Touch (Touched by the Fae 3)

So, Oberon was a bust.

I’m not so surprised. It sucks, though. Not gonna lie. I was really hoping that the so-called Summer King would want to get revenge on Melisandre for stealing his crown. If it was me, I’d want to. Still, I get it. He was banished from his realm for more than two centuries because he picked the wrong chick to screw. He thought he was getting a mate and she tried to kill him.

Not what you call happily ever after, huh?

I guess it makes sense that he refused. If we’re going based on the Shadow Prophecy, it doesn’t say when the Dark and the Shadow pawn the whole thing off on the Summer King, does it?

Would’ve been amazing if it did, though.

I break the news to Callie and Ash. I know they tried not to

get their hopes up that Oberon would be our Hail Mary play if only because they didn’t want me to get my hopes up. It was a little late for that. I so wanted him to be my way out.

Ash’s old sword is tucked in my bedroom where I’ve kept it since he gave it to me. Nine has his hidden in the shadows. I might not have wanted to rely on their weapons to finish this but it seems more and more likely that my lessons are gonna have to come in handy.

I’ve known all along that it’s her or me. Continuing to hide out… it’s what I’m used to, but it can’t last forever.

What to do now?

Hell if I know.

Since our only hope has proven to be a wash-out, the four of us sit in the living room, trying to figure out what our next step has to be. Ash and Callie are leaning into each other on the loveseat, I’m curled up in the corner of the couch while Nine sits on the edge of the armchair, boots to the floor, his shadowy duster flaring out behind him.

I nibble on my bottom lip. “I don’t know,” I say. “Oberon has a point. Sooner or later, Melisandre is gonna do something about me. I just—”

“Sooner.”

“What’s that?”

He doesn’t answer me. Instead, he gets to his feet, moving toward the front door. Tucking his hair behind his ears, I notice that the pointed tips twitch as if he’s heard something that the rest of us haven’t.

He turns back, looking straight at me. As our eyes meet, I notice that the golden gleam is almost orange all of a sudden.

“It’ll be sooner,” he says again.

I chuckle nervously. “Um. Ash. You sound kinda sure there.”

“Oh, daughter. I’m sorry, but that’s because I am.”

Callie gasps. “Not again?”

When my dad nods, she hops off the sofa, flying into Ash’s open arms.

Uh-oh.

I don’t like this.

Neither, it seems, does Nine.

“Aislinn?” He unfolds his lithe body, rising up from the armchair. “What do you sense?”

Ash holds my mom close, rubbing her back soothingly as he keeps his ears cocked, obviously listening.

“Seelie. More than a few. I can sense them coming. The wards were holding”—Ash’s golden gaze flares, his slender body bowing as if he’s been hit but is still desperate to shield Callie— “but they’re gone. They’re on their way.”

“It’s just like last time,” Callie whispers. “They’re back. They want our baby.”

“I won’t let them have her. I vow it.” He looks over her head, staring straight at me. “Riley, you have to get out of here before they make it to the top.”