Page 66 of Fake Dating a Human 101

It had to be a different dreamslipper.

Cosmo folded his arms and squinted at Shayne curiously. “You seem to know what I’m talking about, Lyro. It appears you’re keeping secrets about your House. Why didn’t you tell us your family has a dreamslipper at their disposal? Only an enemy would keep such valuable information from us.”

Shayne still stared at the blurs of colour, at the air, at the fuzzy image of the dark-haired fairy standing before him he didn’t really see.

No. Dreamslippers were so rare, his family wouldn’t have been able to come by another one.

Why, in the name of the sky deities, wasn’t Mycra Sentorious in the human realm?

Cosmo huffed in annoyance. “I could always torture the secrets out of you, Lyro. I think you and I are both aware at this point you’re not really here for an alliance. Nor do you want Meave.” He grunted in disgust. “You even acted like youcaredfor humans, but you hid that your own family has one. Who are you, really? You must be what I’ve suspected all along—a spy.”

Cryptic words rang in Shayne’s ears. Words that must have meant something else, because the facts couldn’t possibly be true, and therefore, they didn’t find a place in Shayne’s sound mind to land. But even though it wasn’t real, couldn’t be real, Shayne’s stomach dropped like a slow ball of flames lowering into his abdomen, crippling his nerves, hitching his breath. His blurry vision sharpened, and suddenly Cosmo became the clearest thing in the realm.

“You’re lying,” Shayne heard himself say. He shouldn’t have said anything more to Cosmo, he shouldn’t have revealed his tones, let his rhythms change. His hands should not have balled into fists, his flesh grown tight, his faeborn heart taken on a new, wild beat.

But it had to be true. Cosmo wouldn’t have known about a dreamslipper or a human otherwise.

There’d been only one dreamslipper in Shayne’s company before he left for the House of Riothin. There was only one human, too. And his blood brothers had been after her.

His blood brothers.Her.

For the next sixty seconds, Shayne only saw red.

At some point in those moments, he attacked Cosmo. He retrieved the letter.

He left Cosmo a mess of broken limbs on the floor.

He left.

24

Luc Zelsor and the Freakshow

The Shadow Assembly’s meeting place was possibly the most secret location in the Corners of Ever. Not even the Queene of the North herself had been able to discover the room hidden for centuries behind enchantments and layers of secrets and riddles. Its appointed chairs consisted of the highest-ranking members of the Shadow Court, a few powerful, greedy beings who just wanted to have a say in things, and only the richest and most influential nobles across the Dark Corner. It was not easy to gather them all in one place. It was not easy to stand in their presence, either.

Yet here Luc was. Standing.

The discussions had gone on for hours too long. Days, in fact. Luc had barely managed to slip away and return as much as required to convince everyone he’d been present the whole time. But it was a necessary, exhausting feat, considering he’d needed to be in two places at once. And he supposed he didn’t mind that everyone wanted him. It was the curse of a fox—to be wanted all the time. To be so desperately needed by all who knew him. The High Court of the Coffee Bean needed him. The Shadow Assembly needed him. Mor needed him.

Unfortunately, Luc hadn’t kept his word to Mor yet, despite his best efforts. It wasn’t his fault though. As much as the High Court of the Coffee Bean needed Luc, the Shadow Assembly needed him just a little bit more at the moment.

It was, after all, his own trial. And Lily Baker, of all people, would understand the importance of a trial.

From where he stood on an onyx stage, Luc’s nose scrunched at the thought of the mighty human trapped in an utterly horrifying situation. Would she be broken already? He bristled as he considered and calculated the days. As he wondered if she had far exceeded her expiration date for sanity and clear thinking. She was a strong-minded female, but no human could withstand fairy torment. Luc knew he should have done something about it, that time was of the essence, that Lily Baker might already be dead, and he would be in all sorts of trouble then, but…

Well, he did try to warn her not to come here. She should have stayed in the human realm. It wasn’t Luc’s fault she had a desperate need to prove herself all the time, though Dranian would be disappointed Luc had disappeared without warning immediately following Mor and Cressica’s departure from the Ever Corners. Luc only hoped Dranian was still waiting where he’d told him to wait—though many days had passed since then, so it was doubtful.

Ah, it was all a bit of a mess.

The great Shadow Assembly’s meeting room was in the heart of a black mountain, only reachable by airslipping. The magnificent candlelit space was filled with numbered velvet chairs, chatter, a dollop of shouting, and a fat portion of unnecessary judgement. People were far too critical of foxes. It hardly seemed fair.

“Are we ready to vote?” Luc interrupted the chatter to ask.

Approximately three hundred sets of silver and brown eyes turned in his direction. Most of them weren’t that friendly.

“Vote? We’ve hardly discussed what’s to be done to a traitor like you!” High Lord Bobin said whilst pointing. It seemed he might be trying to point atLuc, but his old finger was so crooked, it made a few heads turn toward the nothingness off to the side.

“Hardly discussed?” Luc scoffed. “You’ve all been discussing for over two weeks!”

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