Page 55

He glanced up. “You think I’m not human?”

I shrugged, running my fingers along an unfurling fern leaf. Its blades caressed the pads of my fingers, bleeding strength into my limbs. After a full day and night on my feet, I needed the boost and silently gave my gratitude to the land for sharing its energy with me.

“I’m not like you,” he said, watching the exchange in fascination. “I don’t affect the plants. I can’t see in the dark or hear exceptionally well.” His gaze dropped to my slippered feet. “I’m not silent when I move or extremely fast.”

I bit my lip, considering his words. He was fast. Not as fast as me, but no one was as fast as me in fae form. “And you’re sure Dane is your father?”

He grimaced, stuffing a hand in his pocket. A habit I’d come to realize meant he didn’t like the subject. “I wish I could say he wasn’t.”

I nodded, knowing the chances of them looking so similar but being unrelated was highly unlikely. “Has anything like that ever happened to you before?”

Jack snorted. “Like burning cage bars and making a water fairy’s magic steam?”

I frowned as he caught up to me, walking by my side. “Like calling elemental magic to aid you when you need it.”

He swatted at a low-hanging branch. “No. And don’t forget, I’ve been around iron all my life and it doesn’t burn me.”

I paused at that, stopping to stare at him again. He was right. No fae, not one, was immune to iron. The closest were orcs. They had a higher tolerance than the rest of us, but immune? No.

“Do you feel the magic in your veins now?”

He considered my words, resuming walking. I glanced down at his fingers curling and uncurling at his sides.

“No. I don’t feel anything. But…When we were running, one of the poison darts struck me.” He looked up. “Something inside me dissolved the poison. I felt it.”

We fell into silence again as I rolled all the information he’d shared around in my head.

He wasn’t fae. There were no exceptions to the iron rule.

But what did that make him? Some new species?

A creature from another realm our kind was yet unaware of?

We’d always known about Earth. It was so intertwined with our world that I wasn’t sure we’d ever existed without it.

Who was I to say then, that there weren’t other worlds? Other creatures unlike either of us? A mix of us both?

At the end of a long day, we stopped in the Ash Wood as the sun dipped low and I looked up, watching Luna slowly wake, unfurling glowing wings to light the night sky.

I’d puzzled over his words, the steady beat of his heart and everything I’d witnessed since we met.

He wasn’t lying. I was sure of it. He didn’t know what he was any more than I did.

Some of the bitter resentment that had built between us eased as I accepted it. Realized that I wanted it to be true. I wanted to trust Jack, and that terrified me a little.

“We’ll have to sleep under the stars tonight.”

Jack dropped heavily onto the carpet of thick moss blanketing the forest floor, leaning back against the trunk of a tree, and looked up. “It’s beautiful here.” He grinned. “I mean, it’s deadly, but there’s something about this place.”

I nodded, sitting across from him and pulling back layers of skirts, tugging off thin slippers, still damp from our trek through the snow, rubbing my aching feet.

Jack leaned forward, lifting my foot into his lap. I resisted the urge to pull away, exhaustion washing over me. He dug his thumbs into the arch of my foot, and I moaned as he worked the knots loose, tipping my head back against the tree.

The dusting of stars blanketing our sky had begun to twinkle, and I sighed, some of the day’s tension bleeding away. I glanced down at Jack and my lips twitched at the contented look he gave me. If rubbing feet was his thing, I would not say no.

When he’d rubbed every knot out and my feet were jelly, my eyes drifted closed and I smiled, more content in this moment than I had been in a long time.

“When I was a child, I thought Faerie was endless,” I said.

“I believed it was possible to continue exploring and having new adventures forever and you’d never reach the end of it.

” I felt his eyes on me, and my lashes fluttered open.

Jack searched my face, his expression open. “I would have liked to meet you back then.”

My smile fell, and I cast my gaze up.

Tiny sparkling stars shone brightly in an effort to gain Luna’s attention, but as with every night, she had eyes only for us.

We were her favorite. Blessed because of the shifters who graced our lands.

Luna had a special place in her heart for creatures, but especially those with dual natures.

As a Gemini, Luna represented all shifter folk.

All creatures in Faerie, no matter their kind or station, could be shifters. If you were born under the Gemini constellation, on your tenth birthday, your dual nature would be revealed and you would forever have the gift.

Geminis weren’t the only blessed signs. Leos had an affinity for fire and Pisces found themselves drawn to water, choosing to live near lakes or the sea.

In my own court, earth signs were prized above all others from birth.

It was the reason my sister’s match was planned the moment her due date was named.

Though we were twins, I’d been born several hours before Sage, making me a Leo.

In Spring, Virgos ruled supreme and my sister’s sun, moon and rising sign were all in Virgo. Destined to be one of the most powerful life-giving fae in our time, she’d proven the seers right, wielding her gift like a weapon and feeding the land to strengthen the court the moment she ascended.

Spring would have been well positioned to lead after Mab disappeared, if not for Fero. Unlike the other courts, Summer tested all their children and proclaimed their prince or princess by power alone. At any time, a ruler might be forced to cede their position if someone new held a greater ability.

This often meant, in the summer court, rulers only lasted a few decades. To remain in power for a full century was nearly unheard of, but in four centuries, Fero’s power had never been surpassed.

Some said he must have descended from Mab herself. It wasn’t only the strength of his ability, it was that Fero had strong affinities for both air and water. Born at midnight on the cusp of Libra and Scorpio, he’d been granted both.

In the history of Faerie, he was the first summer court prince to hold his position so long and the only fae ruler besides Mab with more than one affinity at his disposal.

“I’m sorry,” Jack said, and I shuddered, returning to the present.

“What for?”

He stretched an arm up and rested his head in his palm. “Bringing up old wounds.”

My tired gaze shifted from the outline of those muscles, straining against silken fabric to his full mouth, then darted up to meet his eyes.

“Ancient history. All that matters now is finding Creig and offering Kaspar’s reprieve.

With any luck, he’ll already have the weapons we need.

We might have Juniper and the others out by tomorrow night. ”

We lapsed into silence once more and I resisted the urge to glance again at his muscled arm, wrapping my hands around myself to stave off the bite of cool night air. Bark bit into my back and I shifted uncomfortably.

“I’m a lot softer than a tree.”

“I’ve slept outside before.” I shot back.

“I’m also a lot warmer.”

As if his words brought the evening chill, the temperature dipped, and a shiver rolled down my spine. I hugged myself tighter, moving to avoid the knob digging into my back. A gust of wind tore through the tree, slicing through my gown, and I eyed Jack’s inviting arm.

He grinned, his dimple cutting through smooth bronzed skin.

I scooted over, leaning into Jack’s warmth just as another gust of wind whipped my hair around my face and I pressed into his side, wrestling my wild mane into a knot.

His arm came around me, tucking me into the warmth of his side.

He squeezed me tighter, that damn muscled arm a furnace against my skin, and I inhaled his wintergreen scent.

“Sav?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for coming to find me in that prison cell.”

I tilted my head to look up at him. A lock of raven hair fell over his face, obscuring the strong line of his jaw. His dark lashes rested heavily against his cheeks. I studied his face. He was human, but something other lurked beneath his skin.

He cracked a lid, eyeing me under his lashes, and I glanced away.

“I mean it. You could have left me in the spring court, so thank you.”

“What have I told you about giving people your thanks?”

His full mouth tilted up at the corners and his eyes closed once more. “Well, I owe you, so what will it be? What favor do you ask of me?”

I smiled, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “You saved yourself. Now, if only we knew what else you could do with that gift of yours. Maybe you could help us free the fae in Dane’s compound.”

He opened his eyes, shifting at my side and his expression was earnest as he met my gaze. “Magic or no magic—I’m not sitting out of this fight. I won’t let him take you again.”

I exhaled a long breath and closed my eyes. “Let’s talk about it in the morning.”

His weight shifted as he pulled me closer and I settled against his side, my heart slowing to match the rhythm of his. It soothed the riot of emotions I was still coming down from and I relaxed into the feeling. Just for tonight. Just this once.