Of Fae and Hate

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: ALIK

Idon’tknowhow long we can cover up the fact that Neryssa Ebirac is dead.

Its already been a week and Fox has had to shift into her, which is a fucking weird thing to see, to go to her classes to kill suspicion.

The biggest problem we’ve had has been Clemmentime Thorn. She’s not a fool and Fox keeps saying that it's clear she’s suspicious of the fact that something is up. He’s tried to grow distant with her as he portrays Neryssa, trying to create some space, but the feisty little witch is always in his face throwing wary looks at his clone of Neryssa.

If it weren’t for the fact that a lot of people change after sleeping with Brynsyn, which has been the assumption from Clemmentime, she’d probably have already sounded the alarm to Sprouse.

I’m not sure how much time we have left before she actually does.

I sigh as the front door to my cabin slams open. I don’t have to turn to see who it is. I’ve become far too familiar with the smell of Brynsyn and the sound of his footsteps over the last week.

“Tell me again why you all have taken to congregating here,” I say, turning to glare at him.

He’s been wearing a shirt all week, which is another thing that has been raising people’s suspicions. But he has no choice with the black marks covering his chest and lower back.

He peers over at me as he throws his bag down onto my couch. “Because you’re the only one who has a private home. The rest of us aren’t royal enough to have private digs. Somebody would report us if Fox or I brought two camotose girls back to our dorms.” He says it casually, yet I don’t miss the tension in his body.

I have my suspicions that he knows more about what went on that night than he lets on.

He’s the one who picked up that fucking book in the first place, and he’s the only one who hadn’t tried to run from the abaron.

Him and Soskia, but I’d known from the moment that I laid eyes on her what was going on, she’d been thrown right back into the last time the two of us had been attacked by the creatures. She’d sacrificed a large part of herself to save not only herself, but me as well. She’s never been the same since and it's why I can never hate her as much as I used to, no matter how hard I try.

“Speaking of them, how are they doing today?” he asks, popping his feet up on my coffee table and propping his hands behind his head.

Irritation moves through me and I walk over to him, kicking his legs off of the table a little harder than I need to.

“The same. It’s the weekend so we catch a bit of a break but we’ve got to figure out something soon. Fox can’t keep pretending to be Neryssa and Sprouse is going to pop up eventually to check on Soskia again.” We’d got lucky in that department. Sprouse knew about the trauma Soskia endured when we’d run into the abaron. We’d been on our way to campus when it happened and it'd been the first place we’d arrived at afterwards.

Sprouse and Mr. Lunsen had drawn the unfortunate stick of having to tell Soskia the consequences of her heroic act.

After it became clear that Soskia wasn’t in any shape to return to the real world after the incident at the party, I told Sprouse that she’d had a relapse. The woman had wanted to know what caused it and I hadn’t been lying when I told her the first week of classes are always tough for her, the anniversary of the accident playing tricks on her mind.

It’s something Soskia and I never talk directly about. Sometimes when it gets hard, she seeks me out, the way I told her to years ago, and once she’s okay, we act like it never happened.

This year it’d been worst and part of that was my fault. I’d found out she’d hooked up with one of Kellan Lovar’s cousins during the break and in retaliation I’d created a stir with Mercienne in the quad. It hadn’t been fair to anyone involved, especially Mercienne, but I’ve never been logical when it comes to Soskia. We have no real commitment to each other, our engagement one of convenience and yet… over the years it’s become something more, something complex with unspoken rules between us.

So when I’d found out about the hook up, I’d pissed her off and then I’d shut her out, despite knowing she was likely struggling with her trauma. I’m pretty sure it's why she took her anger out on Neryssa when she met her. But she’d never admit it.

I’d been trying my best to apologize to her at the party when it’d turned into an argument, which lead to us finding Fox, Brynsyn, and Neryssa. The rest had been unfortunate. The abaron being released, Neryssa being hit by it, black tendrils leaving her body in an explosion that had slammed into the rest of us.

To say it hurt would be an understatement. I thought I’d been dying until suddenly it was over. Fox, Brynsyn, and I had gotten up.

Nerysa and Soskia hadn’t.

The only difference was that Soskia had a pulse and Neryssa didn’t.

The stairs had reappeared but none of us could move toward it, too riddled with shock and confusion to do so.

Finally, Brynsyn had been the one to jump into action. He’d used a compulsion spell, one he technically needed clearance to use on campus, making sure no one saw Nerysssa and Soskia as we carried them out.

Going back to my cabin had been the most logical route.

I’d wanted to report it back to Sprouse, because technically we hadn’t done anything wrong. We hadn’t been the ones to kill Neryssa, and while he’s definitely hiding something, Brynsyn didn't mean to release the abaron.

But he’d quickly pointed out that no one in the fae world sees reason when it comes to the evil creatures.