the curse of seeing him kill my mother.
That sick fucker.
