“Ben,” I said, forcing my voice to soften. He regarded me with surprise. Hesitantly, I pointed to the rune burned into my face. “You know what this means, don’t you?”
He nodded mutely.
A vile traitor, not to be trusted under any circumstance.
“But you still wanted to save me?” I probed.
He frowned as though it only just occurred to him that another fairy might abandon me to an awful situation because of my mark. “Who am I to judge?” he said, then glanced in Lee and Delilah’s direction with a wry smile. “If my home village knew half the things I've done with these two, I’d be marked head to toe if I were put on trial for breaking fae laws.”
My little seed of hope began pulsing like a heartbeat. “Then, will you listen to how I got this rune and how that brought us here?”
When no one protested, I explained everything, the words spilling out in short bursts. Each bit of truth felt forbidden to share—Elysia had banished me for it, and Marcellus had sneeredat me for it. But I unfolded our journey all the same, praying to every star that I wasn’t digging us into a deeper hole. I told them how I saved Jon months ago, how we were searching for Aelthorin after my banishment, how we were tipped off that something odd was happening at this hotel, and that the glamour had nearly killed us en route.
The only pieces I omitted were my quest for a charged gemstone and my routine ventures to the spectral plane with Jon. Perhaps it was risky to withhold things so crucial, but my intent to become human would only muddy the waters.
“None of us has any clue what’s going on in this place,” I finished, skirting around specifics involving Tammy. “My friends aren’t here to sell me off. After everything we’ve been through, you have to understand that they only attacked to protect me.”
I ended with a heavy sigh, and the room plunged into silence. For a moment, I worried I’d made a mistake and misread their intentions.
“Shit,” Ben breathed at last. He ran a shaky hand through his hair, retreating to perch on Lee’s shoulder. “You’re telling the truth, aren’t you? I-I don’t know what to say. I’ve never seen another fairy in this kind of…unique situation.”
“It doesn’t mean they’re trustworthy,” Lee said, eyes sliding toward Ben.
“Of course not, but they’re loyal to each other. That’s a start.”
Although my nerves still buzzed with the knowledge of Ben’s unsettling affinity, I couldn’t help but smile tentatively at how at ease he was with his human companion.
Humans and fae aligned. A shiver ran through me, like I was looking at a distorted reflection of myself.
“I didn’t think I’d meet anyone like us,” I admitted, scrutinizing these three strangers with fresh eyes. With my storyscarcely believable, I couldn’t imagine how a fairy with his power ended up aligned with a humananda witch.
“My heart’s melting,” Cliff drawled. “But any chance we can have this conversation off the goddamn floor?”
Delilah’s expression clouded as she undoubtedly tried to discern whether to trust the veritable serial killers tied up in her closet. But there was something else too.Hope?
Before I could puzzle it out, the magic in her hand reignited and flared into a single, speeding point that nearly grazed my side like a bullet. I cried out, whirling toward Jon and Cliff—but they were unhurt. Their zip ties had been cleanly severed, the plastic still smoking at the point of contact where the spell had seared through. The precision would have made a sniper piss himself. If the magic had been even a centimeter off on either side, the hunters' wrists would have been sliced open.
The hunters wasted no time untangling themselves from each other and pushing to their feet. Uncertainty crackled in the air as they stepped out of the closet—heated glares darting around the room, searching for exits, makeshift weapons for defense. The tension coiling their athletic frames ceded slightly when Delilah ousted her spellwork and smoothed her hands over her pristine satin gown. Something had shifted in the way the other three regarded us. I prayed it was for the better.
“Let’s attempt a civilized conversation, shall we? Tryanything, and you’ll be living the rest of your lives as aphids.” Delilah wrinkled her nose as she raked the hunters up and down, her gaze lingering on their worn boots. “Follow me. And try not to get mud on the carpet.”
Cliff glared at her back as he warily followed. “Bitch.”
5
Jon
The hotel door rattled under my vicious attempts to force it open.Fucking magic. I had never felt so goddamn useless in my life. Cliff stepped in after me and grabbed the gold handle with both hands, attempting fruitlessly to pry it right out of the door. He grit his teeth with effort, bracing one foot on the base of the pristine frame.
It was becoming increasingly obvious that Delilah’s invitation totalkwas more of a thinly veiled order. Any of our attempts to storm past them and exit were thwarted. We were trapped here at their mercy.
Coño. This was like trying to break into the storage room all over again.
That fairy, Ben, had to be responsible for this impenetrable exit. I couldn’t see the runes traced into the walls—the usual indicator that a witch had warded a threshold. But the lines between witchcraft and fae magic had been blurred from the moment we ran into these people.
Sylvia watched us tensely, raking her hands through her hair and flinching in midair every time Cliff rattled the entrywaydoorframe with a powerful kick. If things weren’t so dire, I could imagine her laughing at the ridiculous image of our futility—what’s the point of all those pushups if you can’t open a simple door?
“How much longer do we have to watch this?” Lee asked in an aside, like we were a goddamn pity case.
