Page 32 of Twisted Gift

Pursing my lips, I shrug. “Could’ve gone worse—or better.”

“You knew it wouldn’t be easy,” he comments in a gentle tone.

“True. Do you have enough support to call a joint meeting?”

He scratches the stubble along his cheek. “It’ll be enough. The numbers will grow once the skeptical ones see how many others are willing to try to get along—for the sake of our kind.”

“I hope the same goes for the light.” I blow out a breath. “I know war is messy and difficult to stop, but we have to make this work.” My voice is thick. The fae deserve to live without fear of being attacked by each other.

A hint of a smile touches his lips. “We will,” he assures me. “Can you be ready to meet in a couple days? That gives us both time to continue getting the word out to those fae who don’t live in the city.”

I nod. “I’ll tell Nikolai when I get back tonight.”

A muscle ticks in his jaw. “I’m having a hard time with you being around him so much.”

“I can see that,” I say mildly. “Get over it.” I take a drink. “He’s fine—hell, he’s helping us bring our people together. I know the two of you don’t like each other, but you’re both going to suck it up because in the grand scheme of things, your little issues don’t matter.”

His lips twitch. “I do miss that wit of yours.”

“It didn’t go anywhere.”

“No, but you did.”

The invisible grip on my heart pulses painfully. “Tristan...” I shake my head as if I’m begging him not to bring that up tonight. I don’t have it in me to talk about this right now.

He frowns. “You called this meeting, sweetheart. We could’ve just as easily had this conversation on the phone.”

Heat rises to my cheeks. He’s right, and we both know it. I didn’t need to come here. This meeting didn’t require face-to-face interaction, and yet, here I am, because even if I’m struggling with what we are, an inherent part of me craves him—needs to be around him still.

Instead of addressing that, I ask, “Why were you in Mapleville the day I went to the cemetery? Did you follow me?”

He looks at me, a thoughtful expression smoothing the usual sharpness of his features. “I didn’t know you were at the cemetery, but I knew you went home for the weekend. I wanted to talk to you away from Rockdale—away from the fae craziness. When I stopped at your parents’ house and you weren’t home, I figured you went to see Adam. I would’ve gone anyway to pay my respects,” he says. “He would’ve been thirteen, right?”

He remembered.

My breath catches.“Yes.” I scratch the back of my neck. “Thank you... for being there.” It was something I was prepared to do alone, but even now, I’m grateful Tristan was there.

“You don’t need to thank me,” he says softly, setting his wine glass on the coffee table separating us. “Looking out for you is selfish of me, really.” Before I can question that, he continues. “I’m concerned about you, Aurora.”

I force what I hope is a believable smile. “You don’t need to be concerned about me. We’ve got more important—”

“No,” he cuts in, shaking his head. “Don’t dismiss this.”

“That’s not what I’m trying to do.”

“You need to take care of yourself.” His voice is not much above a whisper. “You think you can survive off of human food alone, but you can’t.”

My eyes narrow. “Have you been talking to Allison about me?”

He chuckles, but it’s humorless. “Relax. She won’t tell me anything important. She values her relationship with you far more than she’s intimidated by me.”

That makes me smile. For someone who seemed to be terrified of him months ago, it’s funny to see her standing up to him these days.

“I’m taking it day by day at this point.”

His gaze meets mine. “Promise me something?” The softness in his voice wraps around me like the black silk sheets that dress his bed.

“Okay,” I whisper after several beats of silence.

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