Page 9 of Fae Farewells

“Yes, she can,” Stone told him.

“But I can’t warm everyone when we separate, so I might as well tough it out and stop complaining,” I complained. “I’ll just keep myself comfortable.”

Vaughn chuckled. “It’s not so bad once you get used to it.”

“You won’t be cold,” Novak acknowledged.

“No, but I was born there and grew up in the frigid chill. I’m the Winter Prince. It wouldn’t make much sense if I couldn’t handle the temperatures.” Then my fae narrowed his eyes at my vampire. “Why are you fussing? You won’t be cold either.”

“Neither will she, but here we are,” he sarcastically replied, flourishing his hand as if to showcase me. “Just because we won’t be freezing our tits off doesn’t mean the cold won’t suck.”

“Why are we arguing about this?” I mumbled, thinking only Stone would hear me.

I felt my demon shrug before he said, “Your emotions are all over the place, and they haven’t had any time to adjust since you absorbed the rest of the pith tokens. Palmer and I have had a few days.”

“Fuck,” I drawled, drooping my shoulders as Stone held me tighter.

“Sorry, Love,” Palmer whispered. “Right now, you’re all feeding off each other like an endless loop until they can compartmentalize what’s going on inside your head. York isn’t having the same issues as these two and Briggs. Maybe try treating the bonds like the tap; slowly turn the handle until the flow is full force.”

“Sloane,” Vaughn murmured. “What’s really bothering you?”

I pulled out of my demon’s embrace, shaking my head as I wondered away from them. “Nothing that I understand.”

“Is she angry at one of us?”

“No,” Stone answered quietly, his gaze burning a hole in my back. “Something else is eating at her.”

I shut the door softly behind me and sat in a patio chair in the garden. The morning sun shone on the grass and potted flowers, covered in a fine layer of dew from the damp night. I swirled tiny circles with my left index finger, collecting the moisture and depositing it in the cement bird bath across the yard.

“You’ve leveled up since I saw you last,” Sarge acknowledged as sat beside me. “You have more control over all the new power than I was expecting.”

“I suppose I have,” I admitted with a tired sigh. “We all have.”

“You sealed all your bonds?”

“Mostly.”

He leaned forward to look at me. “What does mostly mean, Lo?”

“Five are completed. My bond with Vaughn started sealing on its own, but it won’t be completed until we get to the fae realm.”

“So you’ll be finishing it once we cross through the portal?”

I snorted. “I’d like to get a little farther than the portal, but yeah. We’ll finish it today.”

“I didn’t mean—”

“I know.” I waved his comment away, turning to face him. “Sorry. I’m just feeling extra snippy this morning.”

He studied me shrewdly, letting me know he’d picked up more than I knew in the years we’d worked together. “Is everything okay?”

“That’s the million dollar question, yeah? I don’t know how to answer it yet. Something is off, but I’ll sort it out.”

“Have you told them?”

I frowned. “Not exactly.”

“You know you’re not in this alone, right?”