Page 45 of Broken

“Sheesh,” Boomer said to Thanatos. “Were you up all night?”

“Does he even sleep?” Karisma whispered.

Thanatos turned his hood in their direction. “No, Ms. Karisma. I am like the great eye of Sauron: watching, unblinking, never sleeping. I see all, from my tower by the Crack of Doom.”

DB snorted his coffee.

Karisma and Boomer exchanged wide-eyed glances. “Was that a joke?” Karisma murmured to Boomer in a barely audible voice. Boomer gave a slight shrug in return.

Fuckin’ Thanatos. Cole had always suspected he had a sense of humor hidden somewhere under his robe. He’d just forgotten which pocket it was in.

That didn’t make him any more trustworthy.

“If you’re all quite through, may we begin?” Thanatos said.

“Yes,” Cole said. “And to start with, Ireland and I have some questions. First, are you Dark Fae?”

Everyone in the room went still, holding their breath for the answer.

Thanatos made that annoyed rumbling noise again. “It is a pointless question,” he said. “There is no such thing as Dark Fae—or more accurately, they exist only in the minds of Bright Fae. Centuries ago, the Bright Fae set themselves apart from other Fae, claiming a high moral ground which they rarely stand upon. They proclaimed that all those who do not subscribe to their ways and follow the dictates of their Council are anathema—and designated them Dark Fae.”

Gunn said, “So, ‘If you’re not with us, you’re against us’?”

“Quite so, Mr. Jorgenson. So-called Dark Fae do not identify as such, and are made up of many and varied creatures.”

He still hadn’t said if he was one of them. “But you are Fae,” Ireland said.

There was a long silence. Finally he inclined the hood. “I am.”