Page 67 of Kiss of Smoke

He led me through the house, but despite the changes, I grew more tense as we went. One room had been transformed into a storage room, and there was now a door leading to the cellar.

That was where we went. And this time, the tension finally did begin to leave.

“Every inch of those tunnels was combed, not just by the Garda, but by nearly every solitary Fae in the city willing to help.” Robin put his hand on the smooth concrete wall. To my waking brain, that had been a tunnel just the other week. My time as a tree was incredibly disorienting as I took in the changes that had occurred. “There’s nearly fifty feet of concrete layered behind this, along with magic safeguards. No one will ever be coming up this way again.”

I nodded, then reached out and touched the concrete myself.

I was unwilling to risk using my magic too much to speak to the trees—at least until I’d had a little more time to gain a solid foothold in the world—but it seemed solid, and I knew Robin wouldn’t lie about something like that.

“Well… I suppose I can see why they were willing to stay,” I said, though I still felt a twinge of doubt.

It was a little amazing to me now that even though we’d been living above the Unstained Souls’ hiding place entrance for a year, the Ghosthand herself had never once laid a finger on us with hate or anger. She’d even asked the twins to carry in her groceries before.

But maybe that was why we were left unharmed. We’d become too real to her, not just Fae, but actual neighbors.

Odd that the Ghosthand would have such compunctions about whose soul she was willing to steal.

Before we left the cellar, I cast one last glance back at the smooth concrete wall.

Robin had assured me shortly after my awakening that absolutely no Unstained Souls had escaped—many of them had died in the tunnels, where they’d gathered to witness Carabosse’s triumph over the Fae, and even more had met their end on the executioner’s block.

The twins greeted me with extreme enthusiasm that I couldn’t help but match, throwing my arms around them and squeezing tightly.

“Are you sure you’re not upset?” Clove asked me for the tenth time while refilling my glass of iced tea. “We just thought it seemed like you were already sort of planning to move to Robin’s place, and we figured—”

“I swear by the trees I’m not upset,” I said, swatting the top of his curly head. “I was planning on moving out. I only stayed because I honestly thought you guys would starve to death if you were left to fend for yourselves.”

“Don’t have to worry about that now.” Tarragon propped his feet up on the coffee table. “We’ve got five brownies living in that room, and we took half off the rent if they did the cooking.”

I stifled a snicker. Honestly, it was the best possible outcome for the twins, and at least they wouldn’t manage to poison themselves.

They forced me to promise I wouldn’t be a stranger, and that at least one night of the week I had to bring the guys and meet up with them downtown.

Everything there was more or less back to normal, as the goblin and gnome construction crews had been busy day and night rebuilding the palace and restoring the damaged parts of the city.

Robin rolled his eyes upwards at the thought of having to go bar-hopping, but I was rather taken with the idea. Nothing like getting your gorgeous boss to loosen up and let go for a good time.

It was nearly evening by the time we ended my tour of the ‘new’ Avilion, and it found us sitting outside Web & Peaseblossom with white paper bags scattered between us all.

I took a bite of a tiny strawberry tart and stared thoughtfully at the sky, which winked back at me in a glimmer of iridescence.

Avilion without mortals was a little strange… but not bad. Everyone seemed to radiate a newfound sense of peace, as though they could finally just be comfortable with themselves and be what they were without fear of repercussion.

In a way, although I despised how she had gone about it, I understood why Queen Titania had decided to break the Accords. Maybe mortals weren’t ready for us, or we weren’t ready for them, or both. The stars simply weren’t aligned.

“So, what now?” I asked.

Everyone was quiet for a moment.

“Our job never sleeps.” Robin swallowed his chocolate chip cookie. “We’ll need to focus on training before the next mission, and I’ve got word of a goblin gambling ring we’ll need to look into.”

I thought I saw him and Jack exchange a quick glance, although I couldn’t be sure.

But a small flutter of excitement unfurled inside me. I was pretty sure at this point that ‘training more’ was Robin-code for ‘get ready to get down to business’, and I found I was excited for the next Big Bad we’d take on.

“We’re to meet with the queen tomorrow,” Robin added.

I almost choked on my tart. “The queen? Is she… is she up to that?”

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