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Chapter thirty-one

Rae walked the city for hours. She checked in with a handful of her higher-ranking officers, the ones that recognised her as nothing more than a cadet.

Everything was in place for Omnia to continue in her absence, including three newly appointed sergeants who would take the reins together.

Their priority was no longer the Vampires but the hybrids.

Whatever Torrin and Aera had created, Omnia’s attention had shifted to that.

What happened after the hybrids were dealt with was out of Rae’s hands now. Soon she’d be going home, and she hated to admit it, but she was going to miss the city. Somewhere along the way, Demesia had begun to feel like home.

A Fae family passed her, a mother with silver gossamer wings and her two children, a boy and a girl.

The boy had horns, the girl, wings like her mother’s and horns like her brother’s, both sharing their mother’s golden-brown skin.

It was unusual to see Wings in the city, but many were simply stuck there, just trying to make a life for themselves as much as the humans were.

The little boy stumbled, lost his footing, and fell, quiet sobs erupting from him as he pushed himself back up to his feet, but it was his sister who looped her arm under his, not their mother.

It was his sister who checked his knee, who released a flurry of fluorescent butterflies conjured from the palm of her hand to distract him from the pain.

Rae’s heart twisted at the sight as she turned a corner in the opposite direction.

She’d spent so long on the path Cillian had set her down that she’d lost sight of everything.

What about the Witches’ magic? she’d asked him.

Someone has to hold the key, he’d told her.

Better it be you than one of them. And as the little boy’s sobs followed her, Cillian’s words felt too much like her mother’s. His actions too painfully similar.

We’re all the same, aren’t we? Aidan had quipped when they’d been locked up together after the attack on Rush, and she was ashamed to admit she’d believed it.

Being raised that way wasn’t a justification; even Cillian’s teachings had long since stopped being an excuse to hide behind.

Rae had lived in the city long enough to have opened her eyes.

Frequenting places the worst of the Vampires enjoyed in order to rob them, but they were precisely that, the worst. Every member of Aidan’s household was nothing like the Vampires she’d spent countless nights stealing from.

Of the Providents… Aidan was the exception.

What she’d seen of the other council members, none seemed to regard the lives of others as he did.

Perhaps it was because of what he was, who he was, and Rae tried to snuff out the emotions that accompanied that, the way she understood all too well what his life might have looked like.

She thought of the Fae children and wondered if he had any half-siblings somewhere, if he knew them. If everything he did was for them just as everything she did was for her brother.

And what about Baelin? Orion? The rest of the units? Even Shaw. They were good, kind Vampires. Rae had spent enough time in the manor to know it. Even Reed, who she’d been so afraid would win Nim’s heart and Rae would lose the only friend she had to a Fae. So fucking selfish.

With one hand pressed to the lock of her studio, she mumbled a spell to let herself in, the familiar smell hitting her, nostalgia already creeping into her heart. She was so fucking proud of this place. The metalsmithing could at least always be something she could call a success.

She hooked a picture of her and Cillian off the wall, tracing a thumb across his face before smashing it against a workbench.

Liar. His manipulation had been no different from her mother’s.

His words were just as poisonous, and she’d been a fool not to accept that bitter fact sooner.

Hands in her hair, Rae mumbled a spell to change the colour, pacing back and forth to steady her breaths.

If she could change her skin and step out of her body with a spell, she would.

Everything she’d believed. Everything she’d done. And Nim—sweet Nim, who had been like sunlight after years of darkness from the first day they’d met—she’d been caught up in the middle of all of it.

For Seylan. You’re doing this for Seylan, she told herself over and over.

Bax’s ring sat wrapped in her pocket, and she pulled its envelope free to set it on one of the workbenches as she fought to calm her breaths. If she was right, he’d be back, and tracking him might at least make up for some of it.

Rae took the stairs to her apartment two at a time, unlocking the door before she even reached it, her chest heaving with silent sobs.

Aside from Nim, she’d closed herself off from the world.

Let an old man’s venomous beliefs become her own because she’d so desperately needed something to believe in.

Something to hold onto when she couldn’t hold onto herself.

She sucked in another breath, threw open the window beside her bed to try and get some air.

There was little chance of that in Demesia.

Still, she left it open and let the sounds of the city soothe her as she made her way into the small kitchen.

Rae dragged her hands through her hair again, wondering what the fuck she was going to say to Aidan to make this right. So many lies stacked on top of each other. Where would she even begin? How would she make him see the truth?

You can’t. It was too late for that.

The wards over the door to the studio wavered, but no sound travelled up to her apartment. Rae held her breath as she listened for the tiniest of sounds. Someone was in the studio. With silent steps, she crept to the top of the stairs and paused.

Bax. He was talking into his earpiece, moving around the studio, searching.

“No sign of her,” she heard him murmur.

Rae took a step back. He’d lied to her. And she would put money on it his reasons for lying were far worse than hers.

She glanced at her kitchen, doubting her small paring knives would be much use against him if he truly was a hybrid, given how Aidan’s fight with Daire had gone.

There was nowhere to hide Bax wouldn’t find her, but she could conceal herself.

Sidestepping a groaning floorboard, she crawled under the bed, mouthing a spell as the stairs creaked under Bax’s feet.

“Rae, it’s Baxter,” he called out, a lightness to his tone that told her he was trying to make it appear like this was just a friendly visit.

She held her breath as his footsteps neared the bed, as he dropped to his knees and looked her right in the eyes, but he wouldn’t see her.

If she kept still, her spell would hold.

His sigh blew warm breath across her face, tickling her nose, but still, Rae didn’t breathe as he stood and spoke into his earpiece again.

“She isn’t here.” His feet moved to the window, his voice further away as if he were leaning out of it.

“She must have bailed.” A smack of his hand against the wooden frame. “She knows.”

Rae still held her breath, her heart fluttering in her chest.

Rae? Aidan. Of course he fucking knew she was afraid. She couldn’t hide anything from him anymore.

I’m fine, she told him, the words clipped as she tried to keep her focus on maintaining her spell, on holding her breath, on listening to Baxter move around.

I’m sending a car to the studio. Rae didn’t question him.

“Forget what they’re capable of.” Baxter laughed bitterly. “Send two. She’s a devious little bitch. I can’t have her running this time.” He took the stairs back down into the studio, mumbling something else into his earpiece Rae couldn’t make out.

She still didn’t move, didn’t breathe. Not until she heard the roar of an engine, until the sound of the motorbike was long out of earshot. She let go of everything, gasping for breath, forehead pressed against the dusty floorboards beneath her bed as she steadied her breathing and her heart.

Aidan’s presence still lingered in her mind. He didn’t say anything, and neither did she, but she didn’t push him out either.

A chitter at the window drew her attention, followed by a dull thud. Rae turned her head, only to be greeted by two huge black eyes and a ball of white fluff. “Ru,” she whispered. “What are you doing here?” A bark sounded from below.

You sent the damn dog after me? she asked Aidan, sliding out from under the bed.

We haven’t been able to track Baxter today.

You just missed him.

I thought as much. You were right, he’s one of them.

She wouldn’t insult him by asking how he knew, but she should tell him what she’d heard. Rae hesitated as she sat on her bed, Ru climbing to her neck. Quinn padded up the stairs to sit before her. “Bae’s eyes and ears, huh? Who’s driving the car, a monkey?”

Baelin says he’s giving Quinn driving lessons.

Rae chuckled. “If you wanted to see my bedroom, Bae, you could’ve just asked.”

Quinn barked, and Rae laughed again, some of the adrenaline melting away.

The car is two minutes away.

Rae didn’t answer. She had two minutes to pack up her life. With the rutok nuzzled around her neck and Quinn at her side, she glanced around her apartment one last time, grabbing a bag from the door.

He’s sent two hybrids to find me, Vale.

One minute. Until the car arrived. It was still daylight for another hour, so Rae had no idea who he’d sent. It wouldn’t be him; he couldn’t risk being discovered.