Page 63
Jack
A djusting the sleeves of my shirt, I moved back to the alley, checking one last time for any sign of Sav.
I had known she wouldn’t be there. But my chest clenched when I saw the empty alley.
My mom's words danced through my mind. ‘Never stop believing in people, my prince.’ I wished she was here now, I’d tell her how wrong she was. Hope is a luxury for people with two living parents , I thought.
I’d tried calling Leo, then Grace from Simon’s phone, but they hadn’t answered, not that I’d expected them to answer a strange number. I’d just have to find them. Leo would be at his coffee shop. He lived in a small room in the back.
Before I’d made it half a block, I heard my name whispered on the wind. I turned around, wondering if I’d imagined it.
“Jack?”
I peered into the darkened alley. “Yes?”
Strong arms snapped out, grabbing me roughly and dragging me into the inky blackness.
My heart pounded in my chest and there was a moment of searing light, then the darkness swallowed my vision once more.
There was a tilting sensation in my mind and it reminded me of the way it had felt when I stepped through the portal into Central Park.
I flailed wildly, kicking out at my attacker, but his grip was like steel and he shoved me hard against a wall, scanning the distance before leaning close.
“I’m here to bring you to Sav. Let’s go. ”
I stopped struggling as the darkness fled, peering at the creature. Soft yellow light caught the side of his green cheek and a network of white lines ran over his face, and arms. I’d seen a few of his kind before. Orcs. Vicious, dangerous beasts who were notoriously hard to trap. According to Dane.
“How do I know I can trust you?”
He grunted, releasing me. “You don’t.” He turned, striding away.
I stared after him, contemplating my next move. I could leave now, go back to the compound and attempt to free the creatures myself, or I could put my faith in this orc and see if he led me to Sav.
“I’m coming!” I called, marching after him.
He crossed the street and continued heading in the direction of Central Park.
Fear twisted in my gut as I ran to keep up. Why would she be in Central Park? Had she been captured? But if she had, this orc wouldn’t be working with Dane. I had to trust that wherever she was, she was safe.
Stepping into tall grass, I moved faster as the creature jogged at a clipped pace. I glanced up at the old arched entrance to Central Park Zoo and sped up, glimpsing the creature as he hopped over the plexiglass in the seal pool and sank below eye level.
“Wait!” I hopped the glass, landed hard on the cement, and ran around the side of a large rock.
The air shimmered around me and, like when I exited the Seelie path, and in the alley a moment ago, something caught me in it’s vortex, dragging me through glittering light.
When I landed on the other side, I was standing in a rainforest unlike anything I had ever seen before.
I spun around, taking in my new surroundings. Was I back in Faerie?
I stumbled back, heart hammering as the largest snake I’d ever seen dropped out of a tree, hissing. I turned to run.
Thumps sounded behind me and I spun around, gaping at the snake pinned in place by two massive axes. I looked up at the orc standing on the other side of the clearing. Had he thrown those axes all the way over here and severed the snake’s head so cleanly?
“Thank you,” I said on a shaky exhale.
He grinned. “Do you?”
I bit down on a curse, remembering Sav’s words. What sort of favor would I owe this creature for thanking him?
“No—”
“Jack!”
My gaze shifted to the streaming auburn hair racing toward me and something in my chest—something I hadn’t realized had been clenched—loosened when I saw her. Warmth flooded my veins as she neared.
“Sav!”
The huge creature who had saved my life glanced between us and she slid to a halt beside him staring down at the snake.
She looked up. “You thanked him, didn’t you?”
“I—”
“He sure did.”
She slapped a hand to her temple, rubbing slowly. “You can’t hold him to it. He doesn’t know how fae bargains work.”
“Did you warn him?”
She scowled up at the creature. “Yes.”
“Then he owes me.” Not waiting for a reply, the orc strode forward, plucking his two massive axes from the dirt, wiping the blood onto the grass, and sliding them into his belt. He held out a hand. “Creig.”
“Jack,” I said, wrapping my fingers around his much larger ones.
“Oh, I know who you are. And I look forward to calling in my favor.”
I groaned as he yanked me forward into a hug I wasn’t expecting.
Releasing me, he turned and marched back the way they had come.
Sav crossed the clearing. “You have no idea how bad that could have been.”
“I know,” I said, running a hand through my hair. “Is it especially poisonous? How fast would I have died?”
Sav laughed, twisting her thick hair into a braid and tossing it over a shoulder. “Not the snake. The favor. If it had been anyone other than Creig you might have been handing over your kidney right now.”
Ice ran down my spine. She had to be joking. She didn’t look like she was joking.
“Come on, I’ll show you where we’re staying.”
Inside the largest ground-level treehouse I’d ever seen, Sav led me to a room down a long hall with a massive fireplace beside a cozy-looking bed and a chair. “Is this your room?”
She frowned. “It’s your room.”
“Right.” So many emotions coursed through me at her proximity, at knowing she hadn’t left me behind.
But the one drowning out all the rest was relief.
When I found myself back in New York City, I’d wanted nothing more than to turn around and go back to Faerie.
To Sav’s home. The place where she’d let her mask slip and had begun to let me in.
Wherever we were, this place felt oddly familiar and a sense of safety lingered on a phantom breeze, telling something inside me it could be trusted. Perhaps here, away from fairy royals and people like my father who wanted to see her kind dead, we could finally connect.
She faced me. “There’s something you should know.
It’s not safe for us in the human realm.
” She tucked a loose curl behind her ear and I longed to do the same with the strand she’d miss.
“There’s a bounty on both our heads. ISHFA is offering a one hundred-thousand-dollar reward for anyone who brings in either of us. ” her eyes met mine. “Dead or alive.”
I reeled as if she’d struck me. “For what?”
“They’re claiming we were involved in the attack on my building, and…” She looked down, her cheeks flushing. “That we’re in love.”
I sputtered a laugh. “They haven’t seen my bloody ear. They’d know you can’t stand to be in my presence most of the time.”
“”That's not true."
“You’ve thrown at least three daggers at my head since we met. One quite recently.”
Sav’s eyes narrowed. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that ISHFA believes it. I don’t have to tell you what the penalty is if they find us guilty.”
I swallowed.
One law above all others had been made clear the moment ISHFA was formed. Love between species was tantamount to death. Sav had warned me, so had Hazel, but I’d never truly thought they would act on that law.
“But you don’t love me.” The words barely made it out. Something twisted in my chest. Hope. I hated it. Hope would get us both killed.
She reached up, hand grazing my cheek. “Oh Jack…” Her lips trembled. I—”
“Lady Briar.”
Sav backed up, yanking her hand away as though she’d been burned.
I looked over at a fairy male dressed head to toe in tweed.
He may as well have been in a Sherlock Holmes novel, and I was certain we had never met before.
The way Sav was backing away, cheeks crimson, I could only assume it was another of her suitors.
Heat licked up my spine. Could we not have one fucking moment alone without some male in love with her bursting in to ruin it?
“General Creig asked me to fetch you to the council room.”
She nodded, turning to me. “Stay here. I’ll be back.” She darted past the male, stopping in the doorway. “If you’re hungry, find Poppy. She’ll help you.”
“Who’s Poppy?” I called, but she was gone and the male who had come to fetch her raised an eyebrow at me before he turned, following after her. I watched him go, unease settling in my gut.
Table of Contents
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- Page 63 (Reading here)
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