Welp. I did know that time ran differently in Faerie. I just didn’t know that it ran that differently.
“Jim.” His name comes out like a croak. “I… I—”
I what?
I might not have the words, but Jim does.
“I thought you just needed to blow off some steam, but when you didn’t come home again in the morning, I started to get worried. Your phone was dead so I couldn’t call you and, shit, Hel, you know that’s not like you—”
“I… I lost it. And phones don’t work here anyway.”
“—and then this guy shows up at the apartment and he’s telling me all this b.s. about how you need me and, if I ever want to see you again, I’ve got to follow him through this wall of fire…”
He keeps going as if I didn’t even whisper my response. Jim keeps his arms loosely around my waist, holding me close, as if afraid I’ll disappear if he lets go.
But it… it feels wrong.
I search out Rys.
One look. That’s all it takes. One look at his closed-off expression, his scar pulled taut, his golden eyes gleaming as he presses his lush lips together.
This wasn’t a coincidence, was it? Saxon finding Jim and bringing him into Faerie… it was planned, wasn’t it?
I remember the day Rys rescued me from the auction block. And how he sent Saxon away.
You know what you have to do.
It all makes sense now. How Rys was able to fight the pull of his sacrifice. How he could look at me, be with me, touch me, and all it cost him was a little of his color.
How he repeatedly denied having a ffrindau. How that had to be the truth, otherwise he never could’ve said it.
Because he doesn’t, does he? All along, he knew what he was doing. To trade Siúcra for his freedom, he had to sacrifice his fated mate.
And he did—by bringing Jim here. I couldn’t go home, the way the fairy circle whisked me away to the Shadow Realm instead of the human world was proof of that, but I only gave up my hopes of seeing Jim again because he was just another part of home.
If you let me go, I’ll give up my chance of going home to my old life. To Jim. It’s all I want and I’ll give it to you so that I can go free.
Looks like the prison’s magic is as twisty as the fae. It’s not about the meaning behind a statement, but the absolute letter of the law. I gave up home—so my scarred Seelie brought part of my home to me.
See my gift for you...
And I don’t know what to think about that.
Jim is still talking—I’ve got no freaking clue what he’s saying—when he suddenly stops. The buzzing in my skull doesn’t, though, and it takes everything I have to focus enough to hear him say, “Hey. Are you okay?”
I… I was.
Now?
I’m not so sure.
Crap.
A Note From Jessica
Thanks for reading!
That’s a wrap for part two of Elle and Rys’s story. Sorry about that cliffhanger right there—but I just had to leave it at that point ;) Definitely gotta say that these two will totally earn their HEA by the time the third book is done!