Page 44 of Witchbane

“But we can get home, right?” I stared at him. “FindApa, figure out how to open a door and pull the rest of the unchanged fae with us? Nick and Kiran too.”

“That’s the plan.”

My stomach made a hungry growl. At least it was more of a normal sort of thing than the beast, though both Liam and I looked down like we were expecting the kitsune to burst forth. He pointed to a tray of food and tea on the table beside the bed. I wondered if it was fae food, like Nick had pointed out before. Looked inviting but unable to sustain us. Nick had survived who knew how long here. And bulked up. He had to be eating something, right?

“Food?” I asked Liam.

“Nick brought it.” Liam glanced away.

“What?” I demanded.

“I’m human now,” he said.

“Okay.”

“Magic food doesn’t do anything for me. Nick brought me a mix of a handful of things left from the human world. It’s not much, only what can be grown in the tiny courtyard within the sanctuary. I’ll have to ration it. We have no idea how long we’ll be here.”

I stared at the food. Could I eat it if I was only partially fae? I picked up what looked like half a sandwich and took a bite. It tasted like food. The texture was right, the flavor okay, not as good as Liam’s bread, but not fake or terrible. I swallowed. It felt real.

“How do you know it doesn’t work for you?” I asked.

“Tastes like nothing. Might as well chew on air.”

Our gaze met as I stared down at the sandwich in my hand and returned it to the plate. “We need to get out of here.”

“It’s fine. We have time.” We didn’t really, but I didn’t make him admit it. I hated the idea of him suffering. Liam wrapped his arms around me and kissed me. “Shh,” he said. “We’ll work it out.”

“You’ll starve.” I recalled Nick from before. He’d survived years on the tiny remains of food brought by humans visiting Underhill, but he’d been terribly thin.

“At least I don’t have to feed the wolf right now,” Liam said.

I growled at him. “Okay, Mary Sue.”

His grin was genuine at least. “I’ve got you. What else could I need?”

“Cheesemaster!” But having him there made it all a little more manageable. Together we’d work something out.

He tugged on my braid, letting the thick rope of it slide through his fingers. The way he looked at me, that sort of blind reverence, shouldn’t have been sexy, but it was. No matter what I thought of myself, Liam was mine. Fate-mandated or whatever, I was his world and he was mine. Now if I could get us back to ours. He had faith in me, I should probably have a little in myself too. We’d made it this far.

There was a knock on the door, and Nick popped his head around the edge of it. “You awake enough to come to the library for a bit?”

There was a whole library. I suddenly had to see it. What if there were answers, like how to get us home and fix the balance of my kitsune? I rolled out of bed. My legs were a bit unsteady, but at least holding my weight now.

“Seb,” Liam said, crawling out of the bed after me. “You should get more rest.” But I needed answers more than rest. I stared up at my mate as he pulled me into his arms and seemed to be searching my face, and maybe my brain for something.

He let out a long sigh. “Fine. Determination thy name is Sebastian.”

I gave him a giant grin and leapt into his arms to kiss him soundly. Okay, it turned into a half grope, super deep kiss that left us breathless, and Nick clearing his throat behind us. I let Liam go, took his hand in mine and we followed Nick.

Across the hall, the doors to the library were open. The windows let in light, but weren’t clear enough to see out, sort of like it was thick, textured glass. The rows of books seemed endless, with ladders scaling each wall upward to the tops of shelves.

The immense amount of knowledge here made me want to sit down and read it all. This was the history of the fae, fae magic, and creation. I knew there had to be texts from the mortal world since Nick had them in his cabin.

“He has stars in his eyes,” Liam groaned.

“There are so many books!” I exclaimed. “Wesley found one of your sketchbooks. I still have it.”

“I have dozens now. Maybe more.”