“Elle!” I barked, and she trailed after me. When I got to the door, Liam spoke.
“My dad… took the other crystals to Montana. The sword too.” His voice was breathless, and for a second, I wondered how badly hurt he was.
I spun. “Stop helping me!” I snapped at him. “If you want to help me, then you’ll die and forget I exist!”
Elle sucked in a breath behind me, and I stormed out of the abandoned house, wondering if I’d turned into a monster.
We drove the short five minutes back to the safe house in complete silence. Other than telling Mara to take us back to Faerie, we were silent in her office as well.
In fact, I didn’t speak to anyone until I clicked the crystal into the baseplate at the Tree of Life.
It wasn’t until my eyes fell on the second one, the one that Liam had placed there a mere few hours ago, that I felt my heart thaw the tiniest bit. He and his brothers needed this to survive on Earth, and yet the first crystal he found, he brought to me.
Although not all the crystals in the world could atone for my mother’s death… it was a step in the right direction.
“Elle,” I called for my bestie, my voice cracking.
“Yes, Princess?” She was pissed at me. I could hear it in her mocking voice.
I took a deep breath. “Take Kira to North Carolina, and heal Liam and his men. We may need them as allies later on.”
Her body sagged with relief. “Right away.”
She took off running, and I started to pace the elders’ previous home, wondering what the hell I was doing and if I was ruining everything.
An hour later, I had all of my personal effects moved into Indra’s old room. She’d stripped the bed and taken everything out of the drawers and off the walls. Trissa had delivered my letter, and the elders had moved out without a fight. So now that I was moved in, I just sat there and stared at the baggie holding Liam’s hair.
Did I want to know what memories this contained? Was I ready? Could I ever be?
Padding across the hall past where the Queen slept, I slipped into Kira’s room. She had already started to half-unpack her tinctures and herb jars. It only took me a moment to find the ones I needed for the memory spell. I stuffed them into the mortar and pestle and then padded back out into the hall, past the Tree of Life, and into my room. I was just about to shut the door when I heard the slam of the front door.
I popped back out into the hallway, anxious for word about Liam. Elle entered, her shirt covered in blood, and my heart lodged in my throat.
He killed her. He killed my mother. I had to remind myself.
“Will our ally survive?” I tried to keep my tone cold, uncaring, but failed.
Elle’s gaze was still filled with anger. She was mad at me over the way I was handling the situation, but I didn’t care.
“Yes,” was all she said before waltzing to her room and slamming the door.
I was ready now, ready to see if Liam was worth saving. Did he kill my mother in cold blood? With her back turned? Or was it self-defense? A scuffle?
Would it matter?
No.
He killed my mother, and nothing would fix that.
Nothing.
Chapter 4
I stared at the spell paste I’d mixed with a wary gaze. The grief over my mother’s death was fresh, brought back to the surface by the knowledge that the man I’d loved had killed her. I wasn’t sure if I was mentally strong enough to go through with this. But I had to know, I needed to see the truth. Wiping a thick glob of paste on each of my eyelids, I muttered the memory incantation and lay on my back, prepared to be in Liam’s mind.
My heart pounded in my chest as I was sucked into the memory.
Liam ran down a city street, the Seattle skyline dancing behind him, a crystal clutched between his fingers. I could feel the anxiety spike through him and therefore into me. I lay on my bed, looking through Liam’s eyes as he burst through traffic and down a dark alley. A motorcycle stood at the end, propped near a trashcan. Looking over his shoulder, he cursed as he saw my mother. Her long pink hair trailed behind her as she ran after Liam.
Reaching out, he shot a block of ice at one of her legs, causing her to trip and fall.
“Leave me alone! You don’t understand. I need this. My brother is sick,” Liam begged her as he started up the bike.
My mother’s face looked murderous. “Those crystals belong to Faerie!” She raised a sleek black gun, and Liam gunned the bike and took off down the alley as the shots of gunfire pinged off the walls around him.
Holy shit.
Liam’s heart pounded against his chest, and I could feel his anxiety as if I were inside of his body. He hated my mother, hated all fae, hated being born. Why couldn’t these creatures just leave him alone to live his life? He was just trying to live, just trying to keep his brothers alive.
Without the crystals, they get sick. Didn’t the fae understand that? Why did they want to annihilate his race? He didn’t ask to be born into this. He didn’t ask to be a halfling.
Tears rolled down my cheeks as I gripped the edges of the bedsheet but stayed in the vision.
Liam reached the safe house just outside Seattle, the little farmhouse that I’d first met him at. It was in disrepair, but I could sense Liam’s relief as he pulled up and nodded to the two guards out front.
“I got it!” he told them and held up the crystal. “How’s Cain?”
One of the men was Cam, and upon seeing Liam, his lips pulled into a frown. “He’s not good, man, barely breathing. You need to get that inside now.”
Cam threw open the door, and my heart lodged into my throat.
Cain.
Sweet little Cain lay draped over the couch, eyes glassy and skin pale. Thick beads of sweat rolled down his forehead onto his cracked lips. Liam fell to his knees before his little brother. The other four brothers were there too, all huddled around Cain with worried expressions.
“You’re gonna be okay buddy.” Liam tucked the crystal into his brother’s side, against his shirt, and the little boy gave a shuddering breath as tension released from his face.
“Feels better,” Cain mumbled.
“Watch out—,” Cam yelled from behind Liam.
He spun around just in time to see the Winter King walk through the door. The guard that had been standing outside was now dead, an icicle pierced through his abdomen. Rage boiled softly under Liam’s skin. Liam hated his father, hated that he would sabotage and harm his own children, and yet… there was a small measure of love still there. A sadness and sense of loss concerning the father Liam had wished for himself and his brothers.
“I believe you have something of mine?” The king asked Liam.
Liam stood, hands at his sides. “Really? You would steal the life away from your own child? Are there any limits to your cruelty?”
The Winter King gave his eldest son a devilish grin. “Of course not.”
I wasn’t sure if he meant he wouldn’t steal from Cain or he had no limits.
“I’ll take Cain and the crystal with me. It’s about time my boys spent some time with their father.” The Winter King stepped forward, and Liam moved to position himself in front of Cain, letting a growl loose from his throat.
His other brothers shrank back, huddling around Cain protectively as fur rippled down Cam’s arms.