Page 33 of Faerie Trials

“Why do you say that?”

I didn’t turn back around when I spoke to him. Mainly because I didn’t want to see his face. And I didn’t want him to see mine. “Because we’re friends, or so I thought, and I need my friends to have my back, not remind me of how badly I’m doing with my life,” I told him. “Come on, Onyx. You weren’t really worried about me. You just didn’t like that you weren’t in control of something.”

“You don’t think I care about you? You have no idea how much I care about you. How I think about you when we aren’t together.”

Warning bells sounded in my head in a sudden alarm. I purposefully shied away from whatever topic he wanted to steer the conversation toward, then physically stepped in the opposite direction to give myself breathing room.Not now,I can’t take any more. “You shouldn’t worry about me.”

His voice dropped into something low and soft and soothing. “Tavi, come on. Iamyour friend and I want what’s best for you. I also happen to think that what you’re doing here, in the castle and at the Elite Academy, isn’t in your best interest. Michael Thornwood definitely isn’t in your best interest.”

I huffed. “Luckily for you, I do take your opinions into consideration. But luckily for me, it is still my life and I get to choose the direction.” Kinda. Not really.

“I’m trying to help you,” Onyx insisted.

“And I appreciate it. I do. Truly.”

When I finally turned around, I watched him run a hand through his hair and muss the strands until it stood out around his face in a halo of white. “I do care about you, more than you know,” he said. “More than a friend.”

The warning bells reached a new level, blaring at me. “Onyx—”

“You’re the first woman in my life who I feel I can truly let my guard down around,” he said. “I don’t have to pretend with you. And to me, that means something. It means somethingspecial. You have to understand where I’m coming from.”

The look in his eyes…the loneliness…and worse.

The hope. The hope was much worse.

“Don’t,” I pleaded, shaking my head through a sliver of gut-twisting anxiety. “Pleasedon’t.”

“I can’t stop myself. I can’t stop feeling this way and worrying about you and wanting what’s best for you. Can you blame me when I feel that the best for you is to be with me?”

“I-I had no idea…”

“I didn’t want to scare you off, considering everything you’ve been through with my…my father.” Onyx spat out the word. “I can’t keep it to myself anymore, Tavi. Especially not when you’re missing our meetings without any word.”

This was an area I didn’t want to go, not right now. Probably not ever. Onyx was an attractive man, yes, and we were friends. But—

Yeah, but. A big, blond, unsuitablebut.

My heart was taken and there was no going back.

“I’m sorry, Onyx. Truly sorry. But with everything going on right now, my life is too busy to split into any more pieces. If you aren’t okay with what I have going on, and with me missing practices sometimes…” I paused, knowing he would hate this next part. “…then maybe we should just end our relationship for good.”

Onyx didn’t say anything more after that. There wasn’t much left to say, really. I watched him transfigure in the blink of an eye, watched him fly straight out the open window in moth form before I could open my mouth to ask him to wait and let me explain.

I’d either hear from him again or I wouldn’t. It made me sick, regardless.

My mentor, the son of my fated mate, had a crush on me. He’d revealed his feelings. And I’d stomped on them.

I could only hope I wouldn’t come to regret it.

14

January passed in a blur, and between tutoring with Juno, an increased class load, continuing to work in the kitchen, and doing my weekly rounds with the Claw & Fang, I didn’t have enough room to breathe. School, work, repeat. Soon my worries took a backseat and eventually Onyx and I came to a tentative truce. We resumed our once a week training sessions.

It wasn’t the same. I wasn’t sure it would ever be the same, and at first he didn’t even want to look me in the eye. No matter what we said to each other, now there was a fissure between us. The easy camaraderie was all but gone. By the end of the month we were barely making small talk with each other.

At least there were no more murders, and the Claw & Fang leaders came to the conclusion that maybe the first three victims were an isolated spree and perhaps our killer had met an untimely end. One could hope. I wasn’t sure I believed it but we stopped the rounds and that cleared a bit of space on my packed schedule. I’d take whatever break I could get.

Score one for Tavi.

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