Radley watched her leave,curious. She hadn’t fought his assumptions, further proving them in his eyes. Instead, she’d simply walked away. The door she left through grew dimmer when she disappeared, and he hated to admit that the room was the same. She’d taken all the color with her.
The butler moved over to her plates and lifted them into his hands, but his eyes were on Radley. His gaze was hard, angry even, and Radley frowned.
“You’re wrong about her, you know,” he said, settling the plates on his arms and making sure to hold them out properly.
“I don’t think I am,” Radley shrugged. “After all, she had to find me and call in a debt just for someone to race with her.”
“There’s two important differences between the two of you, and I’m not sure you’ll ever see it, but it’s good you know who you’re getting into a car with and whose future you hold in your hands.”
Radley tilted his head. “And what might those be?”
“You’re so confident in announcing you’re an alpha and tooting your importance. No one will question who you are.”
“As it should be.”
“However,” the butler continued. “Cricket has no need for such tactics. She’s been assigned her importance, but just because she bears an important name does not mean she’s not important in other ways. She uses that name to help people without actually announcing she’d helping them. You say she’s not responsible, and yet, there’s a whole system of people who would give their lives for her because of her kindness.” His eyes hardened further. “Remember that the next time you insult her.”
The butler turned away to return to the kitchens, but Radley held up his hand. “You said there were two differences. That was only one.”
He turned back around and stared at Radley, animosity in every feature there. “Wolves are born free. Fae are born with chains. The day she breaks her chains will be the day you fear her.”
“Because she’s like her father,” Radley nods, but the butler was already shaking his head.
“Because she’s nothing like him. You don’t know her. Try not to judge the Lady by her father and maybe you’ll survive this. If you hurt her, or cause her to get hurt, well, then, there’s a whole group of us that would go to war in her honor.”
And then he disappeared, leaving Radley with his plate of pizza and his thoughts.