Page 93 of Faerie Hunted

“Don’t you see how Faerie is corrupt? Arcane? How things are working against the natural order?” She pointed toward a dark spread of clouds on the horizon. “It’s because you’re the one destined to stop it.”

I couldn't help but agree with her about the weather and the corruption. But the rest of it?

Did she expect me to just let her lead me along, sheep to the slaughter style?

I’d busted Onyx out of prison because he was going to be put to death without a trial for a crime Iknewhe didn’t commit under his own volition. Someone had been pulling his strings and using him as an instrument for murder. Because the king—or the premier in this case—was judge, jury, and executioner.

Absolute power corrupted absolutely. Wasn’t that a saying?

“I get that Faerie is infected. And maybe something should be done to fix the realm, but I know nothing about it. I’m not the right person.”

Oh, god. Was the queen staring at me?

What was Laina thinking through this mania?

“You were born for this,” Livvy insisted. “You are not just the right person, you are theonlyperson. I was given a spell by Faerie to unlock your powers myself when the time was right. The time is now right.”

Something must have gone wrong in her head.

A loose screw but worse.

She was talking about the world like a person, a goddess, talking about me like I’m a savior.

Before I knew it I’d taken an unwitting step back away from her. The space between us turned hot, molten, and made my already overworked lungs shoot into overdrive.

It wasn’t me. It could never be me because I wasn't anything special andChosen Oneswere for fairytales and television shows.

Livvy, rather than step up to me and make me listen to her, shifted her attention away. Her gaze flickered back and forth and she blinked rapidly. “We’re going to have to break into Will’s house. We have to get those journals. We need the spell. There’s no other choice.”

Terror was bright. It scalded my insides and turned every part of me to ash.

“We can’t return to the human realm,” I blurted out.

The others were there around us, once again pretending none of this conversation was taking place. They were watching our back and our front and our sides for other real enemies and acting like they didn’t hear this absolute nonsense.

“What if Kendrick Grimaldi catches me?”

“I’ll come with you to protect you.” Mike said it as though it was self-evident. “There’s no way he’s going to get through me. He won’t touch you.”

I bit down on my lip.

Mike’s magic wasn’t strong enough to protect me, not against Kendrick, even though it was so sweet to see him willing. To know he’d step up this way for me.

“No, I’ll go with them,” Laina insisted. “Between the three of us, we’ll be safe. And quiet.”

“You’re serious.” I gawked at the queen. “You don’t think this is absolutely insane?”

Laina’s chin jutted out and from the way she refused to meet my gaze, the answer was clear. She believed it.

So either they were all going mad or I was. Hysterical laughter bubbled up inside of me until I doubled over with it.

Please, let me be insane. Because reality was too fucked-up to be believed.

24

They outvoted me.

No matter what excuses I tossed out, between the two mothers—powerhouses on their own and unstoppable together—there was no way for me to stand against them.

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