Page 2 of Endless Terrors
“I looked over the motel,” she said abruptly. Lyari tended not to bother with greetings. “The rooms didn’t have any traces of magic or power. There’s a vampire working the front desk, but he reeked of that plant Emma likes so much. I don’t think he’s in allegiance with anyone, much less an ancient evil from another dimension.”
“Marijuana. The plant is called marijuana. You need to remember the names of human things, Ly. You’ll blend in easier.”
The look Lyari gave me communicated exactly how she felt about that. She’d been resistant to a lot of things since leaving the Unseelie Court, which included giving me any sort of information on where she lived or what she did during our time apart.
Suppressing a surge of frustration, I removed the nozzle from the tank and put it back in its holder. Just as Lyari’s form began to shimmer, I remembered the other topic I’d been meaning to bring up with her. There was no time to wonder if I was about to make a huge mistake. “Have you spoken to Thuridan lately?” I blurted.
The question made her frown. “No, not since my banishment. Why?”
My jaw was clenched, my stomach tight. I couldn’t bring myself to look at her, so I moved toward the car door and grasped the handle. “I’m sorry, I really am. I don’t want to take that moment from you. I’d hoped Thuridan would say the words himself. But this is too important.”
“What are you talking about, Your Majesty?” Lyari sounded exasperated.
I turned back to her, and my voice was hard as I forced myself to say, “Thuridan is in love with you, Lyari. I need you to use that in order to get close to him.”
The faerie fell silent. She didn’t tell me I was delusional. She didn’t deny the truth I’d laid in front of her. Instead she said, her face carefully blank, “Why do you need me to get close to him?”
“I saw his memories on the night we broke Collith out. Jassin took a special interest in him, and I want to know why.”
It wasn’t enough that Jassin was dead. I wanted to confront his ghost, wrap my hands around its throat, and snuff whatever was left of him out of this world. And ever since that night, my instincts had been screaming. It’s not over. Don’t ignore this.
“Fine,” Lyari said finally, the single word swirling through the frigid air between us.
Something about her response made me hesitate. I thought of everything Lyari had already lost because of her allegiance to me. If she did this—if she carried out my request and manipulated Thuridan to glean information from him—it would cost whatever future they might have together. I’d already considered this, of course, but seeing the shadow in Lyari’s eyes was different than imagining it.
“You know what? Never mind. I can find another way,” I decided.
“I said I would do it.” Her voice was sharp now, and I fought the instinct to step back. For an instant, Lyari’s face had changed. Her teeth had looked longer, her features more angular. Almost like … a goblin’s.
I recovered quickly, but I must’ve flinched. I watched my friend’s eyes flicker, and I knew that she’d seen my reaction. Shame filled my throat.
Before I could backtrack, Lyari sifted, and she was gone.
Even now, the memory made me wince. No, I definitely didn’t want to contact Lyari unless I was out of other options. That left the two males waiting for me back at the motel room. A text to Finn was risky, considering he couldn’t pick up his phone half the time. If I used the bond to contact Gil, he’d be here in a minute, but a lot could happen in a minute. Over the course of sixty seconds, people died, or made deals with demons, or overthrew kings.
Over the course of sixty seconds, everything could change.
All this time, we’d been trying to keep our heads down. Every time a man pawed at me, or a woman insulted me, or my skin brushed someone else’s by accident, I tamped down the instinct to fight, snap back, feast. But not tonight. Not anymore. What good was staying under the radar if it got me killed?
I kept walking, slowly, my posture relaxed and unsuspecting. Like prey. Even when I heard the undeniable sound of more footsteps. Even when I sensed something coming up from behind. Then, just as Adam had taught me, I planted my heel and spun, bringing my arm around in an arc. Two seconds later, I had a knife to my stalker’s throat and his back was against a tree.
“Any last words?” I hissed. Adrenaline pounded in my ears.
“Nice to see you too, honey,” the stranger growled.
The sound of his voice opened a yawning hole inside of me. I stared up at him, disbelieving, and my voice was a hoarse whisper as I said, “Collith?”
He gazed back silently, and my mind struggled to accept it. This wasn’t the Collith I knew. His appearance was … ragged. Several days’ worth of stubble covered the lower half of his face. His button-up shirt was wrinkled. There were gray smudges beneath his eyes. His hair was tousled, wild, as if he’d been dragging his hand through it again and again. The cold, collected Unseelie King from my memories was gone, replaced with this weary figure.
The sight of him still made my heart ache.
When I didn’t lower the knife, Collith’s brows lowered. He frowned as he searched my gaze. “It’s me, Fortuna.”
Suspicion held my hand steady. I wanted to believe him, but my paranoia ran deep. “Prove it,” I said flatly.
There was a beat of silence, and then Collith moved. Completely disregarding the knife—acting as if it wasn’t there at all, in fact—he leaned down and kissed me.
I was so startled that I didn’t react, at first. But the taste of him was achingly familiar. Within seconds, the knife slipped from my fingers and I crushed myself against Collith’s hard body. I felt his palm skim my breast and his arousal press between my legs. I was still wearing a backpack, but both of us ignored it. I wrapped my arms around his neck and lost myself to his scent, his tongue, his hands. In the secret places in my head, I think I’d been expecting him, and even as the want consumed me, I felt a familiar prickle in my eyes. The sting of tears I didn’t fully understand.
