Page 9 of Fae Trials

Elijah rubbed his temples and sighed. “That sort of makes sense.”

“What does?” I broke the eggs and whisked them with a fork.

“Ladies Nevermore and Westerling have been talking about starting a Youtube channel to get admirers in the outside world.”

Wrinkling my nose, I placed a pat of butter into the pan, moved the kettle to the side, and set the pan on the stove. Outsiders probably didn’t know that the fae were nasty, wicked creatures so dangerous that the UN had confined them to this island to keep them from spreading their evil across the world.

I tipped the pan from side to side, spreading out the melted butter. Everyone on the Isle of Fae had at least one ancestor who had been cursed by faeries. When Mom’s great-great-aunt was heavily pregnant, she didn’t curtsey in a way that satisfied one of Queen Maeve’s ladies-in-waiting, so the faerie cursed her to give birth to a black kitten with a white diamond on his chest. Her husband tolerated this until the kitten started to talk, then he left.

“How does all of this affect Unity?” My sister placed a third mug on the coffee table.

I kept my breaths deep and even, focusing on the melting butter. Maybe there was a way to escape from Gala Nevermore’s wrath.

Elijah blew out a breath. “I heard Lady Nevermore tell Lady Westerling that the other Fated hogged the iPads because she was late to arrive at the academy. She kept ranting about it being the fault of a belligerent human who insulted her and Prince Rory’s drake.”

Clenching my teeth, I threw the rapunzel leaves on the melted butter and tossed them around the pan. The fae were such touchy bastards. It was as though nature needed to balance out all that beauty with some severe personality defects.

After adding the whisked eggs to the pan, I turned to Elijah. “I apologized multiple times.”

He ran a hand through his locks. “Not enough, because Lady Westerling agreed to accompany Lady Nevermore to Doolish after classes tomorrow to watch her bury you in drake shit.”

“But she doesn’t know where we live,” I said.

“How many people would sell you out for a handful of money beads?” he said.

A pit of dread hit me in the gut, and silence stretched out across the room, filled by the sizzle and pop of the cooking omelet. Sicily and I exchanged worried glances. Nobody, not even the half-bloods and the lower fae, truly liked the royals. But if there was an opportunity to make money, they’d rat out their closest friends.

The liquid egg set, and I plated up the omelets and brought them over to the coffee table. “Why not tonight?”

Elijah grabbed the largest portion and cut himself a generous chunk. “Queen Titania is visiting the headmistress this evening. All the Fated will be there for a formal greeting.”

“That gives us a day to work something out.” I handed Sicily the second-largest portion.

Chewing on his mouthful, Elijah rubbed his chin. “You could try bargaining with the peacekeepers.”

“They use pounds and dollars and all kinds of currency.” I lowered myself into the seat next to him and put my plate on my lap. “Besides, money beads have no value in the outside world.”

He glanced away.

Sicily slammed her plate on the coffee table with a clang. “You want my sister to offer them sex?”

My brows drew together. “That isn’t what he—”

“It is,” Sicily snapped. “Otherwise, he would offer to make the bargain himself.”

I glanced at Elijah, giving him a chance to explain.

His face tightened. “Why does everything with you have to be so black and white? There’s nothing wrong with a girl trading her favors. It’s good enough for Unity, and I don’t see you turning down any of my food.”

A lump formed in the back of my throat, and I stared into my lap. We had never before described our relationship as a trade, and I hadn’t fooled myself into thinking that what we had was true love. The guy was insanely attractive, inventive in bed, and always keeping things interesting. But he never visited us empty-handed. Most of the luxuries we enjoyed, the DVD player, reality TV episodes, and delicacies from the outside world, all came from Elijah.

The lump in my throat slid down to my belly, where it rolled around, making me queasy. I couldn’t offer myself to one of those assholes at the United Nations. I hated them even more than I hated the faeries. With their iron ships, they could transport the humans off this accursed island. But they were so hell-bent on keeping the fae out of their perfect world that they confined us humans here to keep the fae amused.

My voice lowered to the barest whisper. “Isn’t there anything you can do to help?”

After wolfing down the rest of the omelet, Elijah stood. “I came here to warn you, didn’t I?”

I stared up into his hard, blue eyes, my heart plummeting through the flagstone floor. In his mind, I was already dead. Or so severely disfigured by molten drake shit that I was no longer of any use.