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From the corner of his eye, Dranian saw Luc lean against the wall to watch them, as though Lily and Dranian were in an episode of one of the late-night thriller shows he’d become obsessed with.

“I did it for Shayne,” Dranian said.

Lily opened her mouth to accuse him of more, but her tone seemed to change. “What?” she said instead.

“Human,” he said, then corrected himself with, “Lily.” Dranianspoke more sternly now. “You asked me to keep a secret for you, which I’ve now discovered I loathe doing. So, you will keep one for me as well.” He swallowed, his mind returning him back to that dream, back to that girl—no, a fully grown female now—and what she had told him. “I know where Shayne is,” he said.

Lily’s brows tilted in, her height seeming to deflate. “Where?” she asked. “Where’s Shayne?” Her voice cracked on his name.

Dranian felt an unexpected flit of panic that had no business showing up. His hands found a tremor, but he wasn’t shaken enough to lose control. Not now. Not standing before Lily. Not with what he had to do.

“Shayne is in the Ever Corners,” he stated. “He went back to his birth home.” From the wall, Luc watched curiously, studying Lily the most. “You see, his brother must kill him to gain the highest chair of the Lyro family,” he finished.

Lily looked back and forth between Dranian’s eyes, a shield of caution sliding over her expression. She masked her stance, her tone, even her voice when she asked, “What does that mean?”

“It means he’ll die there.” Dranian despised the words on his own tongue. He despised the thought in his heart, the worry that he may not get there in time. That it may already be too late.

A beat of silence filled the room until Luc lifted from the wall and murmured, “Hmm.” Both Dranian and Lily frowned at him, and Luc lifted his hands in feign apology. “Her rhythms just went wild, didn’t you notice?” he said to Dranian. And then, when Dranian didn’t reply, Luc shrugged and walked offto the kitchen so he didn’t have to be involved. On his way, he mumbled, “It’s telling.”

“I don’t understand. Why would he go to that place if it means he’ll die?” Lily’s question came out coarse. “Why wouldn’t he even let me know, or… Why wouldn’t he even say goodbye?”

Dranian didn’t know how to answer that. But Lily wouldn’t take silence as a reply; she grabbed a fistful of his sleeve. Her eyes glossed over.

“Shayne can’t just go die!” she said.

Dranian carefully peeled her fingers off his shirt to free himself. “On that, we agree,” he said. He glanced toward the kitchen. Luc had disappeared into his room. “Which is why I’m leaving at dawn. But I didn’t go through all that suffering on my own today just to drag Mor and Cress into this. So, if I get worried you’re going to tell them, Lily Baker, I will enslave you and make you mute.”

He wasn’t sure he had ever threatened a female. Part of him liked the feeling of it, the other part was worried Lily would draw her fairy-slaying weapon and end him. He cringed as her mind seemed to work, as she stared at him long and hard without blinking.

Forever seemed to pass before she spoke again. “What exactly are the odds of me dying if I set foot in the Ever Corners?” she asked.

Dranian felt a mix of feelings sink into his faeborn heart. The greatest of them was worry for this human, that she didn’t realizethe gravity of what she was asking.

Then, from his bedroom, Luc yelled through the door, “You won’t die, dear Lily. You’ll be captured and sold to nobles. Then you’ll be fed all sorts of enchanted foods, forced to dance until your feet bleed, and dressed up in gaudy gowns… possibly pitted into a fight against a creature twice your size at a banquet arena.” Luc swung the door open so Dranian and Lily could hear him clearly. “You won’t die. But you’ll wish you were dead.”

Lily went a shade paler. Her slender throat constricted, but she stood tall. “I don’t care what happens to me. It would be good to go for research. I’ll wear a bodycam, and I’ll… take notes,” she said in what felt like an attempt to convince herself. Dranian meant to protest, to try and make her realize just how dreadful it could be for a human among so many manipulative fairies, but Lily lifted her chin, looked him dead in the eyes, and said, “I have to go pack. Don’t you dare leave without me, Dranian.”

Dranian’s chest filled with dread. He looked past Lily to Luc for help, but Luc was smiling, widely. Wickedly. “Oh dear. I had a plan, you know. But I think I’ve just been overcome with desire to see you in that terrible situation,” he said to Lily.

Lily bit her lips together. She cast the fox a daggered look as she turned and headed for the door, her hand idly finding its way to the weapon at her hip. “Maniac,” she muttered.

Luc chuckled, his mouth twisting into a satisfied smile.

The apartment door slammed when Lily left. At the same time, Luc closed hisbedroom door again.

Dranian was left alone, standing in the middle of the living space, wide-eyed and stunned.

A second later, Luc poked his head back out of his bedroom and said, “Should we go get groceries for our trip?”

The Faeborn End of One Thing

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The Faeborn Beginning of Another