Page 18 of Tragic Ink
Chapter 7
“Say something,”Rhys saidquietly.
But I couldn’t. All I could do was blink back the tears and put one foot in front of the other, my gaze locked on the door behind him. But a hand on my wrist stopped me just before I reached the knob. Rhys squeezed and yanked, twisting me back to face him. Instead of anger, I found desperation in hiseyes.
“Say something,” he repeated, this timepleading.
“There’s nothing left to say.” My voice sounded strangely ragged, even tome.
“There’s everything left to say,” he arguedstubbornly.
“And you’ve had my entire life to sayit.”
He flinched. “Let meexplain.”
“I don’t want to hear it.” My shoulders sagged with real defeat this time. Rhys had won again, though the prize was twisted: my brokenheart.
“You do,” he insisted, tugging on my hand—and I let him because it struck me that I couldn’t remember the last time I’d touched his skin. Even after all the lies, that’s what I noticed. “Five minutes, Gwen. Give me five minutes, and after that, if you want to walk out of here, I won’t stopyou.”
I eyed him. A beat of silencepassed.
“You’re not the only one who lost her, you know.” His voicebroke.
I watched as a single tear leaked from the corner of his eye, and my heart ached at the sight of it. He was right. Lies or not, he’d lost Aelwyn too, and I knew he’d loved her just as much as Ihad.
“Five minutes,” Iwhispered.
Rhys nodded and blew out a breath. “Okay. The truth is that your parents sent Aelwyn here, with you, from Faerie. The dark fae had tracked you all, and your parents knew you weren’t safe with them anymore. They used their fae contacts here on the Court to get approval and help erase any paper trail of your arrival or the names of your real family. Aelwyn gave you her last name as another way to throw the dark fae off your trail. She was vigilant with her wards and careful to keep out any fae she hadn’t personally vetted. Everything she did was to keep you safe all theseyears.”
I felt my knees wobble and threaten to buckle as I thought back to how adamant Aelwyn had always been about strange fae coming around. “How do you know so much? Did Aelwyn tell you all ofthis?”
“She did, but that’s not the reason I know.” He hesitated, his gaze flicking from my face to my legs. “You shouldsit.”
Without waiting for a response, he walked behind his desk and opened a drawer. He drew out a couple of glasses and a bottle of amber liquid decorated with a label I didn’t recognize. Not bothering to ask first, he poured a shot and handed it to me. I took it and sank onto the edge of the couch without a word, watching as he poured one for himself and then knocked it back. When it was gone, he immediately refilled theglass.
After a long moment, Rhys continued, “I was born in Faerie. Both of my parents were soldiers for the Seelie Court there. When I was five, they were both killed in a skirmish with Unseeliemercenaries.”
“God, Rhys, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” The words were out before I could stop them. The feeling of loss was too raw and too familiar not to feel empathy for him. All this time I’d known him and he’d never told me this. So many other things, but notthis.
He nodded slowly, and I could see the grief it still caused him. “Thank you. After that, I was drafted into the junior academy. A training program for future fae soldiers. I worked hard, determined to avenge my parents, and because of that, my performance stood out. When I was ten, I was chosen for a smaller team, and I graduated from that as aProtector.”
Protector. Just like the letter from my mother had described. I took a deep breath, my heart pounding. “What’s aProtector?”
“We’re what you might call a bodyguard. We’re tasked with keeping a specific fae safe. Our missions are usually more dangerous than a soldier’s, because we’re on our own without backup. We’re the only one standing between our assignment and thethreat.”
“Kind of like Secret Servicethen?”
He nodded and hesitated before adding, “I was tasked with protectingyou.”
“Me?” Shock, confusion, and anger were a chaotic cloud inside me. Quickly, I did the math, counting back to how old he’d been when he’d come to Aelwyn. He’d only been ten years old when they’d given him the assignment? I vaguely remembered him moving in with us around that time, and we’d become fast friends. In fact, by the time I’d grown into my power, he’d been my onlyfriend.
All this time, and he’d never leton...
Rhys set his glass aside and knelt in front of me. “Your gift, Gwen, with the ink. The tattoos... You’re very special. There are enemies of the Seelie Court that want that gift so they can use it for their owngain.”
“Those enemies, the dark fae you were talking about,” I said grimly. “That’s who Aelwyn was hiding mefrom.”
“Yes.”
