When my lungs start to burn, I kick toward the light, my head breaking through the surface only to find Nia waiting for me, a grin on her wet lips and victory in her eyes.
She swipes a hand through the water, catching my arm. “Got you!”
I cannot help but laugh. She is part trout after all.
Her gaze snaps to mine, the smile she wears melting into a frown before she whirls for shore, leaving white waves in her wake.
I suppose this means our game is over.
5
“Forever is never as long as you wish it to be.”
— A Seelie Guide to Happiness
Maddox has a pleasant laugh.
That single thought was enough to break whatever fantastical spell the water had cast over me. I don’t think I ever swam as fast as I did when escaping to the safety and sanity of the shore.
Nolan invited me here to try and salvage what’s left of our failing relationship, and what am I doing? Treading water and laughing with another man.
A man who seems to have changed his mind about joining the game of tag with those other women. With him chasing after them, he’s too busy to watch me in that unnerving way of his.
Thank goodness for that. There’s no telling what Nolan would have one if he caught Maddox staring.
Kerris and Everett hold hands on their blanket, but the heat in his gaze says he wishes they were doing something else. Sometimes, watching the two of them together feels indecent. Iremember being that in love. The intoxication of it all. The way your feet never quite touch the ground when your lover is near.
Now, my feet are firmly planted on the grass, and Nolan is missing from our blanket, as is his rucksack.
No doubt seeing all his former colleagues guarding the new king set him off.
Or maybe he saw me with Maddox . . .
My stomach sinks even lower.
Tucking the corner of my towel beneath my arm, I scour the crowd for any sign of my wayward lover. “Have you seen Nolan?”
Kerris glances around as if she didn’t even notice he was gone. The way she and Everett are, I wouldn’t be surprised. “Maybe he went for a walk?”
I doubt it. Nolan isn’t one for casual strolls. Still, he must be around here somewhere.
The guards open ranks to allow me past, some nodding, others ignoring me the way they’ve taken to ignoring Nolan. I weave through blankets and towels and fae to the space where horses are tethered and carriages have parked. The drivers play dice in the shade of a willow tree, its branches slowly swaying to nature’s song.
Beside them, Nolan waits on a bench for one of the public carriages to arrive.
When I call his name, his head snaps up. The dark gravel feels like hot coals beneath my feet as I carefully pick my way across, cursing myself for not having the foresight to throw on my slippers.
Shoving my damp curls back from my eyes, I glance from the rucksack by his feet to the frown on his face. “Where are you going?”
He drops his head, jaw flexing beneath a few days’ worth of stubble. Not even an afternoon in the sun has brought the colorback to his pale cheeks. “Does it matter? You were too busy flirting with that monster to even realize I was gone.”
The slur boils my blood, leaving me gritting my teeth.
Pick your battles, Nia. Don’t make this worse.
“That’s not true,” I say. Maddox and I weren’t flirting; we were talking, and I should be allowed to talk to anyone I choose.
“It is, but I don’t even care anymore. I don’t want to be around them, so I’m going home.”
