Chapter 25

TWENTY-FIVE

COLLINS

We soared high above Third Realm with his body completely enveloping mine. Connection pulsed and sizzled between us. It was like I knew which way he was going to go before he even turned. I couldn’t look up. I couldn’t meet his eyes yet. Not this close. I was too raw, too scared, too confused. All of the things I’d felt for him before came rushing back the second I was in his arms. All that fire and tension between us since the moment we met eyes was back. Well, it hadn’t actually left. I’d just been terrified by what was happening. I’d tried to push it all aside. It’d purely been a survival instinct.

But after what I just saw . . . my mind and heart were reeling. My fingers brushed over his bare chest, and I felt the heavy thumping of his heart under my touch. I knew I should’ve been more cautious with him. He was, after all, a fae prince. The son of Tephine. Beheading his sister was a bold move and doing it in front of his mother and three other sisters was downright impressive. The second he did it, my heart practically leapt from my chest screaming I KNEW HE WASN’T BAD! Despite everything, I wasn’t scared of him. I felt safe within the embrace of his arms, for now.

I still had a shit ton of questions. I still wasn’t one hundred percent sure what his intentions for me were. But I did know that he’d just murdered his sister, and nobody in his family had expected it. That had to count for something. I knew we got away from the Queen, but for how long? She ruled the realm. I knew from my brief lesson that she was thousands of years old and the very first fae, and that that gave her extra powers. Our odds were still low, and that was if we were even a we. The fact that my mind believed he was a good guy so quickly terrified me. I was in too deep.

His warm fingers dug into my body and then the wind changed directions. We dropped and my stomach flipped like a rollercoaster. I squeezed my eyes shut and waited. Once my feet touched solid ground, I took a deep breath and opened my eyes—and found his moonstone eyes on me. I licked my lips as my pulse skipped.

The pale-blue color of his eyes twinkled like stars in the night sky. There was no malice in them, no rage or violence. His face was all sharp angles, but up close his lips were full and soft. He ducked his head to catch my gaze. When he had it, he gave me a small smile and then nodded his head to his right. I frowned and followed his gesture, and my eyes widened.

Tucked in among the trees, deep in the forest, was a small hut made of ice. It sat among the branches tucked in close to the trunk. The roof sloped at a hard angle that made it blend right into the ice covering the rest of the tree. Long branches draped down around it, tucking it behind a curtain of frozen leaves. We lifted off the ground again. I gasped and looked to his face. He just smiled again. I nodded and then we were flying the rest of the way up to the hut, landing just outside the door. It was in the shape of an arch and carved with fancy swirls and knots that all seemed to bend and twist together.

Bastien didn’t put me down as he approached the door, and I didn’t want him to. I didn’t want to let go. I wanted to hang on to the fantasy of him being a good guy . . . of him being interested in me.

When we entered the hut, it was shockingly cozy for a place with ice for walls. Bastien lowered me to my feet like my legs were made of feathers. When I was settled, he strode across the hut and grabbed two stones. He smacked them together and then threw them in the fireplace. They burst into multi-color flames and heat filled the room. He strolled back toward me and wrapped his fingers with mine.

I gasped and heat rushed to my face. Electricity shot up my arms. His eyes widened for a beat of a second before he regained his cool. He smirked, then tugged me gently toward the fire. He held our intertwined fingers and warmed them. When he let go of my hand, I wanted to reach back for him, but he moved across the room and grabbed two chairs. He placed one behind me and held it there until I sat down. Then he moved his so close to mine they were nearly touching. When he sat down, his leg brushed against mine and more of that electricity shot through my body. This close, in the quiet of this room, all I could do was sit here and feel the connection between the two of us. I was so confused. The deep need to be close to him was overwhelming. But logically, I should’ve been scared or even wary. But I wasn’t. And that was scary.

For what felt like an hour . . . we just stared at each other.

And then I remembered where I was and who he was.

I had to be smart. I wasn’t that dumb girl.

I leaned back and cleared my throat. “Okay, listen up . . . you want to tell me what’s going on here? Like, start talking. Because this shit is crazy, we are crazy, and nothing makes sense right now. I am very much freaking out. You have to tell me why I should trust you.”

He nodded and then reached over to a small table and picked up a paper and pen and scribbled across it. After a second, he turned the notebook around and held it out for me to see. It read, Hi, I’m Bastien. You can call me Bash .

“ That’s what you say to me? Hi ?” I scrubbed my face with my hands and tugged on my hair. I needed more than a greeting. I needed explanations. I needed more details than that. I tapped on his notebook. “Why don’t you ever speak?”

He let out a heavy sigh and scribbled even faster. When I was young, I angered my eldest sister, Cleo, so she cursed me. She took my voice, and I haven’t been able to speak since.

My heart sank and my mouth went dry. I didn’t know Bash, but I knew he’d protected me and got away from a situation I surely would’ve died in. “How . . . how long have you been like this?”

He bent over the paper. About sixty years.

“That’s awful.” I couldn’t imagine my own family taking pleasure in a curse like that, or even leaving me like that in the first place. I cleared my throat and nodded. “Tell me that’s the one whose head you cut off.”

He shook his head with a smile on his lips. He made the stabbing and slashing motion with his hand before writing. No, that was Helena. She’s tried to kill me enough times. She deserved it. My whole family has. I’ve waited for you. For as long as I can remember, I’ve waited for my moment to leave my family and help the Stone Keeper. The Chaos Stone is the only thing that can save us, and if it falls into my mother’s hands, we are all doomed. Not just the fae. She will take it into First Realm and kill millions with it.

Bash held nothing back. He’d told me exactly how it was. It was refreshing and terrifying.

“So . . . just to clarify . . . you’re a good guy? You are against your mother?”

He nodded excitedly, then wrote. When I was a kid, I adored my family. But then they treated me the way they treat everyone else, and I realized how awful they are. Cleo’s curse was the last straw. I was twenty years old.

"So, you don’t like your family?”

His face fell. Someone once told me that family is what you make it. I’d like to make a new one. I want my biological family dead. ASAP.

I swallowed roughly. “All of them? What about your sisters? Do all of them side with her? And your dad, what’s he like?”

He rolled his eyes and flipped the page in the notebook to fresh one. For starters, you’ve met Venus. She’s the one with pink hair. In Ancient Rome, the people actually thought she was the goddess Venus. Ruined so many lives. Started wars with Helena’s help. Helena is Helen of Troy. She launched that battle in Ancient Greece.

I shuttered at her name and the thought of what she did in the casino. And ancient Rome and Greece. Now the history stories made sense.

He kept on writing. Aryk the Red, my sister with the Viking ship, she killed thousands as a Viking in First Realm long before Araqiel separated everyone. The other is Marigold, the red-head better known as Bloody Mary.”

“Hold up.” I waved my arms. “Your sisters were the actual people that my history is written about?”

He nodded. My family has killed many over the years, and their reign must come to an end. But I had to bide my time and wait.

“Wait for what?”

He smiled and pointed at me. You , he mouthed.

I told myself he meant me because I was the Stone Keeper and not actually me. I needed to concentrate still. There was more to know. Because I knew he was right. There was no saving this realm with Tephine still in power. She would no doubt take the Stone and use it for her own means. I wanted to help Bash. In this, we belonged together.

“Now, which one is Cleo?”

Bash turned back to the page. She’s got straight navy-blue hair, sapphire eyes, and used to have a sapphire stone in her chest like mine.

“Wait, what do you mean a chest stone like yours?”

He tapped on the moonstone crystal necklace— no wait, that’s not a necklace. There were no chains or cords, just a round moonstone crystal embedded into his skin.

“Yeah, that. What is it? I mean, I know it’s moonstone but . . .”

When the Royal Family members are children, we are presented to the elements inside Crystal-henge and then the stones decide where our power lies. Mine is moonstone and my gift is sensory deprivation. Father’s is tiger’s eye and he has sonic scream power. Cleo’s was a sapphire that allowed her to communicate with snakes ? —

I put my hand on his to stop him from writing, since I was reading over his shoulder. “What happened to it? Cleo’s?”

He chuckled. The mage Stone Keeper took it.

“She and I should be friends.” I slid in closer and let my arm rest against his, relishing the connection between us. I didn’t know what it was, but it felt consuming.

He nodded. There’s more you should know. Jada, your guardian, is trapped in the castle. I tried to free her, but my father and sisters got in the way.”

I shot to my feet. “We have to go get her. Now. We can’t leave her to Tephine. And I bet we need her.”

Bash wrapped his hand around mine and tugged me back down to sit next to him. We can’t. You have to learn ALL of your powers before you go up against my mother again. Otherwise, you will end up like Jada. And after what I just did, she’ll be waiting for us.

My heart ached. I wanted to go now. But I knew he was right, the only thing me storming into that castle would do now would be to get us all killed. He was the only one I could semi-rely on right now. “Why are you helping? What’s your deal? You could be just like them. Why aren’t you?”

Bash sighed and ran his hand through his hair before he wrote on the page. The abuse I suffered at the hands of my family is a long story. My own sister cursed me, and my mother thinks it’s funny. You met my family. Why wouldn’t I? The other night, my mother sent me to Vegas to kill you as payment for getting my voice back .

I’d spent most of my life in Vegas and not once had I come across any trouble. In fact, most of the time I blended in. “How did she know about me?”

Someone reported you on the violence hotline. My mother has spies on the inside . . . she’s been looking for you for twenty-one years, and I protected you . I’d never let her have you, Collins .

“But you were after me. You attacked us outside the police station. How can I trust what you say now? Especially after I’ve met your family?” I wanted to trust him. He was the only person I had, but how could I? He was a fae prince. “How do I know this isn’t a trick too?”

I never had any intention of killing you. I let her think I did, but I went to help you. My plan was to bring you here with me so we could find the Stone together. All those times I protected you and kept undercover, I had to know what my family was planning so I could help you ? —

I put my hand on his, stopping him from writing once more. When he peeked up at me, with our faces so close to each other, I almost couldn’t speak. But I had to get these questions out. “What happened then? In Vegas? You scared me so much.”

He cringed and hung his head. I took my hand off his and he went right to writing. I can’t tell you how sorry I am for how that all went down. It’s not easy to not be able to speak. I had a plan but— he stopped and sighed. His gaze swung back to me, and he just stared.

“But what?” I whispered.

But then I saw you, he mouthed.

Butterflies burst in my stomach. I felt goosebumps break out across my skin. We sat there staring at each other again. Every time our eyes met, we got sucked into each other. I understood his frustration at not being able to speak. I felt it too. The need to hear his voice was killing me.

I licked my lips. “Then you saw me.”

He nodded and turned back to the notebook. I knew you were the Stone Keeper before I got there, my mother told me, but I don’t know. I wasn’t prepared for you.

“I wasn’t prepared for you either,” I heard myself whisper. I leaned over his shoulder. “Keep going. Please.”

I couldn’t talk, so I was trying to find a moment to get you alone without scaring you. But then you bent down and stood too fast, and you got dizzy. I swear I didn’t mean to knock you out. I didn’t mean to use my magic on you and take your senses, but I reached out to steady you and it just happened. I don’t know. I’m so sorry. He looked up and met my eyes. When I nodded, he gave me a small smile. I was worried about you. I thought you were sick, and I panicked. I never should have flown up to your balcony. That was stupid. Everything after that was me trying to do damage control.

“And then Venus showed up.”

He growled, and even though I couldn’t hear it, I felt it vibrate through his body. But I vow I would never hurt you, Collins. He pressed his hand over the stone in his chest, then wrote on the paper. I swear my loyalty to you and only you. If we’re both going to survive this, I need you to trust me.

I needed to believe him. I wanted to believe him. He never actually hurt me. Not once. He was the only person I had, and this pull to him was deep in the pit of my stomach. But there was still one thing I had to know.

“You want my trust?” I took a deep breath to brace myself. “My trust will be based on the answer to this next question . . .”

He nodded.

“Where is Tallulah?”

His eyes went wide, and his face went completely pale.