“Detective Knowles.” She addressed Max like he was greeting her in the police station and not stood naked in the middle of the forest. “Dathal.”
Her gaze landed on me, and she smiled, then walked over to where I now stood with Talis by my side. “Vai Zh’alek is dead,” she said softly. “Shot on sight when he stumbled through the gateway.”
“I—” I had no idea what to say to that. Or how to feel. A mix of emotions hit me all at once—relief, anger, hurt, and oddly enough sadness. Even after everything he’d done to me, everything I’d suffered through afterwards, I couldn’t bring myself to be happy that he was dead.
I’d loved him once.
Maybe that was why a tiny piece of me would mourn him.
“He can’t hurt you any more, Axel. It’s over.” She put her hand on my shoulder, her touch gentle. “It’s all over. He is gone from our realm. You can come home now.”
AXEL
Talis froze beside me,and it took a moment for her meaning to truly sink in, but when it did, my heart dropped like a stone.
Home.
To the Fae Realm.
I held onto Talis’s fur so tight that it had to hurt, but it was the only thing keeping me upright.
Chlah’al.
Her head cocked to one side, gaze dropping to where I had a death drip on Talis beside me. “Unless there’s a reason why you’d rather stay?”
“Yes,” I managed to get out. “That is, I hope so.”
Talis whined and pressed his head against my hip.
She looked pained, her brows drawing together. “Your stay here as Gatekeeper was never meant to be permanent, Axel. The high court granted you an indefinite time period because of what you suffered at the hands of Zh’alek. They agreed that you needed time away to heal, and the best place to do that was in a place where he wasn’t.”
I swallowed thickly. Blood pounded through my veins as I stood there feeling everything slip away. Even in death he managed to ruin my life.
“I’m not in the guard,” I tried. “I’m not under any contract to the high court.”
“No, you’re not, but you still need their approval to remain here now that the terms of your original agreement no longer apply.”
It was all so clinical. “Can’t I stay because I’m happy here? Isn’t that reason enough?”
Her bitter laughter told me it wasn’t. “It should be, Axel. But you know as well as I do that the high court is a fickle beast. You’ve been living with the Dark Forest Pack for over five years. I’ve heard…rumours… that some members of the court feel you’re adapting a little too well to life this side of the gateway. You were a valued member of their staff before you came here. They want you to return.” She scratched her temple, a move subtle enough that I might have missed it if her eyebrow hadn’t raised ever so slightly.
Of fucking course.
She couldn’t come right out and say anything against the high court, but she didn’t need to. They didn’t want me back for any other reason than my magic and what I could do. A fae thought reader was a rarity, I didn’t know of any others. If there were any, then I hoped they were wise enough to keep it to themselves.
It didn’t matter that my magic was unpredictable in this realm, that as far as I was concerned it was a blessing not to constantly be in control so that I didn’t inadvertently invade someone’s privacy. Oh no, the high court wanted me where they could watch and control me.
Well, fuck that and fuck them.
“I’m not the only fae living in this area.”
“No, you’re not.” She gave the barest shrug, and I knew she was playing devil’s advocate, but it still irritated me. “But Dathal is the court’s liaison to the paranormal police, and he isjoinedwith Nick Parker. A fact the high court take more seriously than anything else.” Her gaze dropped to Talis again, her meaning clear, but I shook my head quickly. I knew Talis would agree in a heartbeat if it meant I could stay, but our relationship was fragile enough as it was—I hadn’t even told him how I felt, for fuck’s sake—we didn’t need the added pressure of a joining pact. I didn’t even know how that would work for us anyway. Lady Sarhin would be the obvious person to ask, but I couldn’t very well do that here with an audience. She’d probably kill me where I stood.
“What about Blake Tehlin?” I asked. He was the only other fae that immediately came to mind. “He’s been here for as long as I have, and I assume he’s coming back?” His house had been looked after while he was healing in the Fae Realm after his ordeal with Tombs, which implied he was returning.
“He is eager to return, yes. Now the gateways are no longer locked down, I imagine I will be escorting him back soon enough. But Blake’s magic is connected to the earth. He’s been studying the flora in the forest to see if it can benefit the plants we have back home.”
In other words, he was useful.
