Page 77 of Faerie Hunted

I grabbed one of the bottom bunks and Noren hopped up beside me, once again sensing my exhaustion. We cuddled together as I watched the others move around the room, checking things out before each one of them settled as well. Mike and his mother were together, Onyx and Bronwen on another bunk.

Outside, the sun had already sunk below the horizon and cast the world in shades of night. We were too far away from the ocean to hear the crashing surf any longer and I found myself missing the sound.

I missed a lot of things, I mused, drawing closer to Noren. The direwolf seemed to have the same thought and he voiced no qualms about the closeness. The only thing I'd missed more than the normalcy of the creature’s presence, in a safe space like this, was Mike.

I watched him from the other bunk. He was close enough for us to reach out to each other and have our fingertips touch. For some reason, the closeness I needed from him would have to wait while the others were here.

We both seemed to be of the same mind. The look he shot at me was loaded with heat, understanding, and sweet solace. I felt the same.

“Now that we’re all here, and the room is secure, tell us what happened,” Laina said.

She settled herself on top of the sheets with her loose trousers speckled with blood and her leather holster still firmly in place. Her features eventually shifted back into the familiar beauty I was used to seeing.

Although her face gave nothing away, her fingers twitched, her posture tense. Even here.

There was no way to refuse the queen.

I glanced over at Onyx to find him already watching me, his head tilted to the side. Bronwen bounced her knees, her feet arched to the balls as she moved. No one wanted to speak. Not yet. Not when the silence was tinged and poised to shatter.

“Do you want to go first?” Onyx finally asked. His voice seemed as loud as a gunshot.

No, I actually didn’t. I wanted to put it all behind me but that was selfish. Laina put herself at risk to come and find us, and after what happened to Barbara…her mom…

So I took a deep breath and dove in. “As you know, Cosmo threw me in the dungeon.” I glanced toward Mike. “You saw me down there.”

He maintained the hard set of his shoulders, his lips thin and bloodless, but a hint of confusion remained in his moss-green eyes.

Start to finish and leaving out nothing, I forced myself to talk.

Onyx and I opened up about everything that had happened. Bronwen, when the appropriate moment arose, interjected a few times about her experience within Faerie, and what happened with the Claw & Fang. Things I hadn’t heard and stories that made my stomach flip for her experience.

I avoided Mike’s gaze at first. Talk about uncomfortable, and it never got easier.

But once it all came out…only my feelings for him remained a secret, as if someone put a physical block at the back of my mind attached to my throat. Everything else poured around the block.

Eventually I couldn't take it anymore and forced myself to look at him fully, trying to judge his reaction to my tale. Surely he’d remember the way Faerie reacted when I first got here. It wasn’t like I pulled facts out of the sky.

The land revolted at my presence. All the strange things that happened, all the secrets, were explained to the best of our meager abilities. Mike and Laina listened to the whole story from beginning to end without interruption, although the former had an audible reaction to Onyx’s reveal about his father, my fated mate.

Kendrick Grimaldi was a black pit of destruction.

Ultimately, they both looked shaken.

Mike reached out to grip Laina’s hand and comfort his mother. “We’re in trouble, aren’t we?” he asked.

“Rhetorically or literally, my love?” Laina shook her head. “I’ve felt the energies growing darker over the last few years. It appears things are coming to a head. I don’t want to believe this has been in motion for so long. It makes sense, however, what’s happening in the castle now.”

I hadn’t been aware of the tension my body held until she said those words. At once my nervous system crashed and I slumped forward, head bent toward my lap. “Thank you.”

Laina offered me a small smile. “For what, sweetheart?”

“For believing me,” I whispered.

“Why would I not?” She was so different from her husband, who had been prepared to throw me to the mob on a whim. “It’s clear to me that the premier is in league with Dorian Jade, and perhaps placed in a position of power purposely. No one ever suspected him.”

“None of what happened to you both should come as a surprise, either,” Mike added.

This time I couldn’t stop myself. I untangled myself from Noren and walked over to Mike. Took a stand between his legs until he unfolded himself from the bunk and stood over me.

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