Throne of Silver (Silver Fae Book 1)

by KB Anne

“Thank god for Di,” I sighed and let my body sink into the cushy leather seat.

  The car roared down the wet road, daring anyone to chase it. He checked the rearview mirror. “Why is that guy after you?”

  My heart stopped again, and I forgot to breathe. “How do you know he was after me?”

  “He showed the bouncer a picture of you.”

  I swallowed hard and wove my fingers in and out of each other. Phantom tingles still ran through them. Did I really get a shock when he touched me? I might want him to touch me again. Just to see. But I had another question to ask first. “How did you find me in there?”

  He grunted. “You don’t exactly fit in.”

  “But my hair’s black and the clothes…. The clothes are Di’s, and I have a ton of makeup on…” I wiped the palm of my hand across my face. Some thick, heavy, white powder came off.

  He grunted again. “Maybe to someone who doesn’t go to clubs, but Starr, you stand out even in disguise.”

  I glanced over at him. He was staring out the front windshield, but the corner of his mouth was turned up. It was the first time I had ever seen him almost smile. I never noticed the little dimple in his cheek. What would happen if I pressed my finger into that dimple? I shook my head to clear it. I couldn’t get distracted. “Why didn’t Di come? Why did she send you?”

  His breath caught. “Who else?”

  He turned to me. For one brief moment, our eyes locked before I managed to tear mine away. My emotions confused me. My friends were dead, my life was in danger, but my heart did a cartwheel whenever Christian Evergood looked at me. I wasn’t sure what to say or if I could say anything. After another long uncomfortable silence, he said, “I feel very protective of you.”

  “Excuse me?” I snorted. I must not have heard him right. Was this one of those paranormal romance movies with a vampire and a werewolf?

  “I feel very protective of you.”

  I glanced over at him to see if sharp canines protruded out of his mouth or his eyes flashed gold, but he appeared completely human, mostly normal, and the same guy who had blown me off all year.

  “That would be creepy if you weren’t full of it. You hate me. You laugh at me. You cast disdainful glares in my direction like it’s your day job.”

  He burst out laughing.

  “You think this is funny? I didn’t say anything remotely funny.”

  He cleared his throat, then nodded his head. “You’re right. You’re right. I’m really sorry about my behavior. You always seem to catch me staring at you, and nasty looks and rude behavior tend to keep people away, although you’re surprisingly stubborn.”

  I rose up from my seat. “Now, you’re calling me stubborn?”

  Before he could reply, his words sunk in. “Wait…, you stare at me?”

  Not vampire. Not werewolf. Obsessed stalker.

  I glanced at the speedometer. The red line was buried to the right. I glanced at the locked door and the side of the road flashing by at an alarming speed. I calculated my chances of mechanical injury if I catapulted out of the car.

  He must have read my mind, because he said, “I’m not going to hurt you. I would never hurt you. You have to believe me.”

  I stared out my side window, struck by the incredible notion that I did believe him. Though the more practical and sensible side of me knew I shouldn’t. I collapsed into my seat.

  He released an audible sigh of relief. He must have taken my willingness to stay in the confines of the moving vehicle as an agreement to listen to his side of the story, which I supposed, was partly true. “I figured if I didn’t talk to you, if I kept away from you, I could pretend to be someone else. Something else.”

  “Oh gods, what do you mean?”

  He flicked the turn signal, checked the rearview mirror, and gunned the car onto the highway. “Do you know other Cherokee Goths?”

  The instrument panel highlighted his chiseled features—strong chin, perfect nose, large full lips... I licked mine without thinking. “Trail of Tears Cherokee?”

  “The one and only, but I’m related to the band that stayed east, the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians.”

  The darkness made me feel brave. “Pale skin and blue eyes? No offense, but you don’t look Native American.”

  He laughed again. I was struck by the realization that in eight months of school I never heard him laugh and now, in the course of five minutes, he laughed twice. “If I’m in the sun for more than a few minutes, my skin darkens right up, and do you think I get this jet black hair by being a straight up white boy?” He ran his hand through his nearly shoulder length hair. My mouth watered at the sight of it.

  “Why don’t you go in the sun? The sun makes me feel alive.”

  He stiffened. His hands gripped the steering wheel, and his jaw tightened. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  The light, warm chatty atmosphere in the car plummeted to icy cold and claustrophobic. “I can’t keep up with your emotional shifts. You either ignore me or fight with me in class. You give me the cold shoulder in the halls. You didn’t even help me stand up when I crashed into you. I feel like you hate me, so I have no idea why you’re here right now.”

  His face twitched as if he was in pain. Then he started talking a mile a minute. “The entire school’s been in a panic for days wondering where you and your friends were. Officials questioned anyone who’s ever laid eyes on you.”

  I didn’t interrupt him but filed the information away for future reference.

  “Di’s been kind of bugging out all week. Then today the school announcements came on and stated that rescue crews found Sami’s car in the lake, and they didn’t find any survivors.”

  No survivors? I bit my lip until I tasted the bitter rust. Pain was better than the overwhelming sadness clawing its way to the surface. The General did it. The bastard killed Sami and Jovie. What did the Organization have to gain by killing two harmless teenage girls?

  “Starr,” he said, “are you okay?”

  The kindness in his voice threatened to melt my heart, but the rage I felt overwhelmed me instead. “Go on.”

  “After the announcement, all hell broke loose in the cafeteria. Everyone was screaming and crying and hugging each other….” He paused again. I was sure he was glancing over at me, but I didn’t care. My jaw tightened as I stared out the windshield like a zombie. “Di was the only one who didn’t react. She’s tough, but not that tough. I took her outside and then asked her what was going on. She told me everything she knew, which wasn’t much, but she did know that the accident occurred Saturday afternoon, and that she saw you early Sunday morning. For some reason she told you about Club Black on Wednesdays, and that’s how I found you.”

  I could feel his eyes on me, but I didn’t turn to face him. The steady hum of the car was the only noise as we drove down the dark highway. Sami and Jovie were dead. Sami and Jovie were dead.

  Sami and Jovie were dead.

  Keep it together. Focus on the anger. Anger is good.

  I turned to face him. “Why are you here?”

  His jaw tightened, then released. He stole a quick glance in my direction before staring back out the windshield. “When you didn’t show up for class on Monday, I noticed. You’re never absent.”

  I scowled at his outline. Christian Evergood noticed when I was absent? I doubted it. I slammed my palms against the armrests. I wished he’d answer me already.

  His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed. “When you didn’t return Tuesday and Wednesday, I got worried.” He stole another glance in my direction, but I turned away from him. He sighed before continuing, “After I heard what happened from Di, something clicked in my brain. I had to find you and protect you. I had to make sure you were okay.”

  I knew he was looking at me again, but I refused to make it easy. He exhaled loudly. “I did ignore you in school. In fact, I hated you and everything you represented.”

  My head whipped around to face him. “Excuse me?
”

  He held up his hand. “I was wrong, terribly wrong, and I’m sorry, really sorry. You reminded me of a life I didn’t want to remember. A life I didn’t want to go back to. A part I couldn’t go back to.”

  His words stung me to the deepest recesses of my heart. “You don’t even know me.”

  He lifted his left hand up to his lip and bunched it. He took a deep shaky breath. “My mom and dad were killed in a car accident in the fall of my sophomore year. They were on their way home from a Planned Parenthood Benefit when their car veered off a cliff….”

  The pain in his voice brought tears to my eyes, his story all too familiar. I almost leaned over to console him but caught myself. Everything he had told me was in conflict to itself. I crossed my arms instead.

  “My aunt let me finish out the school year at my old school, but then she wanted me to come and live in Webster with her and start a new life. I didn’t argue with her. Where else could I go?” He begged me for an answer, but I had none to give. I knew all about new lives.

  “In my old school, I was a...different person. I was on every sports team, student government, and a bunch of other ‘do good’ groups.”

  I raised an eyebrow. I couldn’t imagine the black eyeliner winning many popularity contests.

  The corner of his lip rose. “Yes, me. I was the only child of a North Carolina state representative who was a civil rights advocate and a doctor who volunteered at the Planned Parenthood Clinic. Public service wasn’t a choice for me; it was my life. When my parents died, a part of me died too. I decided I was done...living that life. I was done helping people. Whatever happens, happens.”

  “Mmhhmm,” I cleared my throat and pointed at myself.

  “One life. I decided to save one life,” he added with a self-satisfied grin. An invisible burden disappeared from his shoulders.

  “And you decided to stay out of the sun for the rest of your life?”

  “If I wanted to be a completely different person, I had to change all aspects of myself. I was not going to be Boy Wonder anymore, and so I ducked out of the sun and into a coffee shop. Thus the pale skin and black clothing. There was only one person who could have changed my decision, and I didn’t want that to happen.”

  Me? Was he talking about me?

  I nodded my head like an idiot. Not knowing what to say or if I should say anything, I just sat back and focused on the drive. The drive….

  “Where are we going?”

  “My ol’ granpappy’s cabin,” he said in a southern drawl.

  “Why?”

  “I’m saving you, remember? And until we figure who’s after you, we’re going into hiding.”

  “I haven’t even told you what happened yet.”

  “You’re about to right now,” he said. And so I shared my story from the beginning—from the moment Sami, Jovie, and I woke up the morning of the test to Christian rescuing me from the club. I told him every last stinking detail. Well, except for the whole superior being thing the General referred to me as. I already thought Christian was a werewolf or maybe a vampire. No need to hint at my own supernatural drama. It was enough to just be able to tell someone what happened.

  When I finished, he didn’t say anything for a long time. No doubt wondering where the nearest gas station was to drop me off. I was just about to break the silence and give him an out, when a low growl erupted from him. “Bastards.”

  I rested against the headrest and closed my eyes. I didn’t realize how much I needed him to believe me. I didn’t realize how much I needed someone on my side.

  “Assassin?” he hissed through clenched teeth. The veins in his neck throbbed with anger. “You’re a teenage girl. What the hell!”

  “I know. I could never kill anybody!”

  “What was the General like? Did he give a name or any hint what is behind the Organization? What about the test proctor? Do you remember his name or anything about their appearances that stands out?” he asked, his eyes constantly checking the rearview mirror.

  “I can’t remember their names. I don’t think they said them. They moved and talked like they were in the military or had military training at least.”

  “The officials interviewing students at school did seem...,” he paused and glanced at me, “military.”

  My heart skipped a beat. Did he know more than he was letting on?

  “They only asked questions about you. No one asked me or Di any questions about your friends. That’s another reason Di was so worried. I wonder….” He paused, scratching his chin.

  “What?” I leaned toward him. Then I remembered the shock I felt when he led me out of the club. I scooted back in my seat. I was sure it was my imagination, but a part of me believed otherwise.

  “Nothing,” he said, but the worry on his face was unmistakable. “We’ll be fine. We just need to figure this out.”

  “I understand that I’m,” I winced, “believed to be dead. I can disappear, but you, won’t your aunt worry when you don’t show up tonight?” I glanced at the car’s dashboard. It was 2:00 a.m.

  “I didn’t tell you about my aunt.”

  “Is she a secret agent? Because that would really be convenient.”

  “No, but almost as good, she’s a doctor. She works from time to time in hospitals, but her true passion is Doctors without Borders. She stayed home most of the summer and fall, but she’s not as happy in the states as she is in the field. A month ago, I finally convinced her I would be fine on my own.”

  “So, let me guess. She’s on assignment?” I eyed him warily.

  “You got it. Darfur to be exact.”

  “How long?”

  He turned to me. A crooked smile crossed his face. “Months and months.”

  I almost got lost in his smile, but I caught myself. I couldn’t get distracted. “No.”

  “No?” he said, “What do you mean ‘no’?”

  “I mean that you are not risking your life for me. Enough people are,” I gulped, “dead because of me. I will not put your life in harm’s way.”

  “Too late,” he replied.

  “No, it isn’t. Drop me off on the road, and I’ll figure this thing out.”

  “No.”

  “No? What do you mean no? Drop me off on the side of the road. I’ll be fine. I’ve survived this long, haven’t I?” I sat up in my seat and began to tick off everything I’d done over the past four days. “I escaped the test site, swam Lake Ontario, and have managed to hide out without getting caught. I am doing a damn good job of going underground.”

  “No, you aren’t,” he said.

  I could have spit fireballs at him. “What do you care? I thought you were, and I quote, ‘done helping people.’”

  He pulled to the side of the road and put the car in park. His expression gave no hint to his mood. “Because of this,” he said and locked his fingers in mine. Electrical currents surged through them. The wall I’d kept up for days and days crashed down as I lost what control I had left. The thread was broken.

  Chapter Twelve

  My eyes flashed open to pitch black. I was no longer in the upright position but curled up in a ball on a hard mattress. How did I get in this bed? Where was I? Christian, I remembered Christian. Where was he?

  “Christian,” I called out into the darkness.

  “Starr, I’m right here,” he whispered. I turned in the direction of his voice. The faint light from an alarm clock silhouetted his frame. He sat in a chair next to the bed.

  “I’m sorry,” I whimpered. Tears were ready to burst out again.

  He turned on the side lamp. “For what?”

  “For…for…” I stammered, covering my eyes from the glare, “for everything.”

  “For choosing this lovely and impeccably decorated motel room?” he asked with wide-eyed innocence. The corners of his lips even turned up.

  “No,” I grunted, wrinkling my nose as I glanced around the room—tacky printed comforters, yellow vomit carpeting, and a smell that I could o
nly assume was stale mothballs. “For getting you involved.”

  “Starr,” he whispered, “I was involved the moment I saw you. It should be me apologizing to you.”

  “I don’t understand. Why would you apologize?”

  “For allowing you to take the exam.” He sounded like the words strangled him.

  “I’m confused. What do you mean, ‘allowing me to take the exam?’ You weren’t involved with the exam whatsoever.”

  “I should have been,” he said. “I should have walked into school that first day and walked right up to you like I wanted to. Everything would have been different.”

  “Is that so?” Was he that confident in himself? I studied him closely for a minute. Yes. Yes, he was, but I wasn’t not giving in. “For your information, I don’t go goo-goo-ga-ga over every handsome guy I meet!”

  He raised his eyebrow at me as if to ask “really?” But instead he said, “Handsome? You think I’m handsome?”

  I wanted to say, “Have you looked in the mirror lately?” but instead I said, “For a Goth,” with what I hoped was a smug grin of my own.

  “You’re not so bad either,” he replied with that crooked smile I found very distracting, “for a Goth that is.”

  “Oh yeah.” I raked my fingers through my bedraggled hair. I realized he was staring at me and suddenly, I felt self-conscious, like he was staring into my soul. No guy had ever looked at me the way Christian did. He was a complication, a major complication, but I wasn’t going to let him know it. “So, what’s the plan?”

  “I’m allowed to help plan now?” he said with an impish grin that was also distracting, but I needed to focus. Focus was essential.

  “For the time being,” I said. “Until I figure out a way to get rid of you.”

  “Fat chance,” he fired back. “I’m sure you’re starving. Why don’t I run out and grab something for us to eat? I’ll be back in twenty minutes, tops.”

  I couldn’t remember the last time I ate. As I stood up to go with him, stars danced in front of my eyes. Everything went soft and fuzzy around the edges—a camera just out of focus. I collapsed back on the bed. In what seemed like light speed, he was at my side, gazing at me with concern. The stars disappeared as I stared back into his mesmerizing blue eyes. As time moved forward, I realized he asked me if I was okay, and I hadn’t responded. Damn those eyes anyway.