Brave (A Wicked Trilogy 3)

“How would we kill her if she were here?” I asked.

“The same way you would kill any of us,” the Summer Prince answered. “Decapitation.”

The line of questioning brought me back to my earlier conversation with Tink. “But she would obviously need to be weakened. The same with Drake.” I ignored the way his lips thinned. “How do we weaken one of you enough to go toe to toe?”

The room quieted as Fabian eyed me from where he sat. “And why would you want to know how to weaken a royal?”

I met his burning gaze. “To kill Drake. Duh.”

“I thought you needed help finding the Crystal?” Fabian leaned forward, placing both feet on the floor. It was then that I realized he wore no shoes. Odd. “Not with killing the Winter Prince.”

“We do need help finding the Crystal.” Tanner’s gaze bounced between us. “Ivy was captured b

y the Prince at one point. She’s understandably a little . . . murderous when it comes to him.”

“She’s not the only one,” Ren threw out.

“I’m not a little murderous,” I clarified. “I’m a lot murderous.”

“You think I would tell you how to weaken the Winter Prince? Which would mean you’d know how to weaken me?” Fabian chuckled. “You’re foolish.”

Steel dripped into my spine as I stepped forward. “You want us to trust you blindly and yet you will not do the same? We have no reason to use this knowledge against you. I only want to kill the Prince, because I’ll be damned if I spend weeks or months or the rest of my life looking over my shoulder for him, wondering if anyone I know is safe because he’ll use them to get to me.”

Fabian smirked as his icy gaze landed on me. “You silly little girl. You speak as if you’re a special snowflake, unique and one of a kind.”

Ren snorted from where he stood.

I shot Ren a death glare before glaring at Fabian. “You don’t know who Voldemort is, but you know what special snowflake means? I call bullshit on that.”

Fabian cocked his head to the side. “One always knows when they meet a special snowflake.”

“Yeah, and those calling others snowflakes are historically the actual snowflake.”

“Sticks and stones,” Fabian murmured. “Or I am rubber and you are glue. Whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you.”

My mouth dropped open. Oh my God, it was like having a conversation with a ruder Tink.

Who, by the way, was practically shimmying with excitement as he leaned in, whispering into my ear. “I like this guy. I really like him. Can I keep him?”

The Summer Prince heard him, and interest sparked in his pale blue eyes. “I’ve never been kept by a brownie before, but . . . I’ve heard things. Interesting things.”

I so needed an adult right now, but the adults were all staring at the ceiling, pretending like a live version of Fae Tinder wasn’t going down right in front of us.

Tink straightened. “Do tell.”

Fabian stepped toward us. “Is it true that a brownie’s co—”

“Okay,” Ren stepped in, apparently to Tanner’s relief by the look on his face. “Let’s get back on topic. You were talking about how Ivy isn’t a special snowflake.”

Dear mountain momma, I was two seconds from launching my dagger across the room and stabbing the Summer Prince in his eye, punching Tink, and throwing Ren out the window.

“All right, Fabio,” I snapped. “Can you get past the insulting me part to saying something actually helpful? For once?”

His fair brows knitted. “Are you dense? My name is not Fabio. It’s Fabian.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever.” I didn’t have the patience to explain who Fabio was. “Just say what you need to say.”

The Summer Prince’s smirk grew. “The Prince has found another halfling and he’s left New Orleans, taking the Crystal with him.”

Chapter 14

All hell broke loose around me while I just stood there, in the center of the room staring at the Summer Prince. Faye was standing and so was Tanner. Ren had moved forward, asking questions, but I didn’t hear what he was saying. Tink was calm, though. Sort of. He was eyeballing Fabio again, in the way Ren looked at me when he actually liked me.

But I . . . I was just so shocked I couldn’t think past my roiling emotions. One stood out. Relief. It coursed through me in waves, leaving me dizzy.

The Prince wouldn’t be looking for me.

Ren was safe.

So was Tink.

I was safe.

Well, as safe as any of us were, but Drake wasn’t gunning for me anymore.

My throat thickened as tears rushed my eyes.

All of that probably meant something was wrong with me. I mean, Drake was still out there bound and determined to knock up some poor, random halfling, but he wasn’t coming after me.

A laugh bubbled up my throat, but I squelched it before it escaped as I blinked back tears of relief. No one would understand.

I was such a terrible person, but I couldn’t help it. Weight lifted from my shoulders. We still had to deal with Drake, but I . . . I felt free.

“I thought the Elite had killed all the halflings?” Tanner’s voice rose above the noise, drawing my attention.

“The Elite has hunted down every halfling they’ve been able to discover,” Ren answered, and I flinched, knowing that I was one of them. “That doesn’t mean they got all the halflings in the whole world. The Prince is obviously better at finding them than we were.”

“I don’t know if that’s true since you guys probably killed a whole crapton of them,” Tink pointed out.

Ren shot him a dark glare before turning to Fabian. “How do you know this?”

“Just as the Winter Prince has had scouts out looking for possible halflings, we’ve had our own eyes on them.” Fabian yawned, appearing bored with this whole conversation. “He and his consul left two days ago.”

Two days ago? While I was passed out because some fae tried to murder me because they thought the Prince was here? Another near hysterical laugh started deep in my belly.

“You had no idea that they were scouting for other halflings?” Ren asked Faye.

“I know Valor wanted the Prince to look for another, but as far as I know, they weren’t actively seeking one.” Disbelief colored her tone. At some point, she’d lost her human form. “Where did he go?”

Fabian stretched out his legs, crossing them at the ankles. “That we don’t know.”

“You apparently know everything else, but you don’t know this?” I demanded.

“Yes.” His gaze flickered to me. “That is exactly what I’m saying. It was too much of a risk for my spies to follow.”

Whatever relief I’d felt when I discovered that Drake wouldn’t be looking for me began to fade. “Then he and this Halfling could be anywhere.”

He lifted a shoulder in an elegant shrug.

“This changes everything,” Faye said, sitting back down heavily, lacking her normal grace. “I knew nothing of the scouts or that he’d be able to find another halfling this quickly.”

“It doesn’t change anything.” All eyes focused on me. What I said was true. Everything changed for me, but we still had the same mission—a more urgent, desperate one now. “We need to find him, put him back where he belongs, or kill him.”

Ren whirled on me. “Are you out of your mind?”

“Excuse me?”

“You don’t need to do anything but keep your pretty little ass here,” he announced like he didn’t have a death wish. “The Prince might be on the hunt for another halfling, but you’re still a halfling, Ivy.”

“No shit,” I spat back. “But only I get to say where my ass gets to go and doesn’t go.”

His eyes flared a deep shade of green. “If he’s not here, there’s no reason for you to go after him. The smartest and safest thing is for you to stay here.”

“And what? You’re going to go after him?”