Page 81 of Faerie Trials

I spent the night with the healers hovering over me to speed the process. Knitting me back together until Selene came to escort me home when the sun rose, her hand on my shoulder.

“I want to let you know,” she began with her voice soft, “to be prepared.”

I sighed and leaned heavily against her. I hadn’t gotten any sleep. “Prepared for what?”

“We all must brace ourselves for the fallout. It will soon go public that Onyx Grimaldi is a half-shifter.” Selene paused. “There is no way around it. There is no way to spin his bloodline after what he’s done.”

“It wasn’t his fault. It was mine.”

“No,” she was quick to say, clenching her hand on my shoulder. Pain exploded from the area but I didn’t cry out. “You did what you had to do. You stopped a murderer.”

“He’s not amurderer,” I insisted. “He’s a good man. He’s nothing but kind. Someone did this to him.”

“He might be all those things, but he is also guilty. There is blood on his hands and no way for us to keep the authorities from doing their jobs.” The door to the healing center closed behind us and melted seamlessly back into tree bark. “Not once this case became high profile. With the bureau involved, it will soon be public knowledge. Speaking of which, you have a meeting tomorrow with Rooker to discuss the events of the last Trial.”

I didn’t have the energy to be upset about the meeting. I’d known it was coming once I sent out the call for help. Even so, the world broke into a thousand tiny pieces. “Fine. It’s not like he and I haven’t had our one on one time before,” I said. “It will be like talking to an old friend.”

“You’re lucky.”

“How so?” My eyes grew hot.

“Well, your little girlfriend is awake, for one.”

That got my neurons firing again. “Coral?”

Selene was nodding as we walked. And luckily not trying to push me away when I clung to her. “Yes.”

“How is she? Is she—” I broke off. Oh God, what if she was jabbering on about seeing two wolves fighting?

“She’s awake and talking. Not about you and your little, you know,secret, but apparently she remembers everything about the attack. At least you should not become some kind of halfling scapegoat.” Her gaze cast down on me. “Well, not this time.”

“I’ll take what I can get.”

Selene stopped, forcing me to slow with her. “She’s defending your honor, Tavi.”

I almost scoffed, but I was still too exhausted so it only came out as a sort of grimace. “That would be a first for her.”

“I need you to be up and running so you can hold your head high and protect yourself. Keep the people from panicking. You’re off the hook as the culprit, and hopefully this will take the focus off of you for the murder of Madam Muerte too.”

I cocked my head to the side. “You think?”

“If we can spin it properly, yes. I’ll do what I can to get the story out in a way I can control but the other news stations and reporters may not be as eager to pick it up the way we want. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.”

“I’m not going anywhere. I’ll do what I have to do.”

“I know it’s too much for me to ask you to stay out of trouble.”

“Trouble?” I let out a short barking laugh. “You don’t think I try?”

“You try, yes. Tryharder. Any more of this and we’re going to be digging a hole in the ground for you.”

I thought about her words later, sitting on the edge of my bed with each new breath a fresh agony. Dawn came and went hours ago but I knew there would be no sleep for me. Not today. Part of me wondered if Onyx hadn’t attacked, would Coral and I still be trying to fight our way through the tournament in the third Trial?

I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

A knock sounded at my door. “Come on in,” I called out.

A familiar blond head peeked inside. The fire inside of me burst into life at the sight of him. I should have known he’d come.

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