“Get bent, big bro.” He gives me a crooked grin. “Where the hell have you been, anyway? We thought for sure you never left your tower, and then we come to say hi and you’re suddenly MIA.”
Great. Seamus must have said something, and now I’ll be lucky if they don’t start calling me Rapunzel. “I had something to take care of down at Deviant. There was a problem with the manager.”
“And?”
“Now there’s not.” I don’t have to say anything else about his fate. My lack of explanation is the explanation.
Finnian’s expression sobers, growing contemplative as he so often does. “It ever bother you guys that the humans we punish get to go to our home but we don’t?”
Tiernan and I share a look. Then we regard the only male in this world or any other we love more than ourselves. Long grown by the time Finnian came along, we helped our parents raise him; we taught him how to play, how to lead, and how to fight. There’s nothing we wouldn’t do to make him happy.
Unfortunately, sometimes I think what would make him the happiest is if our banishment was lifted and we could finally live in Tír na nÓg in the Faerie realm.
We don’t fully understand why he’s always felt the loss of a place we’ve never even seen, but then, for as gigantic as Finnian is, he’s the most sensitive Verran brother. Like a big teddy bear with muscles. And since I’m about as sensitive as sandpaper, Tiernan takes point. “This is our home, Finni. Vegas. It’s all we’ve ever known.”
“But it’s not our real home, T. It’s not where we belong,” he says, irritation lacing his words.
That raises Tiernan’s hackles. He sits forward on the edge of the couch and rips off the kid gloves. “Like hell we don’t. We might not hail from this world, but we’ve made it our own. We helped our father build this city out of nothing but desert sand and turn it into one of the greatest places on earth. We are the Dark Fae of the Night Court of Faerie. Whether we’re allowed to live in that realm or forced to live in this one, it will never change who we are, brother.”
Finn drops his gaze to the floor, carefully weighing Tiernan’s words against his own thoughts. He feels too much at times, and I hate seeing him struggle because of our grandfather’s sins. We were born long after Domnall Verran died, but it was his actions, along with those of the Day Court king, that caused our courts’ exile.
The fae are a proud and fickle people. As I told Ralph earlier, we don’t like being insulted.
And when you insult Aine, the One True Queen, she’s bound to fuck with you in a very big way. Like eternally banishing you and every member of your court to the uninhabited deserts of the human world and heaping on a few curses for good measure.
Tiernan gives me a look that says, Your turn.
“Finnian,” I say firmly and wait for his gaze to meet mine. “Tier’s right. We have more here than we ever would back in Tír na nÓg. As the eldest of the Dark Court’s royal bloodline, the position of ruler fell to me after Father died. But as the owners of Nightfall, and everything else worth a damn in this godsforsaken desert, we are all kings. All three of us. We are the Verran brothers of Vegas, and this is our fucking kingdom.”
Finnian squares his shoulders and sets his jaw, seemingly appeased by my speech. I arch a brow, asking him if he’s good. He gives me a firm nod. “You’re right, Caiden. I’ll remember what you both said,” he says. “Promise.”
“Fucking cheers to that.” Tiernan raises his glass and drains the rest of his drink. The corners of Finn’s mouth lift slightly, and I can see his good mood returning.
“Excellent. Now, why don’t you two tell me why you’re really here, so I don’t have to drag it out of you?” They exchange a conspiratorial look like they’re each claiming not it. Holding back a sigh, I choose for them as I refill my glass. “Tiernan. Speak.”
“It’s nothing, really. We were just wondering if you’d put any thought into bringing anyone to the Double E.”
“The Early Equinox ball?” My brows knit together. Why would either of my brothers care if I— Oh, hell. “Mom put you up to this.”
It’s a statement, not a question.
This isn’t the first time she’s broached the topic, but using my siblings as messenger boys is a new angle. Apparently, approaching your one-hundred-and-seventieth year means your mother starts harping on you about settling down and popping out “wee bairns to ensure an heir.”
Though, I’d wager she wants little cherub grandbabies to bounce on her knee a lot more than she gives a fig about continuing the bloodline.
Tiernan frowns dramatically. “Honestly, Caiden, I don’t know why you’d want to think the worst of our mother. Can’t we just be curious about—”
Not in the mood for a “fae truth”—not a lie but also not an answer—I cut a glare over to Finn. He winces, and the real truth tumbles out. “She threatened to smash our PS5s if we didn’t try convincing you to bring a prospective consort as your date.”
“Hey, traitor, what the hell?” Tier narrows his gaze on Finn. “He barely even looked at you, and you just rolled over and showed him your belly.”
Finn shrugs one big shoulder. “It was a really scary look.”
Tiernan’s eyes widen, and he throws his arms out. “You’re bigger than him!”
From experience, I know that once they start bickering, it’s better to just let it run its course. Plus, I don’t have the energy to play referee tonight.
Standing, I cross to the wall that holds half a dozen screens showing live security footage of different high-traffic areas throughout Nightfall. There’s a security room with all the latest high-tech monitoring systems manned by the best security team money can buy, but I like checking on things myself.
You might say I have control issues.
What Finn said Mom expects of me soon tumbles around in my mind, leaving a residue behind that will tarnish my mood for the rest of the night.
A prospective consort. Not a prospective bride or wife or queen. Consort.
One of the curses paired with our exile is related to royal marriages. If either king of the Day or Night Court takes a true queen of fae blood, they will start to weaken and eventually die if their mate is ever “more than a stone’s throw” away from them. An appropriate punishment, considering it was an illicit affair between the Day king and Night queen—my grandmother—that caused the feud between the courts, resulting in our exile.
The curse was supposed to prevent something like that from happening again—it’s hard to have an affair if your mate is always around—but an indirect side effect is that it makes the kings extremely vulnerable. To kill the king, simply separate him from his queen and let the curse run its course.