Page 126 of Taken By the Fae

“Tell me you don’t care about me.”

I glare at him. “You know I can’t do that. Of course, I care about you.”

“Then try. It won’t ever be easy. We knew that going into this. But isn’t it worth fighting for?”

Every fiber of my being wants to surrender, wants to lay myself bare to him and fight for everything we are. Everything wecouldbe. But I can’t, because as much as I don’t want to admit it, there’s a part of me unsure it’ll work, and that terrifies me.

Not to mention, I won’t put him in danger of reprimand from the king should he choose to take issue with me not aligning myself with his court.

Tristan has earned significant status and respect over the years, but that doesn’t mean the king will approve of him being with a fae not from the seelie court. Even if Tristan will risk it, which I have to think he is considering he hasn’t brought it up, I’m not. Maybe in time, once I get the hang of the whole fae thing, we can talk about it—working together to realign the courts—but that just isn’t something I have the strength to take on yet.

“I can’t do this right now,” I whisper. “I’m sorry. I’ll talk to Nikolai and get him to find out anything he can regarding the attack you heard about.”

Tristan’s brows tug closer. “What does Sterling have to do with this, exactly? With you?”

“He’s to me what Max is to you. A confidant—a friend,” I say, then frown at the look he gives me. “He can be an asshole and he’s annoying as hell at times, but he’s been helping me.”

“I see,” he says in a clipped tone, shaking his head. “It should bemehelping you, Rory. You wouldn’t be in this mess if it wasn’t for me.”

“I never blamed you, so please, try to let go of that guilt, because it kills me to see it in your eyes when you look at me.” I lower my gaze and tug at the hem of my sweater, not sure what else there is to say.

The near desperation in his gaze makes his eyes brighter somehow—it also makes me want to close the distance between us and kiss him until it goes away.

“I understand you need time to adjust to your new life,” he says in a smooth voice. “That being said, it doesn’t need to keep us apart. At least, I don’t want it to, and I have to believe you don’t either. And you not choosing to join the unseelie court means I don’t have to commit treason,” he adds with a brief laugh.

“Me not choosing the seelie court either doesn’t pose the same issue?”

He shakes his head. “And if it did, I wouldn’t care. Call me a hypocrite.”

My head spins and my palms feel damp. I wasn’t prepared forthisconversation today. I inch back a step, not sure how to form the words to tell him I’m too overwhelmed at this moment to talk about what’s between us. “I… should go.”

He looks as if he wants to argue, to call me out for shutting this down, but he only nods, making the sinking feeling in my stomach grow more pronounced.

“Aurora,” Tristan calls after me just as I reach the door.

I pause, turning back to look at him; I’m not sure how much more I can handle.

“Please take care of yourself.” His eyes hold mine for a moment that feels like an eternity, and then I walk out the door without a word.

ChapterThirty-Six

Once we’re back in the car, Nikolai doesn’t ask what happened after he left, which I’m grateful for. It was hard enough in the moment. The last thing I want to do is sit and rehash it.

We pull up outside the same feeding unit Nikolai brought me to for my first feed, and he cuts the engine. Pulling the key out, he messes with them before unlatching a building key from his ring. He holds it out to me, and I hesitate before taking it.

“What’s this for?”

“I’m giving you a job,” he says, pocketing the rest of his keys. “That’s to the front door of The Iron Lounge.”

I turn a confused expression on him. “Huh?”

“I need help running the place, and you’ll have a business degree in a couple of months.”

My forehead creases. “I don’t know the first thing about running a pub.”

He drums his fingers against the steering wheel. “Something tells me you’re a quick study.”

I consider it. I haven’t let go of the dream of owning a bookstore—postponed it, but not forgotten it. That being said, I will need a job, and working with someone who understands what I’m going through is probably the best-case scenario. “Okay,” I finally say. “Thanks, I guess.”

---