Page 73 of Welcome to Fae Cafe

“You like her.”

“What—”

“Because she’s innocent,” Mor said. “And she’s kind when she doesn’t need to be. I think you realized a while ago that Kate Kole is everything the opposite of what you hate.”

Dead quiet stole the air, making it hard to breathe. Cress bit his lips and stepped toward his friend with a warning tone.

“And what do I hate, exactly?” he asked darkly. “Since you seem to know my thoughts so well.”

“Levress.”

Cress drew back. “Watch your tongue—”

“Haven,” Mor went on. “All the women of the faeborn court. I know that’s why you refused to form a bond with a mate all these years, Cress. I could see how much youhatethem. And I know a mate would have just been one more female you had to try and keep from stabbing a dagger into your faeborn back.”

At first, Cress only glared. But then he released a strange, dull laugh. “Nonsense. I’m pleased to marry Haven.”

“Maybe. But you have a fairy crush on a human.”

Cress laughed louder this time. It was dreadful and tacky. “Please.” He waved a hand toward Mor. “How repulsive.”

“Yes, most would say so. But that’s not what I need to talk to you about.” Mor’s hard eyes drained to shimmering glass, and a moment later, he swallowed. “There’s something you don’t know, Cress,” he added. Mor’s lips rounded to form various words, but it took a few tries before he spoke. And when he did, the wind stopped rushing. “You attacked Levress. You tried to take her down,” he said.

It was so preposterous that Cress almost didn’t register the testimony. Mor could spit a decent jest at times, but the fairy’s tone was pure.

Cress’s face changed, draining of all laughter, and colour, and life. Suddenly, he was the one who couldn’t spit out words. All he managed to utter was, “When?”

“Six months ago.” Mor hugged his arms to himself and cast his brown-silver eyes back on the ground. “I stole your memories. It was me.”

All the air was sucked out from between them. It was as though the sky deities themselves had gasped and recoiled. It was as though the night heavens had fallen and crashed down and shattered to a thousand pieces upon the human road, marking the great distance between Cress and Mor.

“You?” The Prince’s voice cracked. It came out barely a whisper.

No. It could not be true. Mor was playing a game. Cress felt his stomach twist and his heart turn to stone. Mor’s face didn’t show signs of falsehood.

“Why?”

“Because you attacked Levress from the shadows. She doesn’t know it was you. No one does, except for me and Thessalie. Thessalie ordered me to never tell you,” Mor said. “We did it to save you from her. She’ll kill you and everyone you ever loved if she finds out you broke a fairy law, crossed into this realm, and tried to take her down in the one place it would hurt her the most.”

But Cress shook his head. “I’ve never been to this realm before.”

“You have. You tracked the Queene’s crossbeast to a secret room below that academy library. You fought it, and you killed it, and you nearly drained the Queene of her power. She was ill for two weeks,” Mor promised. “She’s never been the same since. She hunted for the killer; foryou. I made sure she never found out who it was. The High Court demanded that everything about the case stay hidden as they performed their investigation to learn the identity of the traitor. That’s why no one ever spoke of it to you until now.”

Cress dragged a step back, feeling his stone heart sink deeper into his chest. “Why would I do such a thing?”

“Because Levress killed your birth mother.” The streetlights reflected a glint of moisture in Mor’s eyes. “I’m sorry, Cress.”

Cress staggered away, sure the heavens were falling again, and again, and again. That the ground had turned to an ocean, and he was sinking to the bottom of it.

All the days he’d spent pacing, wondering who was trying to trick him. Wondering who was trying to steal his life. All the suspicions he carried for months, never trusting anyone.

Except Mor. He’d trusted Mor.

“I’ve wanted to tell you since the day I did it.”

Cress’s fingers traced over his back pocket where he usually kept his fairsaber handle. He didn’t have it with him. “Levress must have found out,” he said from a dry throat. “That’s why the Dark army is here.”

“I don’t know for sure. Maybe the sky deities are looking on us with favour and the Dark simply came to dally around and mess with humans for a while.” Mor shrugged, but his shoulders dropped heavily. “But yes. Probably they are here for you.”

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