Page 76 of Speak No Evil

“What do your laws say on the matter?” Vrahs asks, speaking aloud for the first time since we arrived.

The tree fae rises from his seat. “Our laws aren’t as stringent as human ones.”

“I would see her returned to us, taught our ways, so this may never happen again,” the ice fae adds.

The fae in front of AJ, her grandfather, closes his eyes and lets out a slow breath.

“Unless it’s retribution you seek, demoness.” The last fae, the cruel-faced one with smoke curling off him, glares at me. “In that case, it’s best if you take the girl with you. Spike her body atop your castle walls for all to see what happens to murderers in the great city of Blackwood.”

I snarl at the fae and his obvious attempt to bait me. “It’s a basilica. Not a castle, oh dark fae lord.”

The fae smiles, exhaling sharply through his nose with what might have been suppressed laughter.

By right, she is yours to take, mate. Given your position, I might do the same.

And that’s what kept me going this long, isn’t it. The promise of spilling blood.

I turn my gaze to AJ, huddled and dirty from the dungeon. “Look at me,” I say softly.

Her shoulders shake, and the muscles in her back tense, but AJ turns and meets my eyes.

Hers, tear-rimmed and full of anguish, lower in deference. “Do what you must,” she says.

I lower myself, knees on the glass floor, and lift her chin.

Her brow creases. She’s shaking, wincing, but she doesn’t pull away.

She expects to be killed.

And maybe she deserves it.

I don’t know. But I do know that it takes a hell of a lot of guts to meet your would-be executioner’s eyes as she decides whether to take your life.

I lean close.

AJ takes in another shuddering breath as I whisper in her ear, “Never come back to Blackwood. Stay with your kind. Learn to harness your creature. And never return.”

She pulls away, tears trailing her cheeks, gaze searching mine, looking for the lie, the trick. On seeing none, she lurches forward and wraps her arms around my neck.

“I’m so sorry, Jade. I’m so, so sorry.”

AJ cries against me, and I shed more than one tear with her.

And I hug her back.

This was not what I expected.

Bloody, violent catharsis is what I thought I wanted.

But this…

This is what I needed.

Eventually, she releases me, and I rise, eyes fixed on the fae in front of me.

“Your business here is finished,” the cruel one says with a mirthless smile. “And know that in the future, we will modify our warding to prevent demonic portal incursion. Understood?”

“We wouldn’t have portaled if you’d picked up the damn phone,” I replied.

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