Chapter 38

Thirty-Eight

WESLEY

“ W esley?”

I jolted out of the dream, gasping for air, surprised to find Sebastian beside me, the realm gone, and the Summer king’s home surrounding me in waves of warm energy, scents of wolves and baked goods. His omega presence adding a heavy sense of calm that I knew wasn’t mine.

“No!” I tried to sit up, weaker than I could ever recall having been and flailed, half falling out of bed. Seb caught me and set me back carefully.

“You’ve been sick for days. You need rest.”

“Sick? I don’t get sick. I’m fae.”

“Okay,” Seb didn’t argue. “If I have food brought for you, will you eat?”

“I have to save Finn.”

“Do you know how?”

“Isn’t your mate supposed to be the rational one?” I snapped.

“I could ask a lot more questions, but I’d rather you rest.”

“I’m not tired.” I was. Exhausted, sweaty, starving, and heartbroken. The nightmare of Finn’s childhood lingering like a thorn in my heart.

The door to the room opened and Ari entered with a tray of food. Any childlike display of the rebirth of Underhill gone, as they appeared older than Seb, and very masculine, but the magic pulse of their energy told me it was the witchchild before they entered the room.

“Did you find Finn?” I asked them.

“We can’t get in,” Seb said. “Ari’s tried.”

“Xiao catches glimpses,” Ari said. “But Autumn is keeping him out.” They set the tray on the table.

“Liam made the hummus,” Seb said. “We have a ton of cans of beans to use. Ari said you’re mostly vegan?”

I wouldn’t admit to the bloodlust unless I had to. “Yes.”

Seb adjusted the tray to sit over my lap. A giant bowl of freshly made hummus and homemade pita crisps making me salivate. I scooped up the first chip, loaded with dip, hand shaking, but popped it in my mouth and nearly died of joy in that half second. The room blanked out; my focus lost on eating as I hadn’t realized how hungry I’d been.

I came back to myself while scraping the edges of the bowl with the last pita crisp. “Sorry,” I said more out of habit than actual apology.

“What can you tell me about Finn?” Sebastian asked. He picked up the tray and handed it to Ari as the food filling my gut made me sleepy. Ari left with the empty dishes and I wished they’d magically refill it as I could eat endless bowls of that if I weren’t struggling to keep my eyes open.

“You put something in the food?”

“Like?”

“Something to make me sleep.”

“Did you sense magic?”

“You’re being evasive. Didn’t anyone tell you not to answer a question with a question?”

“I thought that was the fae way?” Seb said.

I grunted. He’d been guileless most of his youth. Cynicism only growing after he’d become lovers with the wolf king’s son. If I’d known early in their relationship, I’d have interfered. Not that the options I could have thrown his way were any better. Were the kings meant to bathe in trauma? What a shitty way to obtain a monarchy.

“I can’t help if I don’t know,” Seb said after a few minutes of waiting on my silence.

“I can’t tell you what I don’t know.”

“About Finn? Who he is? What he is? Why he’s important?”

What did I know? More than I thought I had now. “He’s the torn human soul of the Autumn king. Split from the wolf, Xander, your sire. I’m not certain when or how it happened, but the wolf took the human soul, gave it mortal form, and a new life.”

“Wouldn’t I have sensed apa was another king?”

I snorted. “And he’s been broken. I’m pretty certain it happened when you were very young. You and Finn are close in age. You’re a baby in fae terms. And only half. Witchblood, remember? More human than fae.”

Seb stared at the distant window. “I don’t think that word means what you think it means.”

“Inconceivable,” I muttered.

He laughed. “You do have a sense of humor. Good. I was worried apa would be stuck with a conceited prick.”

“I’m that, too,” I said.

“Hmm,” Seb said, copying his mate’s reply to a comment he didn’t agree with, without agreeing at all. “Witchborn,” Seb continued, “Kiran says it’s really those who are mixed with fae.”

“More fae than human, yes.”

“Which means apa is some sort of fae, too?”

“Humans gave us that label. Not fae. We mean nothing to the fae.”

“But I am the fae now,” Seb said. His gaze sharp and firm. “I never asked to be this Summer king thing. Yet here I am.”

And that was the crux of things, wasn’t it? End of everything? Or beginning of something new?

“Tell me about your vision.”

“You already know I can’t see your future,” I said in a half panic. Would he get angry? Lock me up? What about Finn? What if he died in the Autumn realm? A new king might be born, but that meant chaos for the rest. And I couldn’t lose him, my heart would shatter.

“I don’t mean that. The end of everything. You muttered it while you were feverish.”

Had I had a vision beyond seeing Finn’s dreams? Wait, was I still connected to Finn? I searched for any tie of magic linking us together that I could follow, and found nothing. My magic stores, still depleted, were slowly recharging. My hands were human, and when I reached up to check my head for any sign of nubs, their absence made me hope I wasn’t at all fawn anymore. Though Seb would have seen that, wouldn’t he?

Heat burned my cheeks in embarrassment. He would know how weak and useless I was. Fuck.

“Wesley,” Seb prodded.

“Your birth heralded the end of everything. Didn’t I tell you that a long time ago?”

He sighed. “That’s what you told the fae.”

“You just said you are fae.”

He got up and paced the room, radiating annoyance rather than calm. “Why can’t you be straight with me, Wesley? I’m trying to help.”

Because help always warranted me punishment. I said nothing.

“Would you talk to Liam? Or Ari? You don’t trust me because I’m fae, but is there anyone you do trust?”

“I just… need to find Finn.” Before it’s too late and he drowned in the horrors of his past.

The door opened again and Ari reappeared, this time with a slice of cake. I flinched, remembering the last bite that had taken me out of the realm. Would this one put me back. They handed me the plate, a huge slice of juicy carrot cake this time, spices wafting to my nose and I practically drooled. Had I ever had carrot cake made by the Summer king?

“Can you send me back?” I asked, slicing off a piece of cake and sliding it into my mouth. Heaven. How did an annoying kitsune like Sebastian become not only the Summer king, but design recipes that brought a Stag to his knees. “Fuck, you’ve been holding out on me,” I said as I devoured the cake. It wasn’t until I got to the last bite that I tasted the gentle fold of magic in the sweetness. “You drugged me.”

“Hmm,” Seb said again. “You need rest.”

“I need to get back to Finn,” I slurred, plate sliding from my grip. Ari took it and gave me a comforting smile. “And save him.”

“I ask again, do you know how?”

“Keep him from drowning in pain,” I said instinctively, sleep dragging me with an iron fist into the dark. “Please don’t let him die. He’s mine. Nothing has ever been mine before.”