I glance at Canto, trying to read how to play this. She knows of us; that is a good thing. I’m suddenly really glad we put Mei into another drug-induced sleep. And yet, my skin is prickling, and I feel foggy.
I wish Mei was awake.
“I’ve come to save you,” she says with a wide smile. “I’ll help you if you help me?”
That’s a leap. Canto’s expression doesn’t change, but I can sense something in him tightening. He’s like a coiled snake waiting for the right moment to strike.
Her eyes are cunning, and I wonder what exactly the cost of freedom will be. What does she want?
Mei tenses, but she doesn’t move. She just listens intently, her eyes slightly parted, three-quarters asleep and falling fast. I walk away from her, step by step, Canto joins me as we approach the omega. Mei struggles as if she can feel us leaving, but her movements are feeble and weak.
Ronit, Reed, and Brio appear from the path to the ocean, staring at this strange Fae temptation. She is profoundly beautiful, everything we ever dreamed of.
I’ll never trust her. I’ll never trust any of our kind again, but I want to go home.
A deep vibration in the air and the scent of blackberries seeps around us, so faint I almost miss it.
“Can you feel it?” I ask out loud to Canto. “What is it?”
“Our mate,” Canto whispers, but he says it like it’s a death sentence. He’s still staring at the Fae, refusing to look away. “She’s here. She really is our mate. We did it. We can go free.” His voice drips with disgust.
We all stare at this female temptation, unwilling to make a move that will scare her. All this time, all this waiting.
Freedom is ours.
“I can set you free, take you home,” Delia says gently and takes another step towards us. She holds out her hand. “You just need to reach out…”
“Mate?” Mei asks, interrupting. I curse myself because, for a second, I’d forgotten all about her.
I half-turn, torn now because I want to go to her. Mei needs me. That instinct is quick and blinding, messing me up when Brio snarls at me. What am I doing?
“Why is she alive?” Ronit growls.
“Oh, gods, what is that?” Delia shrieks and darts behind Brio. Too close, too quick.How did she get to him?
Reed reacts quickly, pulling Brio away from her, but ends up with Delia in his arms, clinging and screaming as she tries to get away from Mei.
Get off him,I shout in my mind, but I don’t say the confusing words.
Mei sits up, her face scrunched up in confusion. She quickly sketches a rune and is suddenly clear-headed and up before we can speak. I haven’t seen her move, so I’m surprised by how fast she is.
She’s between us, growling at the Fae who has somehow managed to get her hands back on Brio. Reed is off to the side, his expressions shifting from panic to rage.
“Let go,” Mei snarls in a voice so rigid with fury that it has all my brain cells vanishing. “Get your hands off him. How did you find me?” Mei snarls in deep venom.
The words don’t make sense, but the Fae smiles, just for a flicker of a second, just enough that I’m suddenly scared for Brio.
“Get rid of it!” Delia shouts. “Kill it before it hurts someone. She’s a monster. She shouldn’t be here.”
“It’s just a harmless animal; it can’t hurt you,” Canto soothes.
“Animal?” Mei says clearly, her voice full of hurt. “I am an animal? Is that how you see me?”
“Brio, drown her,” Ronit commands. “Come, Delia.”
Brio opens his mouth and sings, but to my utter consternation, she doesn’t move. She just stands there, her strange rat-like face twitching. Hurt pouring off her. I can feel it inside me. Like she’s part of me or like I’m now part of her.
“Drown me?” she whispers.
