Page 130

My brows shot up as I glanced over. “He does?”

Crossbody nodded. “Not the Spring Court. His brother works for the Winter King.”

“As what?” I asked curiously.

“Officially, as an ambassador for the very small vampire community that has settled in the Winter King’s domain. He’s far more open and willing to have other supernaturals visit his kingdom, and his court has a long history with vampires. But some things Carl has told me make me think his brother is actually an assassin.”

“What?” I squawked. “Carl’s brother is a fucking assassin? A vampire assassin?”

“I think so.”

“Everything about Otherworld is medieval as shit,” I muttered, shaking my head in disbelief.

“Yes,” Crossbody agreed, absently rubbing his thumb over my palm. “Maybe that’s why I struggle to… relate to the others at work.”

“I mean, yeah, that and your… royal upbringing,” I said awkwardly. “It must be hard. I’m so sorry I made it worse for you,” I added hoarsely, my chest aching. “I was such a shit to you.”

“I was a shit to you back.” He smiled over at me, lifting our joined hands to kiss mine. “And I know my tone does make it easy to assume I’m always… trying to lord it over everyone. Honestly, sometimes I was, because that’s what I’ve always been taught to do, I suppose.”

“Well, if you just open up to the others at work a bit more like you have with me…” I squeezed his hand. “I’m sure they’ll love you.”

Crossbody looked over at me, and I suddenly felt very exposed, so I cleared my throat and gently tugged my hand free to fiddle with the radio. From the corner of my eye I saw his mouth curve into a tiny smile, cheeks flushed as he looked out the window.

Chapter Forty-Two

Organ Donor

Vince

“How the fuck did I never know that the crossing to Otherworld is in Tirnal Park?” I grumbled as we climbed out of my car early Thursday morning.

The small parking lot for visitors to Tirnal Park was empty except for us. Mist was still swirling low over the grass, between the trees, and suddenly I could see how this place could contain an entrance to Otherworld. It looked like somewhere ancient fae would have hidden, the trees old and towering, the mist almost purplish-blue in the weak morning light.

“I was taught that the fae who crossed over here were the first to start the settlement that became this city,” Crossbody told me, shivering as he pulled his coat on and walked around the car to pop the trunk. “Which attracted other supernaturals and, of course, humans. But I’m not sure how true it is. We fae like to write our own history a lot of the time.”

“Huh.” I looked around as I helped him heave our suitcase out of the trunk. “So this is where you snuck over to when you were younger?”

“Yes. The first time, I just watched people in the park. There was a young human couple having a moonlight picnic. He proposed to her.” He smiled a little, then shrugged. “The next time, I ventured further. Onto the streets.”

We were on the northernmost edge of the city, very close to the district with a lot of supernatural-run businesses, like Gargy’s and Fauntastic Foods. It made sense now that I knew the Otherworld crossing was here. This was probably where the original settlement had been located.

I took the suitcase from Crossbody and stepped closer, slipping my arm under his coat to stroke his side. “How are you feeling?”

Neither of us had slept well last night. When I’d eventually dozed off, an hour or so after him, I’d woken up a short while later to find him downstairs in the kitchen making cannoli. We’d left them in a container on my uncle’s front porch on our way here.

He gave me a tiny smile and struggled to answer for a second, then admitted, “Afraid.”

“You’ll be fine.” I leaned in to kiss him, tasting the toothpaste on his breath and feeling the cold tip of his nose against my cheek. “I’ll be there.”

“Yes.” He blew out an unsteady breath and kissed my cheek, then stepped back and gestured at the open park gate.

We’d decided to head to the palace today instead of Friday, in an attempt to catch Queen Galantha off guard a little. She was probably expecting Crossbody to show up at the last minute, knowing how much he didn’t want to go back.

Plus, this way, we’d definitely be there when Freddie kicked off the plan tomorrow.

“I downloaded a few movies on my phone in case we want to watch something tonight,” I said as we started walking through the still and silent park, not another soul in sight. Freddie had told me that I wouldn’t get any signal at all in Otherworld, which made sense.

Of course, that also meant there was no way for us to contact each other once I’d crossed over. But I trusted him. He wasn’t going to be late. Freddie was never late.