Page 78 of Fake Dating a Human 101

When they approached the gate, that shimmering flicker of light and sweetness in the air that indicated something magical was on the other side, Mor said to Dranian, “So you really have no idea where Luc is?”

Dranian shook his head.

They hopped through the barrier one by one and found themselves in the lush, cold North Corner of Ever. No one was there guarding it, though that had been the case the last few times they’d crossed the gate. Levress must have been preoccupied with other troubles in the Silver Castle since she’d abandoned it.

“Let’s find Shayne first. That’s step one,” Cress decided. “If we can infiltrate the House of Riothin, we may be able to drag him out, and then we’ll remind him that this ishismess to clean up, and then we can beat him—royally—and after that—”

“There’s no need for that.”

Cress stopped talking. The voice that came from the trees’ shadows was one Dranian knew well, one that reminded him of a fairy he wanted to both hug and kick just like Cress.

Shayne stepped out of the woods like he’d been waiting. Purple blood coated his hands, a piece of parchment was clenched in his fist, dark crescents shaded his usually bright eyes, and his hair was a mess—nothing like the slick style he always kept it in to catch the eye of human females. And his scowl…

Queensbane, his scowl…

It was so much bigger and greater than any scowl Dranian had mustered in all his years of scowling. Shayne was the new King of scowls. King of the High Court of the Coffee Beanandthe King of Scowls.

Shayne lifted the letter toward them. Cress carefully took the bloody letter with the tips of his fingers and unwrinkled it to read.

“You’re right,” Shayne stated. “This is my mess. Lyro is my House, and Lily is my human.” He glanced at the gate behind them, and a faint, sad smile shifted his mouth. “I’ve missed this place,” he confessed. “But I can’t go back in there without Lily.”

“How did you get here so fast?” Dranian asked Shayne, but it mustn’t have been loud enough because Cress spoke again, and everyone gave him their attention.

“Well, at least we know where Lily is now.” He folded the letter and handed it back. “And that she’s alive.”

“I’m going to get her. But I just wanted…” Shayne chewed on his bottom lip, his brows tugging together. “I guess I just wanted to say goodbye. Properly this time.” He glanced at Dranian. “And to give you an opportunity to rescue Mycra, if you want it.”

“Nonsense.” Cress waved a hand through the air. “Bringing Dranian is a great risk—”

“I’ll come.” Dranian’s statement was loud enough to shake the fruit in the nearby trees, and Cress slammed his mouth shut as he looked at Dranian in surprise. But even though Dranian had failed to steal Cress’s body, he needed this one last chance to be epic. He needed to show up for the girl with no name, to pull her from the cage she found herself in, to make up for all the years she had waited before and he had not shown up.

Shayne nodded, and his modest smile looked real this time. “Let’s go then. One last mission together, Dranian. Just the two of us, like old times.”

“What in the name of the sky deities are you talking about?!” Cress demanded. “Are you planning to take that chair, Shayne? You know I was only joking when I said all those things a moment ago about this being your mess and all that.”

“I knew it was my mess before you said it. And you know why you and Mor can’t come with me. Dranian knows his way around my House, and if we’re careful I can make sure he gets back out. But I can’t say either of you would—especially you, Cress. You’d be sold off to the Silver Castle in seconds if you showed up there.” Shayne sauntered over with his bloody hands in his pockets and stopped before Dranian. He pulled out an old key and held it up between them. His blood was smothered over it. “Come on,” he said. “Our females might not have much time left.”

Mor grabbed Shayne’s shoulder. “Let us help you, at least. Maybe there’s a way out for you.”

Shayne’s chest rose and fell. “Absolutely not. I’ve thought of everything,” he assured. “There’s only one way to save Lily, and I’m going to take it.” He turned and looked at Mor. “Let me go, Mor.” The words came out soft. It was a plea that was meant for far more than just this moment. It was,“Let me go forever. This is goodbye.”

A silent inhale swept across the Ever Corners as Mor’s hand slid off Shayne’s shoulder. Cress looked like he might protest, but for the first time in his life, he didn’t seem to have an argument. Bugs and birds chirped in the forest, making conversation when the fairies couldn’t.

One second passed. Dranian still didn’t know what to say. No one else seemed to either.

How was Dranian to let his forever friend go? Shayne was his charge, his fairy to guard. How was he expected to watch Shayne’s final moments of freedom with his own two eyes? If he did not have a girl with no name to save, Dranian was sure he would not have been able to go to the House with Shayne for this.

Dranian looked down the line of them, wishing he could imprint this moment onto his brain. The image of four brothers standing side-by-side. Likely, for the last time.

29

Dranian Evelry Being Epic Again

The basement of the House of Lyro was a bitter, cold place. Dranian breathed on his hands to try and warm them as he studied the bars of his cage and the deep darkness that laid beyond. His mind was muddled with the sharp memory of his ‘bestie for the restie’ kneeling before Hans-Der Lyro in the great hall, surrendering himself, his faeborn smile, his joy, his future.

Dranian would never unsee Shayne on his knees before the House of Lyro like that. Not once in their childling years had Shayne knelt before his father or his House. Not once had he surrendered in anything, until now. The sight had almost been enough to make Dranian scream as he was being dragged away.

It was the moment Dranian had officially failed as a fairy guard. And now his chest was utterly cold, his heart still barely beating where it was deserted on the red carpet upstairs, leaving a hollow, hungry space in his body that ate up the rest of him.

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