Rys tuts. He actually tuts. “Us fae are basically immortal, Shadow. Just like any humans who stay in Faerie. If the Summer King believes you owe him, he’ll never close that debt.”
While Riley sighs at Rys’s glib response, and Nine scowls at him, I’m actually a little bit caught off guard by the easy way Rys slips that part about humans in there.
Huh. That’s… that’s pretty good to know. I’d been wondering about that, especially since I know time doesn’t work the same here. In the stories my mom used to tell me about Faerie, humans who cross the veil into the magical realms could spend centuries on the other side and come back looking like they’ve never aged a day.
Oblivious to how his off-handed comment has gotten to me, Rys places both of his boots on the floor before leaning forward in his seat. “Now that that’s settled, is everyone ready? I’d like to start out as soon as we can.”
Nine nods. “I’ve gone over the plan that you submitted to Oberon. It’s very well done. I think it’s our best bet, too.”
Plan? I look at Rys.
He cocks his head slightly in my direction. “You sound so surprised. You forget, I was a soldier, trained at the Fae Queen’s academy. This isn’t my first mission. And,” he adds, his golden gaze locked on my face, “I have infinitely more at stake this time.”
A shiver runs up my spine. That look was so heated, I feel it warming me up from the inside out.
What was that about?
I’ve got no clue.
Riley’s staring at Rys, too—just not for the same reason that I am. Her eyes are drawn to the scar stretching across the left side of his face.
And that’s when she mutters, “Before we go, I want to say I’m sorry.”
Rys finally tears his gaze away from me. Glancing at Riley, a stray smile tugging on his lush lips, he waves his hand carelessly. “Think nothing of it.”
“No, it’s just… Nine doesn’t think I should say anything, but if we’re going to be doing this as a group, I just want to put it out there. I’m sorry. You were a pain in my ass, but I never expected there to be iron in the shovel. I didn’t think you’d scar.”
“Trust me, Shadow, neither did I.”
“She’s not your Shadow,” Nine tells Rys, his silver eyes going dark.
Rys doesn’t seem to be bothered by Nine’s harsh retort. Instead, he shrugs and says, “And that was the problem, wasn’t it, Nine? She was never mine.”
Riley clicks her tongue. “Stop this crap. Both of you. I swear, if you two are going to act like this the entire time, I’d rather take my chances with Oberon. Nine, you’re my mate. End of story. No one else.”
No one else…
Realization slams into me. Between the daggers that Nine is shooting at Rys, the way Rys is all but smirking at the Unseelie, and poor Riley looking like she’s caught in a tug of war between the two of them…
I’m suddenly reminded of everything Saxon told me, added to the few tidbits Rys let drop whenever he mentioned his almost mate. And then I focus on Riley’s bright blue eyes and her white-blonde hair. My gaze slips to the Dark Fae who stands beside her.
Oh, come on. Even my luck can’t be that bad.
Of all the people Oberon could be sending us off with, does it have to be the woman that Rys was convinced was his mate before he met me?
I hope I’m wrong. I don’t see how I can be, and I decide then and there that ignorance is fucking bliss. If I don’t ask, then I don’t have to have confirmation that Riley is the woman Rys chased before me and that Nine is the fae she refused him for. Besides, does it matter? From the first time I met them at Oberon’s palace, I could tell that these two are tight. I have nothing to be jealous of, even if I didn’t have my hands already full with Jim.
But wait a second—
“You did that to Rys’s face? Really?”
Before Riley can answer, Rys says, “I assure you, my darling, I certainly deserved it.”
“She’s not your darling,” barks Nine.
Riley snorts before stifling a small laugh. For a second, she loses that apprehensive look of hers, making her seem more approachable—and even prettier. Wonderful. “Uh, Nine? I think he was talking to her. Not me.” She bumps her thigh into his. “Looks like you’ve got nothing to worry about, huh?”
“Oh.” Nine blinks. His eerie silver stare goes from Rys to me, then back to Rys. “Is that why she’s coming on this mission? Because she’s your—”
“Elle is joining us because Oberon insisted on it,” Rys tells the Unseelie, cutting him off. “He won’t be persuaded otherwise.”
Gee, thanks. As if I needed the reminder that I’m just an unwanted tagalong.
Well, might as well let the mated couple know that our foursome is now a quintet.
“It’s not just me. My”—oof, what should I call him? “Jim’s coming, too.”
“Another human?” Nine sounds as happy with the news as I am to give it. “The Summer King does remember that, to find the Winter Queen, we have to go to the Unseelie Court?”
“And the Shadow Realm,” added Rys. “We can’t forget that.”
Nine thins his lips. “Rys.”
“All the same, Oberon approved the addition.”
He did?
“I’m sure the Summer King has his reasons,” Nine says after a moment.
“More like motives,” adds Riley. Her earlier good humor is gone, her forehead furrowed as if she’s questioning that as much as I suddenly am.
I mean, she’s not wrong. I only met with Oberon the one time but between that and all of the stories Morgan told me about the infamous king of the Seelie Court, I know that Oberon doesn’t do anything because he’s being kind or magnanimous. If he’s giving the okay for Jim to come along on this super important mission, he’s definitely got some kind of motive behind it.
Fingers crossed that I never have to find out what that is.
5
I take one look at the pair of stallions pawing the springy, blue grass in front of Rys's manor and feel my stomach drop to my scuffed boots.
Knowing that we’re about to start our trip, I gave some of my new clothes to Lolly to “pack” for me before pulling on my familiar jeans, tank, leather jacket, and boots. Since I lost my shadow cloak when I was trapped by the redcap and his trolls, and the imp who tailored my new wardrobe made me everything I would need to blend in but that, I figured wearing straight black should help me hide enough once we cross over into the Shadow Realm. Sure, I might stick out in the Seelie Court, but I’m beginning to understand why Rys didn’t say anything when he noticed what I’d changed into this morning.
I knew we were going to have to travel through the Summerlands. Maybe I was being naive, but I guess I was just banking on the fact that we’d use Rys’s portal. I mean, when Rys first brought me home with him, that’s how we did it. As soon as we left the Unseelie Court behind, he whipped up a portal and, poof, we were standing in front of his house.
Unfortunately, I’m only now remembering that there’s a slight problem when it comes to our group. Rys is Seelie. Riley’s mate? Unseelie. Just like how Rys is drained by the dark shadow magic, the light and fire wielded by the Seelie would weaken Nine. We’d save time, yeah, but would it be worth it if the other fae was incapacitated when we needed him the most?
Which explains the horse-drawn carriage waiting for us.
The fact that it’s a carriage instead of a caravan does little to settle my nerves. Growing up in the city, I saw carriages just like this in the tourist section all of the time, but I never got close to them. They were just there. They stayed in the road with their controller, and I kept to the sidewalk. No harm, no foul. Then I ended up in Faerie, got sentenced to fairy jail, and Bram drove me all of the way to Siúcra in the back of an iron cage draped in canvas.
It took three days to travel from Veron’s palace to the prison. I hated every last minute of it.
And now I’m supposed to willingly climb into the carriage and ride
out of the Summer Court into the Shadow Realm… oh, come on.
I don’t want to. I never even thought I’d have to. Obviously, I know there’s nothing like cars in Faerie, and horse travel seems pretty routine, but I’d rather freaking walk if I have to. Just… not the horses, okay?
They’re exact doubles, down to the massive dicks that tell me that, yup, these are definitely stallions. I don’t really know shit about horses—that whole “males being stallions” is about as much as I do know—but they don’t seem so different than the horses back home. I guess because they are, technically, Seelie horses, the golden color of their coat is to be expected, and each horse has a pair of gleaming black eyes that are way more intelligent than they should be.
It’s almost as if they can tell how uncomfortable they make me… and it amuses them.
Uh-uh.
Nope.
Scurrying away from the nearest beast, I turn to look for Rys. I just manage to avoid walking into Jim, swallowing my aggravated sigh that he’s right there. He gives me one of his charmingly crooked grins—my stomach lurches again—and I dance out of his reach to hurry around him.
“Babe?”
“Stay with the carriage. I’m, uh, going to go ask Rys what this is all about. Okay?”
Jim shrugs. “Sure. No problem.”
Easy for him to say.
I wish I was being too sensitive, but Rys has been super careful to avoid me since last night. A lot of it has to do with my very own shadow—no matter where I go, Jim’s sure to be only a few steps behind me—but every time I’ve tried to talk to him again, he finds an excuse to walk away from me. Making plans with Nine, flirting with Riley, laughing when Nine barks at him to leave his mate alone… it’s almost as if he was hoping to go on this journey without me and Jim.
Oh, that’s right. He was.
I go back inside. Rys had actually sat down to eat breakfast with the rest of us which is how I got a front row seat to how different he acts when he’s around Riley and Nine. After everything Saxon told me, it’s easy to see that Rys is doing it more to get a rise out of the Unseelie than anything else. It’s harmless flirting. I shouldn’t be so jealous.
Key words there: shouldn’t be.
And maybe it’s the height of hypocrisy to let the easy way he gets along with the mated couple bother me when, all throughout breakfast, Jim sat next to me, trying his best to keep me close while also respecting our conversation from the other night. Between my undeniable envy and my overwhelming guilt, I could barely eat half of my plate. After reminding Jim not to eat the faerie food that Lolly served specifically for me, I ran upstairs to make sure I was all packed and ready to go. Once I figured I had killed enough time up there, I tiptoed down the fancy spiral stairs and snuck outside to get some fresh air.
Of course, that’s when I stumbled upon the stallions and… yeah. Jim must’ve searched me out then and I’m betting that I only have a few minutes to hunt down Rys before he comes looking for me again.
For once, luck is on my side. As soon as I walk inside of Rys’s house, I find him standing in the center of the front room. Breakfast must be over because he’s by himself, reading something on a piece of paper.
He glances up as I stomp over to him.
I don’t waste any time. “What the hell, Rys?”
His tawny eyebrows rise as his lush lips curve just enough that maybe I can call it a smile. Maybe. “And hello to you, too.”
“You didn’t say anything about a carriage.”
“I didn’t think I had to.” Folding up his paper, Rys slips it into the pocket of his tailored white pants. “Horse travel is common in Faerie.”
“Trust me. I know. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
“That’s why I arranged for the carriage. I didn’t think you’d want to ride on horseback, and the carriage carries four inside.” He cocks his head slightly, noticing the way I’m fidgeting. “What’s wrong, Leannán?”
How to explain?
I never told him about my ride in the back of Bram’s caravan. Honestly, I didn’t even realize how much that fucked me up until I came face to face with Rys’s carriage and just the smell of “horse” threw me back to those terrible days. Between trying to come up with a way to escape, the horrible hours where I suffered from cramps when the soldier didn’t feed me any faerie fruit, and the pressing anxiety over what fairy jail would be like… I guess I wanted to forget all about it. In a way, I did.
Turns out I don’t have to explain. One look at my face and Rys can tell that I really, really don’t want to ride inside of the carriage.
“It’ll get us to the Winter Court faster, but if you’d rather walk, Leannán, then I’ll send the horses away right this moment. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”
And I don’t want to be a pain in the ass.
Ugh.
He’s not wrong. Faster is better. On the one hand, the quicker we get to the Unseelie Court, the quicker we get this all over with. On the other, if we extend this trip, that’s more time I’m going to be stuck in a super awkward situation between Jim and Rys.
“How long will it take if we walk?”
“To the border between realms?”
I nod.
“Two or three days if we move quickly.”
“And if we ride?”
“Little less than a day. You can sleep inside of the carriage, if it takes longer. Either way we won’t be able to stay the night in an inn since Oberon doesn’t want anyone to know what we’re doing. While we’re in the Summerlands, we’ll draw far less attention with the horses. No one will know there are humans in the carriage.”
He’s got a point there. Being a human in Faerie is like walking around with a neon sign blaring EASY PICKINGS OVER HERE above our heads. The reason we’re embarking on this peace-keeping mission in the first place is because there’s a group of fae nobles and their followers who want to overthrow Oberon and proclaim open season on humans. So calling attention to us? Not good.
“What happens when we get to the Winter Court?” I ask.
“It’ll be easier to blend in with the shadows. Once we cross over, we’ll go on foot.”
“So it’s only going to be a day or so in the carriage?”
“With me at the reins, it could be even less.”
I nod. “Okay. Just let me know when we’re ready to leave.”
Rys reaches out to lay his hand on my arm, pausing when barely an inch keeps him from touching me. Even though he has my permission, he stills his hand before slowly pulling it back. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, Elle.”
I don’t know what hurts worse: the way he calls me Elle again instead of Leannán, or how obvious it is that he’s never going to touch me again.
A lump forms in my throat. I swallow it roughly, then let out a soft exhale. “And I thought the fae can’t lie.”
Because that’s the thing, isn’t it? I absolutely do have to do this—and we both know it.
It’s not as bad inside the carriage as I first feared.
The windows help. Bram’s caravan was covered, and I rarely could peek out between the heavy canvas that hid my cage. Peering out of the carriage’s side windows reminds me of staring out of a subway car, just a super bumpy subway that never stops.
The seats are pretty comfy. Instead of curling up in a ball, sitting on a bed of hay, I lean back against a padded seat. It’s definitely an improvement. I mean, horse shit still stinks, but I’ve gotta admit that I did lose some of my nerves when Jim caught his first whiff and turned green.
He’s sitting next to me because of course he is. Across from us, Riley leans up against Nine, her glove-covered hand settled possessively over his knee. I don’t blame her. Though he’s not my type, her Unseelie mate is gorgeous. I mean, he’s fae. It’s kind of in the job description, right? But I already have my hands full with Jim and my unwavering feelings for Rys. She can’t honestly think I want her mate, too.
After a few hours
on the road, I figure she gets the hint. Though Riley doesn’t lose the perpetually guarded look on her pretty face, she opens up a little. Mainly because Jim, in that blunt way he has, finally notices that—just like Rys and Nine—Riley has pointed ears. When she absently tucks a lock of hair behind her ear, revealing the point, Jim can’t help but blurt that out.
Riley glances at Nine for a second before saying, “Well. Yeah. I’m part fae.”
I knew that, but I guess nobody told Jim.
Whoops.
“Really? That’s pretty cool.”
Nine gives Jim a steely look that I’ve seen him level at Rys a couple of times. Probably because he’s just as protective of his mate as she is of him.
“Don’t mind Jim,” I tell them. Apart from a quick introduction before we set off, the four of us have either been quiet or talking about what to expect when we get to the Shadow Realm. I don’t really know any more about Nine and Riley than they do about us. Since we’re going to spend who knows how long together, we should probably change that. “He’s fully human, like me. He’s only been in Faerie for a couple of nights and he’s still learning that it’s nothing like the human world.”
“Good thing I’ve got the best teacher,” he says. “Eh, babe?”
“Babe?” echoes Nine in that lyrical lilt of his. “Did the two of you know each other before the Summer King arranged for this assignment?”
I close my eyes for a second.
Yeah. That’s something else I forgot to mention earlier.
I open my eyes again, meeting the suspicion in Nine’s gaze and the open curiosity in Riley’s. “You could say that.”
Jim laughs before knocking his thigh into mine. “It’s alright, babe. You can tell them about us.” Leaning forward, he smiles at the other two. “Name’s Jim. I’m her boyfriend. Saxon brought me here to be with her since she’s gotten herself stuck.”
Right. Like it’s all my fault.
Biting my tongue, I watch as Jim does one of the few things I asked him not to: he offers them his hand.
Before I can slap it away, Riley recoils. She’s staring at Jim’s extended hand as if it’s about to sting her or something.
Freed: A Supernatural Prison Romance (Imprisoned by the Fae Book 3) Page 5