Fragile Eternity (Wicked Lovely 3)

“Maybe. Maybe he is simply angry. Maybe he’s off to pursue a suspicion.”

“I want Seth home.”

“I know.”

Aislinn closed the door and leaned on it. “Niall didn’t know he was leaving. It’s not just me he left.”

“Niall will seek him out too.”

“What if he’s hurt?” she asked, giving voice to the fear she tried to hide even from herself. It was easier to believe he’d left her than that he was injured and unfindable.

“He took the serpent. His door was locked behind him.”

They stood there in silence until Keenan gestured toward the study. “Would you like to go over the notes Tavish had collected for us? Or do you want to hit something?”

“Hit something first.”

Keenan smiled, and they went to one of the exercise rooms to hit the heavy bags and speedballs that hung there.

Later, after she had hit the bag until her stomach muscles ached to the point that she felt like she’d be sick if she pushed further, Aislinn grabbed a quick shower in the bathroom attached to her bedroom. Until recently, she hadn’t felt like it was hers. It was a place to sleep and store a few things, nothing more, nothing less. That had changed after Seth left. She’d withdrawn into the room several times just to hide away from the world—only to retreat from there to roam the whole of the loft, where her faeries were. She needed them, needed to be around them.

That didn’t mean she wasn’t startled to find Siobhan sitting cross-legged in the middle of the massive canopy bed. The spiderweb drapes that hung like walls around the bed were fastened back, pinned by rose thorns that jutted from the posts of the bed. Surrounded by the fairy-tale setting, Siobhan looked like a princess from one of those animated movies Grams had never approved of watching. The Summer Girl’s hair was long enough that tendrils of it brushed the duvet that covered the bed. The vines that twisted like living tattoos around her body rustled as the leaves shifted toward Aislinn.

She’s too pretty to be human. Unnatural—Aislinn pushed away the old prejudices, but not before the rest of that thought was there—just like I am now. Not human.

“We are sad that he’s gone.” Siobhan’s voice was whispery. “We tried to make him stay.”

Aislinn stopped. “You what?”

“We danced, and we even took away his charm stone.” Siobhan pouted, seeming falsely young as she did so. “But Niall came and took him from us. We tried, though. We tried to keep him with us.”

Yelling at Siobhan wasn’t going to help. Despite the posturing of vapidity, Siobhan was clever. Some days, she was unnerving for it. Mostly, Aislinn thought the Summer Girl was loyal to their court—just not so loyal that trusting her was a safe bet.

Aislinn tightened her robe belt and sat down, not on her bed but on the stool in front of the dressing table. “Niall took Seth from the park. Did he take the charm stone?”

Siobhan smiled slowly. “It was he who gave it to Seth, so he’d not leave it with me, would he?”

“Because the charm made Seth…” Aislinn lifted a beautiful olive-wood brush, but she didn’t do anything with it.

“Impervious to our glamour, my Queen.” Siobhan came over, took the brush, and began brushing Aislinn’s hair. “It kept him safe from any illusions a faery might press onto him.”

“Right. And Niall gave it to him, but you took it.” Aislinn closed her eyes as Siobhan methodically pulled the knots from her hair.

“We did,” Siobhan confirmed.

“Did you?” Aislinn opened her eyes again and held Siobhan’s reflection in the mirror.

The faery paused in her brushstrokes and admitted, “No. I wouldn’t upset Niall that way. If you asked it of me, I’d cross him, but unless I must…We’ve been dancing together for centuries. He was the one who taught me what it meant to be not-mortal. When my king turned his attention to the next mortal…” She shook her head. “No, I wouldn’t upset Niall unless my regents required it.”

“I didn’t know he had a charm stone,” Aislinn whispered. “Did he mistrust me that much?”

“I don’t know, but I am sorry that you are sad.” Siobhan resumed brushing.

Aislinn’s eyes filled with tears. “I miss him.”

“I know.” Siobhan shook her head. “When Keenan turned his attention away from me…We all tried to replace Keenan. I sometimes thought I had.” She looked down for a second. “Until he left too.”

“Niall. You and he were something more—”