Torn

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  He placed his hand next to my leg, supporting his weight. “Tink fashioned some kind of leash for that cat of his.”

  “Dixon.”

  “Yeah, Dixon. I saw him outside in the garden yesterday. Your window looks down on it. He was walking the little thing, but that’s not the random part,” he explained. “Tink was back to his other size. You know, bite-size height. He was flying and walking the kitten. I’m pretty sure he was also naked. Too far up to make out any details, thank God.”

  A giggle parted my lips. “Dear lord, when that cat gets bigger, it’s going to eat him if he stays that size.”

  “One can only hope.” He laughed as I drew back. “Just kidding. He’s kind of growing on me. Like a fungus.”

  “Nice,” I murmured, relaxing.

  Ren kissed my cheek and then leaned back. “You feel up to talking to anyone today?”

  “Of course,” I answered at once.

  His eyes searched mine. “You sure? You can take another day. I can grab you some food. They got cable in these rooms. We can find some movie and just chill.”

  While that sounded amazing and I honestly would have loved nothing more, the world was still churning outside. The prince was still out there. Nothing was going to wait around. “I’m fine. I just need to shower. I feel like I need to wash a layer of sleep off me.”

  “You look beautiful,” he said.

  I rolled my eyes. “I think you need your head examined.”

  “Nope.” He paused. “After you shower, we’ll grab something to eat and then we’ll meet up with everyone. Okay?”

  His steady gaze snagged and held mine. We still had a lot to cover. There were a lot of details he didn’t know. Details I needed time to come to terms with myself and time to share.

  “Okay,” I said.

  I closed my eyes as Ren kissed the tip of my nose. He pushed off the bed, and I got up after him. My legs felt a little wobbly as I grabbed the bag Tink had brought me and walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind me.

  I wondered if Tink was out walking the kitten naked again.

  Taking a quick shower, I stepped out and dried off. I rooted through the bag, finding a pair of worn jeans and a long-sleeved green shirt. I got dressed and then gathered up my wet hair, twisting it into a knot.

  Steam had evaporated from the mirror, and I caught sight of my reflection. I stopped right in my tracks. It was the first time I’d seen myself in days. I barely recognized the girl staring back at me.

  There was a streak of red still in my left eye, which reminded me of someone infected with the zombie virus. My face was paler than normal, and a bluish bruise stretched along the side of my jaw. I looked . . .

  Haunted.

  Definitely not beautiful. That was kind of Ren to say, but there was a bone-deep exhaustion in the unforgiving shadows under my eyes, and a wariness in my blue eyes that hadn’t been there before, not even after what had happened to Shaun, Holly, and Adrian. It mirrored the coldness inside me that had dug its claws in.

  Now was not the time to think about the cause of all that. I grabbed the bag and pried it open, realizing Tink hadn’t brought any of my makeup. There was no camouflaging this hot-mess express. Maybe I could sneak a trip back to my apartment. I had to. There were not enough clothes to get me through a week.

  Ren was waiting out in the room, sitting in the chair, flipping through a magazine when I stepped out. Something occurred to me then. “Did you stay here the entire time I slept?”

  “Mostly.” He closed the magazine and tossed it onto the coffee table. “Tink stayed while I left to get a change of clothing, but I showered here. Didn’t want you to wake up alone.”

  Oh.

  Oh man, that was sweet.

  “Hell, I almost forgot.” He stood up and reached inside his pocket as he walked over to me. “I think you’ll want this back.”

  My breath caught. Ren held out my necklace, the four-leaf clover dangling from his fingertips.

  “The chain was broken, so I got you a new one.” He unhooked the clasp and draped it around my neck, securing the clasp.

  The moment the tiger’s eye hit my chest, I had to press my lips together to stop from crying like a baby all over him again. I placed my palm over the stone, feeling a relief that couldn’t be described. Four leaf-clovers were not easy to find, and the process the Order took to preserve them was unbeknownst to me. Having this necklace back was a godsend.

  “Thank you,” I told Ren.

  He said nothing as he curled his hand around the nape of my neck and drew me to his chest. We stood there for several moments and then he kissed my forehead before drawing back.

  “You ready?” Ren extended his hand, and I took it without hesitation.

  I was as ready as I would ever be.

  ~

  “This is so weird,” I whispered to Ren as we walked down a long hall on the first floor. We’d just gotten done eating breakfast in the cafeteria, eating with fae who apparently didn’t feed off humans.

  “Tell me about it.” Ren’s hand squeezed mine. “It’s only been me these last couple of weeks. It takes a lot to get used to.” He paused as we passed a fae woman and a young child who was staring up at us with wide eyes. The woman, I assumed the child’s mother, smiled faintly in our direction. “Going from hunting them down to eating dinner with them and sleeping in the same building with them is a trip.”

  It most definitely was, especially when I’d been with the kind of fae that were more likely to punch you in the face than smile timidly at you.

  Ren stopped in front of a pair of double doors and knocked. A second later, the right side swung open, and there was Brighton.

  “Ivy!” She folded her arms around me, squeezing tightly. I was a little stunned. I don’t think we’d ever hugged before. “I’m so glad to see that you’re okay,” she said.

  I patted her back awkwardly, swearing I heard Ren chuckle. “It’s good to see you.”

  She drew back, her blonde hair swept away from her face. “Come in. Everyone is here.”

  Glancing back at Ren, he winked at me. Alrighty then. I walked into what reminded me of a corporate boardroom. There was a conference table at one end of the room, next to a credenza stocked with liquor. A huge desk sat at the other end, in front of a window overlooking the street.

  I saw Merle and Faye, happy to see that the former was alive and well, but my attention was snagged by the male fae rising from the desk. Everything about him was a shock to the system.

  He was older, his dark hair salt and peppered. Fine lines creased the silvery skin around his ears and mouth. In human years, I would’ve pegged him to be in his sixties, and I had never seen a fae that old before. Never.

  Holy crap, he was aging just like a human.

  Ren placed his hand on my lower back. “Ivy, this is Tanner. He runs this place.”

  The male fae smiled as he walked around the desk and extended his hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Ivy, and that the mission to retrieve you was a success.”

  In a daze, I reached out and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, too.”

  “My real name is a bit unpronounceable, but Tanner is a good abbreviation of it.” He laughed as he squeezed my hand. “You look a little shocked.”

  I checked out his ears just to make sure they were pointy. “I . . . I’m sorry. I’m a little out of it.”

  “Understandable,” he replied smoothly. “And I also understand that it must be a shock to be here, around my people.”

  I nodded slowly.

  “You’ll find that a lot of things about us will come as a shock,” he added, dropping my hand.

  I nodded again.

  “As Faye explained to you, this is a safe haven for fae who have the same principles and moral compass as we do,” he explained. “We do not believe in feeding on humans, and as such accept our much shortened lifespan. Once upon a time, we used to work side by side with the Order. Unfortunately, our joining did not last very lo
ng.”

  Merle muttered something under her breath, but I couldn’t make it out.

  “Our ancestors left the Otherworld, because they didn’t agree with what the ruling court was doing. They were killing our world and turning all of us into monsters. We did not come here to do the same to your world,” he explained. “And we will do everything to ensure the prince and those who follow him do not succeed.”

  “Most of the fae here are descendants of the summer court,” Brighton explained. “They started escaping before the gateways were closed because they were being hunted.”

  “Hunted much like your friend Tink and his kind were—hunted to near extinction,” Tanner said. A wistful look crossed his face. “He is the first brownie I’ve ever seen, but my parents spoke of his kind. What you’ve done to save him is awe-inspiring.”

  I glanced over at Ren.

  He rolled his eyes.

  I grinned.

  “The fact that you took care of him, healing him when he was injured, and kept him hidden told me that we could trust you.” Tanner inclined his chin. “It is also how we knew we could trust Ren.”

  It’s a good thing Tanner didn’t realize the antagonistic nature of their relationship. Something completely random occurred to me. “Did you guys try to seek me out before this?” I asked.

  “No,” Tanner replied. “Why do you ask?”

  I glanced at Ren. “Before . . . before the whole thing with the prince, a fae followed me into a parking garage in the city. Where you parked that Monday night? I was looking for your truck,” I explained. “Anyway, he didn’t do anything. Before he got the chance, a female fae showed up, killed him, and then literally impaled herself on my dagger.”

  Tanner blinked. “That was not us.”

  “Any idea what could be behind that?” Ren asked.

  He shook his head. “I will put some feelers out. See what I can find out.”

  I turned as Merle approached me from the side. She looked calmer than the last time I’d seen her. Her blonde hair was smooth, and her eyes were alight with curiosity and intelligence.

  Merle clasped my cheeks. “Did he plant his seed?”

  I cringed. “Can you never phrase it like that again, ever?”

  “Did he?” she demanded.

  “No,” Ren answered, standing beside me. His hand was still on my back. “We got her out in time.”

  Merle’s eyes held mine. “I need to hear her say it.”

  “Merle,” Tanner said quietly.

  She ignored him too. “We need to know for sure.”

  “He didn’t,” I said, feeling my cheeks heat. “I swear.”

  “Good.” Merle smiled, and then hugged me before stepping back. “I would’ve hated to have to kill you.”

  My eyes widened.

  “Mom,” exclaimed Brighton from where she stood by the table.

  “What?” Merle shrugged as she walked over to one of the chairs and sat. “If she was carrying the prince’s child, we would have had to kill her. It’s a fact.”

  Faye cleared her throat as she walked to stand beside Tanner. “We wouldn’t have had to kill her. There are other options.”

  “Why didn’t you just kill me, though?” I asked Faye. “That would’ve taken care of the problem. You had plenty of opportunity.”

  Ren stiffened beside me.

  Her expression tightened. “We do not believe in killing humans, no matter the situation.”

  I arched a brow. “You might want to tell Merle that.”

  Merle chuckled as if I had suggested Faye tell her about a new pot roast recipe.

  “She is human,” Faye replied. “Humans tend not to value life.”

  Deciding it was time to change the subject, I focused on Merle again. “Why did you tell Brighton that Ren would know what to do with the info in the journals?”

  She smiled faintly and nodded in his direction. “The young man has trust in his eyes.”

  I opened my mouth, but I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. When I peeked at Ren, he was grinning at his booted feet.

  Tanner gestured for us to sit in the chairs. Ren and I did so. “I know you have a lot of questions and there is a lot we need to tell you, but we don’t want to overwhelm you. Faye has explained that the last few weeks have been . . . stressful for you.”

  I tensed. “Stressful” isn’t exactly the word I would have used. It was also something that I didn’t really want to go into right now.

  Ren leaned forward, resting his elbow on his leg and his chin in his hand. “Let’s focus on the most important part,” he suggested, tone firm. His gaze slid to me. “They know how to send the prince back to the Otherworld.”

  “What?” I sat up straighter. “How?”

  Tanner leaned against the desk and crossed his ankles. “You want to take over?”

  Faye didn’t look like she wanted to, but she started talking anyway. “When my family left the Otherworld many decades ago, they took a very special, very powerful crystal from the head of the king’s throne and brought it into this realm. The crystal was then taken by the Order for safekeeping. Or at least, that’s what they said. Their decision to move the crystal without our permission created . . . a rift between our two kinds.”

  I wondered if that was why the Order and these fae stopped working together, but a rift didn’t seem like a big enough reason to have everything about their union now stripped from our history.

  I thought of the crystal Val had taken from the Order the night the prince had come through the gate. Since I had spoken to Miles about it, I really hadn’t thought about it. Granted, a lot of things had been going on, but I knew where that crystal was. “The prince has it.”

  “Did you see the crystal?” Tanner asked, pale eyes sharpening.

  “No.” I shook my head. “But my . . . but one of the Order members who’d been working with the prince took it.”

  “Hussy,” Merle muttered under her breath, and Brighton sighed once more. “The crystal should’ve never been in the hands of the Order. They do not understand the power or its importance, not truly.”

  “I haven’t seen it,” I said, looking around the room. “The Order hasn’t explained its importance. One of the guys there even went as far as saying it’s basically nothing. I’m guessing that’s not the case?”

  Faye folded her arms over her chest. “The crystal can send the prince back to the Otherworld, but it is not an easy task.”

  “And we don’t know exactly where the crystal is,” Tanner added. “Faye looked for it while she was at the prince’s compound.”

  “Never saw it,” she said. “But there were many places I simply had no access to.”

  I wanted to know how she came about working for the prince, but that wasn’t exactly important right now. “So, we have to get the crystal and then what?”

  Faye took a deep breath. “Then we need the blood of a royal and the blood of a halfling—”

  “Only a small amount,” Ren clarified, sitting up. “Like a drop of a halfling’s blood.”

  Tanner smiled. “He’s still not happy about that.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Finding the crystal and getting the blood of the prince and a drop of yours isn’t the hard part.”

  “It’s not?” Doubt lifted my brows. “That sounds pretty hard when we don’t know where the crystal is. And getting blood from the prince is not going to be easy.”

  “The ritual of the blood and the stone,” Faye said, drawing my attention, “has to be completed in the Otherworld.”

  ~

  There was a little conversation going back and forth after that. Getting the crystal was the first step, but we’d have to figure out where the hell it was. I couldn’t really even think about getting the prince’s blood, because I really didn’t want to be in the same time zone as him. And then there was the whole issue of getting to the Otherworld.

  The whole point of me not getting knocked up with the prince’s baby was to keep the gates closed, but we had t
o open them.