Ronan

Ronan

The Shadow Walker threat was real.

The shifter communities were working together—a miracle in itself—because they seemed to be targeted first. A squad was deployed every morning to find any victims and “put them down.” That meant salting and burning the bodies so they stopped walking around.

Entire families were wiped out in a single evening, and the rumors were beginning to extend beyond the shifter community into the broader fae population.

Neela still didn’t believe it, so I’d stationed shifts of guards to watch over her every night. They were under strict orders to keep her safe but follow from a distance and keep out of her way. After one guard told me he followed her while she ran in circles in the Sensory Quarter, I even instructed them not to report what she did to maintain her privacy.

That was the hardest command to issue.

With one simple question, I could find out exactly where she was and what she did, but I resisted.

I took over from the early morning shift and knocked on the front door at the Rose Palace.

Liz greeted me with a scowl that said I’d woken her and a cup of tea that said she forgave me. After turning up yesterday with Neela in my arms, her mouth dripping in blood, I guessed I’d earned some brownie points with the fierce green-haired fae.

I sipped the tea in the kitchen. “Don’t you have any other staff? A royal house needs more than one…Wait, what are you?”

“A royal companion,” she said and dipped a sardonic curtsy.

Neela spoke from behind me, and I jumped. She’d somehow managed to sneak up on me; perhaps her fae abilities were returning. She’d been away from human technology for a week, so the effects would soon wear off.

“We don’t all have bucketloads of gold to shower over the common people, so they perform services for us,” she said snidely, then accepted a cup of tea from Liz with a very regal air.

I shared a look with Liz, who squirmed. “Er…actually, you do.”

Neela spluttered hot tea all over the black-and-white checkerboard floor. “What?”

“Of course you do,” I scoffed. “You’re the heir to House Flora. The sole surviving heir. You control the entire fortune.”

I could watch the tomcat’s lack of composure all day. Her face wriggled and writhed with all the emotions, and her whole body radiated joy. I’d never seen somebody so excited to learn they had money, but I supposed that was because of my upbringing.

What did the tomcat call me? An entitled brat. That sounded about right.

I waited patiently for her to have breakfast, a single piece of toast and a strong coffee to wash down her tea, then I blurted out my plan. “I have something to show you. Please, will you come with me? We have the day off classes, and I promise I’ll make it worth your while.”

I’d planned a surprise for her and had initially wanted to wait until it was finished to show her, but I couldn’t. After Dion almost fucking killed her yesterday—which I paid back by nearly killing him—I needed Neela to have a good day.

She reluctantly agreed to join me. “But only if you promise to compliment some random fae at some stage during the day.”

“A lesser fae?”

She grizzled. “They’re not lesser just because they aren’t rich pricks.”

She could call me names all day, I didn’t care. I had a lot of atoning to do for my sins, and I wanted to start immediately. I didn’t expect her to agree to come, but I supposed I’d earned some credit by saving her life yesterday.

I yanked her down Piccolo Street, impatience bubbling in my gut.

She lagged behind, watching the fae watching us. “How do you stand it?”

“Stand what?”

“The constant staring. Everywhere you go, folks stare and stare.”

I smirked. “Well, I am the sexiest fae alive. That’s what you called me, wasn’t it?”

She scowled and pretended she didn’t remember saying that when she was drunk off her tits, but from how she reddened and winced, I suspected she recalled every word.

“You are nowhere near the sexiest fae I’ve ever seen. You’re not even sexy for a human. You’re average at best.”

I clutched my heart. “I’m wounded.”

A small smile tugged her lips, threatening to derail her firmly planted scowl. “But seriously, doesn’t it get old? Having these people gawking nonstop would annoy the hell out of me.”

I glanced at the crowd, who were gawkier than usual. “Everything annoys the hell out of you,” I commented.

She whacked me in the chest playfully, and my heart lit up. Our relationship was finally turning less antagonistic, and I hoped she felt safer.

I pulled her into a moonway that was barely visible in the weak daylight, and she literally jumped when the world started blurring around us. I would never tire of her emotional openness, even though she tried to keep herself so guarded.

“Where are we going?”

“I told you, it’s a surprise.” I cocked my head. “Do you like surprises?”

She thought about that for a while, walking in step beside me, her blonde head bobbing at my shoulder. “I don’t know. I’ve never had one.”

We stopped, and the world stopped blurring. She tugged my arm. I was reminded again how hard her life had been and how different from mine. No surprise parties, no unexpected gifts. No gifts at all, I supposed.

She tugged my hand. “Come on, princeling, show me your thing.”

I glanced down at my dick, which wiggled with a naughty idea. “Maybe later, baby.”

She almost laughed, a strange chuckly gurgling noise, and my heart soared again, my good mood buzzing out around us and making the blurring wildflowers bloom as we passed.

The moonway spilled us into the middle of a wildflower field, a riot of colors and floral scents. Anxiety creased Neela’s forehead. “It isn’t a bad surprise, is it? You’re not going to break my fingers or something?”

The wildflowers drooped as her question hit home. It was a fair question, too, not asked through malice but through genuine concern. She had every right to be worried. I’d broken her fucking ankle, hadn’t I?

My mountain of hatred from the past week had overturned and changed into a mountain of something else entirely. A strong, overpowering emotion I didn’t have words for. All I knew was that I needed her to feel safe, so I could forgive myself for what I’d done to Seb’s sister.

I swept up her hand in mine. “I will never harm you again, tomcat. I will die before I let any harm come to you. You have my word…for what it’s worth.”

Odd that I would declare I’d rather die than hurt her. Even odder that it might be true. The idea swirled inside my head even as I said it, turning over, letting me examine it from every angle.

It was true. It was fucking true. I wanted to protect Seb’s sister even more than I wanted to protect myself.

She chewed her lip, and I imagined kissing it, smooching away her worries and fears, and cradling her in my arms. I folded my arms across my chest to keep a barrier between us. The last thing I wanted to do was lunge at her when she wasn’t open and willing.

Her blue eyes glistened, and vulnerability spread her open. “What about the blood pact? You said blood magic lasted forever, and you made that promise to Sebarah.”

It was true. No spell or inner power could unravel a blood pact once it was made, so there was no way of undoing the promise. But I didn’t care. I didn’t fucking care.

“I still want House Flora gone,” I began carefully, ensuring I told her the whole truth because she deserved nothing less. “But I want you more. Gaia can curse me, tear me limb from limb, rip my magic right out of my body, and I will still stand by you. You are my…you are my everything, and I will protect you with my dying breath.”

My voice rang with ragged sincerity. Was this how humans felt all the time? Exposed, vulnerable, weak. Like they might die at any moment, like their centuries-long lifespan had been whittled down to mere years. Like they’ve just realized they’re in fucking love.

A tear spilled from her bright blue eye, trailing over her freckled cheek and landing at the corner of her full mouth. “I have to tell you something. I…I’m not really a….” Whatever she planned to confess went unsaid, and instead, she shook her head firmly and stepped away from me. “Where to now?”

We weren’t far from the big surprise. Man, I hoped she liked it. On the outskirts of the human village, I was building Neela her very own home. Construction was still underway and wouldn’t be finished for several weeks, and I figured once she Ascended, she could grow her own trees and flowers to complete the landscaping.

I explained everything, waiting for her tractor-beam smile, but it never came.

“I just thought because you like humans so much and keep coming here, you could have a house here. You don’t have to live here always if you don’t like it. Maybe you could just visit occasionally.”

Her face was crinkling, collapsing in on itself, and I couldn’t figure out why.

“What’s going on? Do you hate it? You hate it. Don’t worry, pretend this never happened, I’ll tear it down.”

She crinkled completely and wept. It was like watching a fortress cry, so unexpected and wrong. Neela was a tomcat, writhing and snarling and always ready to face the world, and I was supposed to be protecting her and cheering her up, but I’d brought her to tears.

“I don’t hate it,” she said, wriggling out of my embrace when I tried to comfort her. “It just ruins everything.”

“Why?”

She shook her head, backing away. “I was going to come and live here in the human town to hide, but it won’t work if you know I’m here.”

I wanted to step forward, reach out, and cup her cheeks in my hands, but she kept backing away. “Hide from who?”

She locked me in her intense blue gaze. “From you. I’m…I’m not a fae. I know you think I am, but I’m not. I’m human. This bracelet doesn’t belong to me. I’m a lowlife thief, and I just broke into this mansion and stole this bracelet from its true owner. So I’m not Seb’s sister, I’m not the missing princess, I’m not even fae.”

I studied her face for a long moment, my heart thudding in my ears.

She was so distraught at this confession, and I could see she believed every word she was saying. But instead of comforting her, I stepped away, opening a gulf between us.