The next twenty minutes passed in a haze.
I was pretty sure I managed to thank the council, at least I hope I did, but all I could think of, all I wanted in that moment, was to tell Dathal. To share my fucking awesome news with him, and the realisation that I couldn’t, that I might never get to thank him or show him how grateful I was for what he’d done for me… it gutted me like a fucking huge knife to the belly.
Finally, we made our escape and David drove me home.
“Got to say I thought you’d be more pleased than this,” David said as he pulled up outside my house.
I ran a hand over my face, suddenly tired even though it was still early. “I am pleased. Fucking thrilled, actually.” I sighed and David winced.
“Still heard nothing?”
I shook my head. “Not a word. The only reason I know he’s not dead is because Axel keeps me updated on his progress.”
“I’d like to say that you’ll see him soon enough, but the fae have their own rules. Ones we might not necessarily agree with, but there’s little we can do about them. I’m sorry, Nick.”
“Yeah, me too.”
I thanked him for everything he’d done for me, assured him I was going to be fine on my own, and went inside. Loud meows greeted me, which I couldn’t have been more thankful for in that moment. If I’d had to come back to emptiness, it might just have killed me.
Satan and Bee settled on my lap as soon as I sat down. I stroked a hand over their backs one after the other, silky fur tickling my fingers. “What the fuck am I going to do?”
I felt helpless, like he was slipping through my fingers and nothing I could do would let me keep hold of him.
I hated it.
My phone rang, and for one glorious second, I hoped… but then I saw the name on my phone and sighed. I couldn’t do anything about Dathal, but there was one relationship that I could fix. Starting now.
I answered the call.
“Hello, mum.”
* * *
Dathal
After twelve days stuck in the medical wing of the high court palace, I was ready to kill the next person that came into my room.
My injuries had all healed, but I’d been kept here forobservation.Interrogation, more like, because I’d had a steady stream of visitors questioning me about the events that happened at Yates’s compound.
If I had to recount the details one more time, there might be bloodshed.
What I wanted was to get out of here, go back through the gateway, and see Nick.
I rubbed at my chest. The memory of his magic feeding mine, twining with it so beautifully, made my breath hitch and my heart race. I didn’t realise it at the time, and he wouldn’t have known what he was starting, but lying here in bed with nothing to do but think and feel, I recognised the ache in my chest for what it was.
Nick had unwittingly initiated a fae joining pact.
Unfinished as it was, my magic was constantly searching for its other half to reconnect with. Like a dull throb deep in my bones that I couldn’t escape. Didn’t want to.
I wonder if he knows what he’s done?
If he feels anything like what I do?
I’d heard nothing from him since I’d been brought here, and I had no doubt that was the high court’s doing. If they thought I was going to let them keep me from contacting him, then they were sorely mistaken.
Goddess, I needed out of this room.
As if on cue, my door swung open and Lady Sarhin swept into the room. I remembered my earlier thoughts and snorted. Killing Lady Sarhin was tempting—I imagined she was behind my extended stay here—but probably not conducive to plans to get out of there.
