Page 36 of Close Quarter
Silas tapped a finger against his cup and started again. "Half-fae. They're hybrids. In all but very rare cases, they're sterile."
A coolness washed over Rhys. Something unique in the world. "Shit."
Silas nodded. "You were close in your guess.
Your father is half-fae."
Rhys flattened his hands on his thighs to keep them from shaking. "Is?"
"I suspect he's still alive, since he bribed you."
Too many questions. Why would his father do that? Why was he only discovering this now? He voiced one. "What does that make me?"
"Quarter-fae." Silas picked up his mug.
Drank.
"And what does that mean?" God, he wanted another coffee. Now. If only his legs would support him.
Silas ran a finger around the top of his mug.
His next words were softer. "Quarters are extraordinarily rare. Millennia have passed without the hint of one. Much of what I know is dressed in myth. The rest I'm only discovering."
Rhys toed the mug on the floor.Quarter.A label to go with what he was. "Nothing in my life has been all that magical."
"There's only one skill ever talked about. It's not something you'd discover on your own." Silas pushed his mug away. "Quarters are elemental reservoirs. They store vast quantities of whatever element they have an affinity for."
Realization hit like a slap to the face. Silas's fear, his desire for Rhys to go. The dead tree in the corner of the room. Silas had killed it, drawn all of its life--its element. His expression must have been utterly readable.
"You're brighter than old forest," Silas said.
"And I'm wounded in the middle of the ocean. I've been trying not to, but I can't always..." He looked away. "You really should leave, Rhys."
Something didn't add up. Rhys glanced down at his unmarked wrists. Another memory broke free. Of pain and the chill of the ocean. Dying leaves. Stumbling toward Silas. "Last night I touched you. After you killed the vampires. I felt --" Rhys sat up. "You were dying."
"I nearly killed you." Silas laid his hands on the table. Stared at them. "I couldn't stop myself.
Took nearly all of your element to save my life."
Another memory stirred in the back of Rhys's mind. Silas standing with his sword pressed to his gut. There was more--much more--that Silas wasn't telling him. Later he would pry it from Silas.
"You healed me."
Silas nodded. "It was your energy anyway.
You couldn't do it yourself."
From the way Silas had looked earlier, he had drained himself. Kept nothing when he should have healed himself enough to survive.Stubbornfool.Rhys stared at the dead ficus and recalled broken bits of the vampire's conversation with Silas. Jarek had taunted him, said he had learned well. A glimmer of understanding grew. "You're not like them."
A tremor ran through Silas. "Are you so very sure of that?"
"You didn't kill me while we slept."
"I had the tree to drain, and we were far enough apart. And you weren't..."
Damn it!Every time Silas got close to explaining, he backed away. "I wasn't what?" A spike of anger gave Rhys strength enough to stand.
He picked up the fallen mug and returned to the bar.
