Chapter 25

TWENTY-FIVE

Maybe I should have stayed. Maybe I should have helped pick up the pieces from the mess I’d created, but I didn’t. I looked around, heard the wail of sirens in the distance, saw the chaos that was about to unfold, and I walked away.

It was none of my business now. I’d done what I needed to do. Kept them all alive and un-kidnapped. I’d revealed Blake’s horrifying plan, helped Callum finish what he started, and fulfilled my vow to Kira to protect her brother.

Yes, the Idrian courts were about to be in chaos, and Blake was still out there plotting to start a war between Idrians and humans. Yes, I still needed to keep my promise to Talia to help her find her daughter.

But all of that was going to have to wait.

I had to focus on what my family needed, and what we needed most now was safety. We were wanted fugitives, and far too many people knew where to find us. Also, Blake’s horrifying vision for the future required Kes’s magic, and he already suspected I knew where she was.

We’d all voted to stay and fight, but that was before we understood the stakes. Now, I needed a better plan—to prevent us from being imprisoned or exiled, and to hide us from Blake.

If that was even possible when he had access to portal magic .

Life was about to get a lot more complicated, and yet, somehow, as I began that familiar trek back to the hostel, I felt lighter. There was so much relief in knowing that I no longer needed to lie, even if only by omission. I would never again need to wake up every day and worry about whether I would lose control of my magic and accidentally reveal our secrets.

Yes, there was uncertainty, too. I didn’t know who would be the first to come for us, or how much time we would have to prepare. And I most decidedly hadn’t been able to face a certain dragon after revealing the source of my magic.

But Callum would have enough to deal with. He’d accomplished what he came here to do, but in the process, he’d probably lost the trust of the Idrian community. Not to mention he would be furious with himself for failing in his promise to keep the delegates safe.

Did he hate me now? He hadn’t sounded angry, even after he learned the truth. He’d actually apologized. And then I’d lashed out, feeling hurt and desperate to distract Blake.

But whether he hated me or not scarcely mattered. He was the king of the shapeshifters, and I was a wanted criminal. He could neither harbor nor befriend me without breaking his own laws, and I would never ask him to betray his principles. I even hoped he would be able to forgive himself for not keeping his promise to protect me.

So as much as it ached to know that I would probably never see his grumpy, gorgeous dragon face again… it was undoubtedly for the best. For both of us.

My steps lagged as I fought back tears, and I wandered for a bit, not wanting to face Kes and the kids until I’d pulled myself together. I needed to be calm and steady when I explained what had happened, and what was likely coming for us next.

Kes would be devastated to learn of Blake’s treachery and his future plans involving her. She’d already suffered so much for this magic she hadn’t asked for, and I hated that she might be forced to relive her past because of his twisted ambitions.

But she was resilient. We all were, and we would get through this. Together.

It was just after midnight when I stumbled back through the front doors of the hostel, weary and sore and still not quite sure where we would go from here. I didn’t think anyone would be up, but I was being quiet just in case, so I nearly jumped out of my skin when I tiptoed past the dining room and heard my name.

“Raine Kendrick.”

It was not the voice I expected, or even the one I desperately wanted to hear, but it was also not one I could ignore.

“Faris.” I turned around and found the owner of the hostel sitting alone in the otherwise empty dining room. I checked the corners—surprised to find that he’d brought none of his people—then regarded him with a sense of weary resignation. Was this my official firing? Or had they sent him to capture me, out of a show of respect for his sovereignty in this city?

“Sit.” He indicated the chair across from him.

But I was not the same person who had walked cautiously into his office only a few short weeks ago. “I’ll stand, thank you,” I replied coolly.

“Suit yourself.” His green eyes assessed me, his expression giving no hint of his thoughts. “But don’t blame me if you fall over from sheer exhaustion.”

“Noted.” I waited for him to go on, and when he didn’t, I gave up. Pulled out a chair, and flopped into it with a groan.

“Why are you here?” I demanded. “Did they send you to do their dirty work? Ask you to clean up the mess because it’s your city?”

One of his eyebrows rose a fraction. “Why do you think I’m here?”

“To arrest me? I don’t know.” I threw up my hands. “It’s the middle of the night. I know there are bigger things going on right now, so it must be something important.”

He just shrugged. “The mess is Callum’s problem. And I’m not here to arrest you.”

“I know what the law says,” I insisted stubbornly. “And I don’t expect you to break it for me. I knew the consequences when I chose to act, and I will accept them. But I’m going to request leniency for Ari and for Logan. They’re just children, and they don’t deserve to be exiled or imprisoned.”

“And you do?”

“Does it matter?” I snapped, suddenly feeling irritated and heartsore. “The law is the law.”

Faris just leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “It is for those who signed it.”

Wait…

“Are you saying…”

His expression hardened, and his green eyes flashed. “I offered neutral ground for the Symposium, but that doesn’t mean I changed my mind about getting involved in court business. I already make the laws for the Shadow Court. It’s not like I need anyone’s permission to bury my enemies alive, with or without stolen magic. And if they don’t like my methods, I’ll be happy to remind them of exactly how I’ve protected my autonomy all these years.”

My whole body began to shake. I tried holding on to the arms of the chair, but then there were tears flooding my cheeks and I had to let go to swipe at them with the backs of my hands.

“Sorry,” I finally managed to say, my voice hoarse and trembling with relief. “I just… I thought…”

“I know.” His voice was deep and rough, and yet somehow comforting. “That’s why I came.”

“So, we can stay?”

“Not here.”

Oh. Well, it was still better than being back out on the road. If Faris was willing to offer us protection from the other courts, we could find a way to deal with Blake on our own.

“That’s fine,” I told him. “If we can at least stay till morning, we’ll be out of here as soon as the kids wake up.”

The look he shot me was full of irritation and impatience, but also something more. As if those emotions were just a cover for a deeper feeling he didn’t really want to admit. “I’m not kicking you out onto the street,” he growled. “I keep apartments just up the road for some of my employees. Still temporary, but better than here. If you’d rather let the kids sleep, we can move you in the morning, but I don’t want to wait too long. Even with my guards, this place is too vulnerable to attack.”

I couldn’t help it. My jaw dropped. My mouth opened and shut a few times like a stranded fish, but Faris wasn’t finished.

“I’ll also be expecting you back at work come Monday. Kira and Draven will be getting married soon, and they want to do it at the club, so I’ll be needing extra help while they’re fussing over the details.”

I didn’t understand, and I almost couldn’t find words to express my confusion. He was doing so much for us, and I still didn’t know why .

“Why are you doing all this?” I asked quietly. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful. Incredibly so. But no one helps for free. Especially not when there’s so much trouble involved. You have to know people will be coming for us. If there’s a war, my family may be at the center of it, and your own people will hate you for harboring us. So… why?”

“My own people?” he echoed. “Raine, in case you haven’t noticed yet, my ‘ people’ are the Shadow Court. And from the moment I employed you, that included you and your family.” There was no hesitation in that claim. No wavering. Just absolute certainty. “Every one of my people has their reasons for being here, but the main rule we live by is that we protect our own, and everyone in the Idrian community knows it. So they are well aware that if they attempt to harm you, they will have me to deal with—laws or no laws.”

It sounded unbelievable. Too perfect to be true. And Faris was eyeing me as if he knew exactly what I was thinking.

“But you still want to know why.”

I nodded slowly. “I don’t know how to trust, Faris. I especially don’t know how to trust good things.”

And yet, I’d been willing to trust Callum, a mystery that would probably haunt me for some time to come.

Faris took his time in answering, but I waited. Needing to know what he would say before I could accept that we might—against all odds—have found a place to call home.

“Because,” he said at length, with a sigh that held echoes of old pain, “justice is blind.”

I waited for him to explain.

“You’ve seen the statues. Lady Justice with her scales and her blindfold. I built this place because of that blindfold. We need rules and laws, yes. But they can’t protect everyone who deserves to be protected. They can’t foresee every messed up thing people do to each other. It’s always the weakest who fall through the cracks, and they needed somewhere to land.” He was looking almost uncomfortable now, as if he’d revealed something deeply personal. “This is that place.”

It was almost as if he’d heard me talking to Kes. Heard me crying out for someone to see us.

“And also,” he admitted grudgingly, “because a couple of dragons nagged me until I agreed to come down here and make sure you were okay.”

I wanted to laugh. I wanted to cry. And I wanted desperately to ask him which dragons, but I didn’t. It was actually a little alarming how many there were to choose from.

“Is…” I didn’t know how to ask without revealing too much.

“Is Callum okay?” Faris finished the question for me, his sharp green eyes seeing far more than I was comfortable with.

I nodded.

“He’ll find his way.”

That wasn’t much of an answer, but Faris had already talked a lot more than I would have expected.

“Is everyone else okay?”

He shrugged again. “No one died. Angelica took a few too many darts, but she’ll recover. Turns out the rest were all drugged by the wine they used to toast the signing. Whatever Blake used was slow-acting. Meant everyone got an equal dose and went down at the same time.”

As villainous plots went, it had been masterfully planned and executed.

Blake just hadn’t counted on Callum, who I knew hated human alcohol.

“What about Rath and Yolande?”

Faris grunted. “The bear accidentally spilled her drink, so she only got a few drops. As for the fae… who knows? The fae court eats, sleeps, and breathes murderous plots, so he probably had some form of protection.”

Honestly, it was the best we could have hoped for under the circumstances. Everyone was alive. No buildings had been destroyed, and the saboteur had ultimately failed in his plan.

“I’m sure you have questions for me,” I murmured. “About why I lied, and how all of this works, with me being… human and everything.”

He nodded. “We’ll need to know everything you can tell us about Blake. Might ask for help with questioning his people. Draven will want to know how many others might be working with them and what kind of magic stockpiles they have. And anything you can tell me about Logan will help me teach him to stabilize his magic.”

I blinked at him stupidly. “That’s not what I meant.”

Faris just grunted again, pushed his chair back, and stood up. “I know.”

“Then you’re just… okay with it? Even though the law says I’m a monster?”

“Being a monster is a choice,” Faris said gruffly. “You made a different one.”

I still had so many questions. There were still so many problems unsolved. But just then, it felt like he’d handed me an answer I’d been looking for since I was sixteen years old.

I couldn’t change what had been done to me. But I could choose who I was going to be.

For so long, it had felt like the ground was shifting underfoot. We’d come here looking for a new beginning, with no home, no certainty, no sense of place or self. But now, Faris had given us a home. So I couldn’t help thinking that maybe—just maybe—we could begin to build those other things for ourselves.

Maybe I should still be afraid of what was coming. Maybe I should be trembling in fear of the power already arrayed against us.

But for the first time in ten years, we would not be facing it alone.

And I could ask for no better new beginning than that.

Ready to find out what’s coming next for Raine and Callum and their friends? Preorder Book 2, Magic Betrayed , to continue the story!

Curious about Kira and Draven? Experience their story in The Dragon of 23rd Street , a complete urban fantasy trilogy!