Page 105 of Solstice

“No? Nothing?” He arched both eyebrows and paused, glancing from the front of the SUV to the back. “You want this…gift…removed, do you not?” He said the word like it held more weight than we knew. “I want my wife. This is an easy deal to make.”

Of all the scenarios that had played out in my head, I did not see this one coming.

“Why would you help us?” Despite my rattling nerves, my voice stayed calm and steady. “I thought you despised humans.”

He chuckled softly, shaking his head as he tried the door handle.Locked.Something about this silly human movement struck me at the time, but I put that in a compartment to analyze later.

“That does not mean I am unreasonable.”

Lex grabbed my hand and whispered,“Careful,”through our bond. Fairies offered gold-encrusted dreams on silver platters with a thousand invisible strings attached.

“We were told no one could undo the gift.” I straightened and held his gaze with a firm one of my own. “Not even the one who gave it to us.”

He let out a soft, sardonic laugh. “I am the king of fairies. I can do whatever I want.”

That pissed me off even more because it was that bullshit that got us into this in the first place. No, he couldn’t do whatever he wanted. No one could, especially not in my fucking realm.

“No deal,” I said. “Go back to Faerie and terrorize your own kind.”

The king’s sparkling eyes widened as his gaze shifted again between Lex and me, his lips twisting into an amused smile. I’d expected anger, but he seemed delighted in the way a rotten kid revels in burning insects with a microscope.

“Very well.” His attention went to Jon and Kit behind me as the darkness fogged out of him again, deep, dark wisps of smoke that crept in through the windows and the doors, through every crack in the vehicle, filling the interior like gas. “Since you have taken two lives that belong to me, I shall do the same.”

The black clouds surrounded me, blocking out the light, blocking out everything. Lex thrashed against it, flailing his arms to get it off him, but I embraced it. I closed my eyes and let it wrap around my throat to choke me.

The memories assaulted me again.

Poppy asking for his help and refuge from her human captors, her big eyes welling with tears.

A relentless search for the queen that had yielded nothing.

A visit with Miri that?—

“Ahh, Ivette.” Alberich’s voice slithered down my spine like battery acid, poisoning me from the inside out. “I see you poking around in there.”

The tendrils squeezed my windpipe harder, but I knew he wouldn’t kill me. He didn’t have his queen, and this would have been far too easy a victory for him if he could. By the way he’d showboated this afternoon, I’d bet he wanted to pick us apart slowly, bit by bit.

I ignored him and went deeper in his mind, sifting and searching for the heart of him. I’d experienced that last night with Lex. I’d seen the bright ball of our existence when we climaxed together, and I’d held his love for me inside my soul.

If the king had once loved the queen, that same kind of affection must still exist somewhere inside him.

I can find it. I can find what makes him tick.

I focused on the queen, flipping through memories, forcing him to relive the best of their multiple lifetimes together, and just when I’d gotten to one he kept deeply buried inside his twisted soul, he realized what I was doing.

Pressure rebelled in my mind, and he shoved me out of his head, out of his fog. But oh no. I wouldn’t go down that easily. He wanted to put on a show, the big scary king and his big cloud of smoke.

Well, guess what? I’m Ivy fucking Washington, and this is my realm.

You wanted me? Now you got me.

I pushed against his mental barriers harder, gritting my teeth, clenching my eyes shut, using every bit of energy I had to bang my telepathic battering ram at his immense force of will. Lex’s hand was still in mine, so when he realized what was going on, he joined me.

Our link strengthened us. Siobhan had given us this gift, connected Lex and me like this for a reason.

“Get out of my city!”My battle cry hit the king like a blinding white sledgehammer, and the pressure in my mind snapped. A weight lifted off my chest and throat. When I opened my eyes, the king had disappeared, the tendrils had evaporated, and the sky had cleared.

Alberich was gone.

No…

I’d forced Alberich to leave.We’dforced him to retreat.

And when I threw my arms around Lex to celebrate, Abigail’s scream from the back seat stole my attention. Henry and my youngest sister still sat in the third row.

But Jon and Kit were gone.

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