Freed (Imprisoned by the Fae 3)

I open my eyes again, meeting the suspicion in Nine’s gaze and the open curiosity in Riley’s. “You could say that.”

Jim laughs before knocking his thigh into mine. “It’s alright, babe. You can tell them about us.” Leaning forward, he smiles at the other two. “Name’s Jim. I’m her boyfriend. Saxon brought me here to be with her since she’s gotten herself stuck.”

Right. Like it’s all my fault.

Biting my tongue, I watch as Jim does one of the few things I asked him not to: he offers them his hand.

Before I can slap it away, Riley recoils. She’s staring at Jim’s extended hand as if it’s about to sting her or something.

Nine nods at Jim’s hand, gesturing at it with a jerk of his chin. “Put that away. No one touches my mate except for me.”

“Oh, right. Sorry.” Jim leans back in our shared seat. “Forgot about that.”

Riley shifts. Only just now do I realize that, in response to Jim’s offer of a friendly shake, she slipped her hands beneath her ass. She drops them into her lap, leaning into Nine again. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

“Just don’t do it again.”

“Nine—”

“He won’t,” I cut in. “Right, Jim?”

It takes him a second—and me running my finger on top of my hand before slanting my eyes toward Nine—before he remembers just how important it is not to give anyone permission to touch you while in Faerie.

His dark eyes go wide, an impish smile tugging on his lips. “Yup.”

Surprisingly, the Unseelie lets it go. Even more shocking, the awkwardness inside of the carriage basically disappears after that. For the decade that I’ve known him, Jim’s always been an easy-going, laid-back kind of guy. Very go with the flow, if a bit tactless at times. Honestly, he’s handling being in Faerie way better than I ever did and I think Nine and Riley pick up on that. They’re not insulted, and they seem to get along with Jim.

They start talking about the human world. Turns out Nine and Riley live in Newport, an urban area in the next state over from where me and Jim grew up and have our apartment.

Because we have that much in common at least, I try to join in on the conversation. It, uh, doesn’t go so well.

I spend the next hour or so wishing that I could ride on top of the carriage with Rys before realizing that, while I might be moping, I’m also acting like a bitch. They don’t deserve that. So, pulling on my big girl pants, I pretend like I’m enjoying myself. Before long, I kind of am.

So maybe Riley has history with Rys, and Nine scares me more than a little. They’re really not so bad—which is a good thing considering I’m going to be traveling with them for who knows how long.

Rys is true to his word. Though we stop to let the horses graze, and he joins us for a hurried meal, he pushes the horses as if eager to finish this part of the trip as quickly as possible. Once it starts to get late, I must’ve finally dozed off, letting the rocking motion of the carriage and the thudding of the hoofbeats lull me asleep. When the carriage slows then comes to a quick stop, I jerk awake right as Rys’s handsome face appears outside of my window.

His golden gaze darts over my shoulder before landing on me. He frowns. “I just wanted to let you know we’re here,” he announces before disappearing just as suddenly.

And that’s when I realize that I fell asleep next to Jim, his arm slung familiarly over my shoulder as he snores.

My reaction is immediate and entirely confusing. I shove his arm away from me, waking him up with how forcefully I do it.

“What’s going on?” Jim mutters, his gruff voice thick with sleep. He yawns and stretches his arm before ruffling his dark hair. “Where are we?”

Turning away from Jim, giving myself the excuse to put some space between us, I peek out of the window again. No sign of Rys, though I can see the magenta sky over the carriage giving way to purple, the cotton candy-colored grass beneath darkening and turning more brittle. In the distance, the shadows make it seem like it’s past midnight though this side of the Summer Court reveals that I must have slept through the night. It’s morning again.

I know this place. I know exactly where we are.

Remembering what Morgan called it, I tell the others, “We’re here. We’re at the Courts’ divide.”

Finally.

6

Once we cross over into the Shadow Realm, Nine takes the lead.

It makes sense. Like Rys, he’s obviously older than he appears since he mentioned before in the carriage that he spent his first few decades in the Shadow Realm before he was hand-picked by the former Fae Queen to attend her academy and join her guard. He has a home in Scáth, the capital city of the Winter Court, though he’s since moved to the human world to live with Riley. At the very least, he knows what to expect of the Cursed woods so, even if he doesn’t know where exactly to find the missing queen, he’s more qualified to take point than any of the rest of us.