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“Trusting me is better than nothing. You need me,” Luc stated. “Let me do this one thing, Trisencor. Either way, you’ll get something you want in the end.”

Mor looked like he was going to be sick for several moments. But when Luc extended his hand, to his surprise, Mor shook it.

17

Cressica Alabastian

What Followed: Part IV

Dranian’s mind was somewhere else. Cress talked at him, over and over, yet the fairy still wouldn’t move from where he knelt on the ground, staring ahead at the empty path in the forest.

Finally, Cress shoved him off balance.

“Wake up, you fool,” he said. “I need you to come to your senses! Where is Lily?!”

Dranian caught himself on his palm. He finally dragged his attention over to Cress.

Mor leapt out of the air, his feet landing on the cobblestones with a thud, and Cress slapped a hand over his heart. “You startled me,” he scolded. “What is going on here, Mor? And where did you just go?”

“The Lyro House is on the move,” Mor said. There was something in his gaze Cress didn’t like when he added, “We have to split up.” Mor dropped to a knee and put a hand on Dranian’s shoulder. “We’re leaving you here for now, Dranian. Keep your faeborn-cursed head on straight. And…” Mor’s mouth seemed all twisty and pinched. “Stay with Luc,” he finished.

“What?” Cress put his hands on his hips. “Don’t be outrageous, Mor. We’re not leaving Dranian here.”

“You read the note. If Lyro decided to show up early, they might already have Violet and Kate,” Mor said.

Cress closed his mouth. A gust of icy power slithered through his veins, making the blossoms around the forest curl inward in terror. A snap of lightning cracked over the sky, followed by a ground-rumbling roar of thunder. “Then they shall all die,” he stated. He didn’t have a chance to turn and scan the trees for Luc before Mor grabbed his arm.

“Agreed. Let’s go.”

Cress was tugged into an airstream, becoming a fairy in the wind. He held his breath, only sucking in when absolutely necessary. Though he hated airslipping, he could only think of one thing over the hours it took to reach the human realm gate and the following minutes they spent soaring across the city.

Cress was dumped on the sidewalk before Fae Café. Mor didn’t wait around for him—the fairy vanished back into the air.

Sounds of car horns and chatty humans washed over the street, filling Cress with the same smells of the realm’s nearby breakfast diner, the Sisterhood’s repulsive yarn store, and the bread bakery down the road.

He listened first, tilting his head toward his café where he immediately sensed Kate was. He didn’t hear a struggle. He didn’t sniff fear or ill intent seeping from the cracks. In fact, a couple came out the door of the café, ringing the familiar bell as the door closed behind them. They were smiling. They were happy.

Even so.

Cress flung the door open and marched in. He looked around at the cozy atmosphere: the crackling fireplace in the corner, the coffee brewing behind the counter, all the bistro tables freshly washed, and a delicious-looking, steaming pie resting behind the glass display.

Kate turned when she noticed him. “You’re back,” she said with the brightest, most reassuring smile Cress had ever seen in his entire existence.

He marched to the counter, rounded it, and he grabbed her. He pulled Kate in and held her tight, his faeborn heart mimicking a wild beast’s as it slammed. He worried she’d feel it.

“Ugh,” she said as her face smooshed against his broad chest. “Seriously, Cress? I just did my hair,” she complained, trying to reach around his burly arms to smooth it down. “What’s going on with you?”

“Not a thing, Katherine,” he said. He set his jaw and glanced out the window at where clueless humans ventured down the street in small flocks. He dared the House of Lyro to try and come for Katherine Lewis.

His human.

The female who’d given him a simple life.

His simple human.

18

Mor Trisencor