Page 22 of Fae Farewells

Valano waved his hand, something we’d noticed in many of the older generation. “I am the only living elder for the Temple of Lilikia. Therefore, I am the only fae who visits our ancestors regularly.”

“So, there’s no need for a party or anything like that?” Stone cautiously asked.

“Do they want one?” the old king countered sarcastically.

“Hell no.” The demon scowled. “She would rather chew off her own arm.”

Palmer glared at Stone before clarifying the demon’s statement with a more tactful approach. “Sloane is tired of being shown to the people like an object. She would rather come in and clean things up without it being public knowledge.”

“And Vaughn wouldn’t appreciate an audience while he’s wanted for treason,” Novak added seriously.

“Okay…” Valano glanced at each of us, clearly wondering if we could make such calls for Barbie and Vaughn. “After they appease the magic of the land. Nothing else is necessary.”

A tree splintered in the distance, scattering strange birds across the ancient fae’s yard as the sound echoed through the forest. I whistled low, a shit-eating smirk slashing my lips as I wondered how long it would take Vaughn to heal.

Stone grimaced. “Does bloodshed appease the ancestors?”

“If that boy tears my temple down—”

“I don’t think he’s the one to blame in this scenario.” York scratched at his head as he stared in the direction of our pissy mate.

“Believe it or not, he is. Vaughn is a threat to the current crown, and she’d kill him if she could. He’s too powerful for that, especially with the land backing him. If there were ever a time that he was invincible, it will be here and now.”

I ran my hand through my beard. “Are we talking about the same person?”

“Vaughn Winter?” Novak asked, his mouth hanging slightly open. “About yay high, cold eyes, a little too pretty, worries all the time?”

“I know my grandson.”

“Right.” Palmer cleared his throat, his tongue in his cheek. “I guess we are talking about the same person.”

“I’d invite you in.” Valano waved to his cottage. “But I don’t know that you’d all fit at once.”

Novak snorted, pulling his amused gaze from the forest. “I think you’re right. There’s no way we’d all fit… Not that I’d want to—I mean, there’s nothing wrong with it. I actually like it from time to time, but—”

He stopped talking suddenly, only mimicking a cough when Stone slapped his chest. I nodded my head to Palmer, knowing the mage had muted him before he dug a hole.

Gods. We were talking to Vaughn’s grandfather, for Devil’s sake. Now was not the time for the vampire’s mouth to run away with his usual bullshit.

The old king raised a judgemental brow at us before casually striding into his home with a mumbled promise of tea.

York dropped to one knee, running his hand through the grass. A few chairs and benches sprung from the land, and rocks crawled forth, forming a circular pit. Within a few blinks, he had fashioned the druid’s version of patio furniture.

Stone carelessly tossed a small ball of fire between the rocks, and I waited for everything to burn to the ground.

We’d been gaining too much power far too quickly to master in such a short period of time.

And though nothing out of the ordinary happened, I still held my breath for a moment. Until the picturesque sky stole it completely.

In the Underworld, the gray clouds floated over a red backdrop, but here… The stars shone between the setting sun and the rising moon with a hint of the rainbow sparkling inside them. Clouds faded from orange to pink as they swam through the deep purple sky.

“The River Thames runs through this world, too,” Palmer rambled. “Fae use magic to clean it—”

“Are you nervous because they aren’t back and it’s entirely too quiet after sounds of fighting?”

“No,” he answered, then glanced at me as he plucked at his lower lip. “A little, yes.”

Valano stepped outside, a tray of dainty tea cups rattling with his sudden stop. “Where did that come from?”