Page 53 of Taken By the Fae

“That’s too bad.” He lets his hand fall back to his side. “Maybe I could come in and wait for her?”

I grip the door tighter. “I don’t think so. I’ll let her know you stopped by. I’m sure she’ll call you.” Unease slithers its way up my spine, and considering the last interaction I had with an unseelie fae, it’s not unwarranted. My mind goes to the bottom drawer of my desk where my iron stakes are hidden. Maybe I should have one on me all the time now.

He glances at where my knuckles have turned white and frowns. “I’m not here to hurt anyone.”

“Forgive me for not trusting you. The last unseelie fae I knew tried to kill me.”

He frowns. “Allison told me. I’m sorry.”

“She’s in class,” I say, ignoring his apology. I start to close the door, but he raises his hand.

“Can I come in?” His eyes flick between mine. “Please?”

My heartbeat is in my throat. “No,” I say in a firm voice.

“Look, I have no leg to stand on here, but I need your help. Please give me five minutes, and then I’ll go.”

I arch a brow, though I can’t ignore the tiny part of me that wants to know what he’s going to say. Finally, I exhale harshly. “Five minutes.” I step back, opening the door so he can come in. Once he’s inside, I leave the door ajar and move toward my desk, just in case I need to dive for a weapon. “Speak.”

“I care about Allison. A lot. Not all of us want to be involved in the war, Aurora. The unseelie court isn’t the only side attacking and killing. We may be the more ruthlessly inhuman of the courts in many eyes, but you should know, unseelie fae are going missing and often turning up dead, too.”

I cross my arms.I shouldn’t say anything, shouldn’t get involved in fae politics, especially during such a volatile time.Instead of responding to the information Evan offered, I say, “Allison will be in more trouble if whatever the two of you are doing continues. Does that not matter to you?”

His eyes narrow. “Of course it matters.” He shakes his head. “What am I supposed to do? Walk away from her?”

“That would help.”

“No. It would hurt her.”

“Temporarily.” I sigh. “The last thing I want is for my best friend to get hurt, but I’d rather she be heartbroken for a little while than be cast out of her court and left unprotected as punishment for sleeping with the enemy.”

“I’m not the enemy!” He glances at the door and frowns briefly. “I’m sorry, but I’m no threat to you and certainly not to Allison. I’m not a threat to Tristan either.”

The stiffness in my spine doesn’t ease. “I don’t know what you want me to do.”

“You can get Tristan to meet with me.”

I scowl. “Do you think I’m his secretary?”

“No, but I know you have influence over him.”

I press my lips together to keep from bursting into laughter. “Um, are we talking about the same fae knight?”

“He’ll listen to you.”

What has Allison told him about me? About Tristan?

I lean against the side of my desk. “Say I could get him to agree to meet with you. Why should he want to? So you can plead your case to stay with Allison?”

“Would that be enough for you to agree to try?” he asks.

“If it’ll make my best friend happy, I’ll do it. But that’s me. I doubt it’ll be enough for Tristan to listen to you.”I don’t bother telling him that Tristan doesn’t make the rules, that he works for the seelie king. Perhaps Tristan can plead their case, but something tells me it won’t matter. The divide between the courts is bigger, more significant than one relationship between a seelie and unseelie.

“But there’s a chance,” he says, “so I have to try.”

“Look, maybe the two of you should just take some time away from each other. At least until things get—”

“Better?” he cuts in with a sharp laugh. “We’re at war, Aurora. Things are going to get a hell of a lot worse before there’s even a chance of them getting better.”

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