Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
SERAFINA
O nce, when I was five, Caleb broke my pink, sparkly nunchucks—a creation I made myself out of painted toilet paper rolls and string. Tears erupted in my eyes, but I wasn’t sad. I was pissed . Furious, even. And those tears were my body’s way of expressing it.
Now, when I feel something wet prick the backs of my eyes, I know it’s not because I’m upset. Yes, I’m worried sick about Gage and V, but that isn’t the reason for these damn tears.
I’m fucking angry.
And when I’m angry, someone gets stabbed.
After my outburst, Devyn dragged me out into the hall, and now he stands in front of me, his arms crossed over his chest, the leather of his jacket squeaking with each move he makes. I continue to spin my blade around and around in my hand as I wait for him to explain himself.
Though I’m not sure anything he says will justify his actions.
How could he allow Gage to be arrested for a crime we both know he didn’t commit? This could scar my sweet baku irrevocably.
Fuck. A baku. Gage is a baku. I’ve heard about them before—urban legends that young, oblivious me didn’t think to be true. Apparently, they’re capable of infiltrating people’s dreams. And heal—though I wonder if they’re connected somehow.
Can Gage heal so well because he can somehow alter a person’s mind? Make them believe they’re not hurt? Trick the body into mending itself? Hmm. Something to look at later—once he’s safe and sound and V has been healed.
Why was Gage so afraid to tell me the truth?
Is it because of what the queen said about Gage’s father?
Questions dance through my mind, but I can’t focus on them right now. There’s a list of things a mile long I need to do, starting with getting Gage the fuck out of here and bringing him to V.
“You know he’s innocent,” I tell Devyn at last, when the silence becomes too heavy—too damn potent and suffocating—for me to handle.
It’s just the two of us at the moment. Xander and Foster chose to remain back with Gage and the queen, and I have no idea where my family disappeared to. Which is good, considering the fact I may stab them if I were to see them.
How could they have betrayed me like this?
How could Devyn betray me like this?
No, that’s the wrong question to ask. I’m not the one being betrayed. Gage is.
My heart cracks and fissures when I think about the resignation on Gage’s face just before I left him. He thinks he’s going to take the fall for this crime.
I can’t allow that to happen.
“If Gage is innocent, then he’ll be fine,” Devyn tells me gruffly. His arms remain crossed over his chest. “You need to trust me, Sera.”
“Fine?” I give him an incredulous look and then bark out a dry, humorless laugh. “You seriously believe that? The queen already believes he’s guilty. I don’t know a lot about the fae justice system, but if it’s anything like the human one, there’s no way he’ll make it out of this.”
Innocent until proven guilty.
What a fucking joke.
The queen and her minions already think they have the perpetrator, and they’re not going to let him go without a fight.
Devyn’s lips purse. “I’m going to find the true killer, Sera. You have my word. Gage will be okay.”
“He better be.” I absently trail a hand down my blade, relishing the sting of cold metal beneath my fingertips, the prick of pain providing me a modicum of comfort. “Because if he isn’t, I’ll never forgive you for taking the queen’s side.”
Something flickers in Devyn’s eyes—there and gone too quickly for me to process. Abruptly, he lunges for me, grips my wrist, and begins to drag me down the hall, towards an empty room.
Shock renders me immobile for only a second, but then I come to my senses. I use my free hand to loosen one of the blades from my hair and hold it at my mate’s neck. I won’t actually draw blood—and not just because V will become jealous—but the threat is evident.
Amusement dances in Devyn’s eyes as he volleys his gaze between my face and the blade against his skin.
“Really, Bunny? You going to stab me?” He arches an eyebrow.
Arrogant asshole.
“If you keep dragging me along, then yes.” I apply a little bit more pressure for emphasis, still making sure to not accidentally break any skin.
I’m pissed as fuck, but I don’t want to hurt him. Not truly.
Devyn releases me and takes a step back, both of his hands gravitating towards the back of his head.
He begins to pace, his fingers forked through his messy black hair. “Fuck, you need to trust me.”
“By allowing you to imprison Gage?” I demand.
Though I no longer hold the blade against his throat, I keep it in my hand, flipping it expertly as I watch the empath wear holes in the carpeting.
We appear to be in a room similar to the one we just left—garish green carpeting, a long table, and a few rolling chairs. I wonder if all of these rooms are used for interrogation chambers or if they serve a different purpose.
“By allowing me to get close to the queen!” Devyn explodes, finally dropping his hands and whirling to face me.
It takes me an embarrassingly long moment to process his words.
“ What ?”
Devyn lowers his voice to a whisper. “Xander told me about V—or at least, he left a voice message.”
My heart hammers in my chest. “Which is why we need Gage.”
I expertly slide the blade back into my hair, where it disappears under a mound of bright pink.
“I understand that. And trust me, as soon as I’m able to, I’ll release Gage. But…” He reaches into the pocket of his leather jacket and grabs out a folded-up piece of paper.
Slowly, he begins to smooth out the creases before handing it to me.
Trepidation settles like a boulder in my chest as I study the intricate drawing.
“What am I looking at?” I whisper, though I already know.
How could I not?
“A diagram,” Devyn answers, “that depicts the anatomy of an angel.”
V.
I don’t think I say his name out loud, but I must’ve because Devyn nods, his expression terse.
“I think whoever is behind the recent attacks altered the virus specifically to take V out.” He lowers his voice to a whisper. “I found what I believe to be the culprit’s lab, though it was abandoned recently, probably when they got wind that the FIB was on their tail. Our team found this picture near an…experiment gone wrong.”
His jaw tightens, and I don’t need clarification to know “experiment gone wrong” is code for dead body.
“We suspected that the attacker is behind this,” I whisper through numb lips. “What does this have to do with the queen?”
“Charise and V were both attacked on the same day.” Devyn stares at me intently, as if waiting for me to put the pieces together, to somehow form a clear picture.
“You think the royal family is under attack?” I pause as something occurs to me, the knots in my stomach tightening. “Or do you think that the queen is somehow involved in this?”
“Look right here.” Devyn steps forward to point at the top corner of the paper, where a strange symbol resides, barely the size of my fingernail. “Do you see that symbol?”
It resembles a triangle with a slash through it. Honestly, I thought it was an ink smudge when I first saw it.
“What does it mean?”
“It’s the royal insignia, which means this book was taken out of Queen Marianna’s personal library.”
I suck in a sharp gasp as the ramifications of that statement wash over me. Could the queen be involved somehow? What reason would she have for harming her own children?
The only person who stands to gain if V and Charise are taken out is…
Avril.
The youngest sibling.
Holy fuck.
It can’t be her. No way.
“So either someone in the royal family is aiding these attacks…or they have a traitor in their midst.” His eyes harden, turning to granite, and a muscle in his jaw tics. “Either way, if we have any hope of stopping the killer, then we need to get on Queen Marianna’s good side.”
“Which means going along with this sham of an arrest.”
Fuck.
I don’t like it at all.
Devyn tentatively steps forward and cups my cheek, his palm warm against my skin. His gold-flecked eyes search my own, but I can’t tell what he’s looking for.
“Do you trust me to do what needs to be done?”
I push up on my tiptoes and press my lips to his. It’s a chaste kiss—fleeting, really—but it’s all I can offer him at the moment.
“Do what you need to do to stop this murderer once and for all,” I tell him. “But make no mistake—I will put my mates first one hundred percent of the time, even if that makes me the most selfish bitch in the world. If this decision leads to the death of any of my men, then…” I swallow around the ball of fire in my throat. “Then I’ll never ever forgive you.”
“I think I found someone who can help us,” Kian says as soon as I walk through the door of Xander’s apartment an hour later.
I feel exhausted, my limbs weighing one hundred pounds apiece. A splitting headache threatens to blow apart my skull and decorate the floor with brain matter.
“With which issue?” I ask, stepping aside so Xander can enter the apartment as well. “Because we have a shit ton at the moment.”
Kian simply waves his hand and leads us towards the spare bedroom, where V is lying beneath a mound of blankets. Sweat beads on his forehead, and his skin is an unhealthy shade of white that makes unencumbered fear pulsate through me.
Tristan stands on one side of the unconscious angel, while Foster sits perched on a chair in the corner of the room. And standing at the foot of the bed, his hands emitting a pale-blue light, is an unfamiliar man with white and black hair, a wrinkled face, and a large, bulbous nose.
A healer, though I can’t tell what species he is. Perhaps a pegasus. I heard they’re gifted at using healing magic.
I turn towards Kian in alarm—we decided unanimously not to alert the public to V’s condition in case his enemies choose to use his vulnerable state to their advantage—but my incubus’s eyes gleam with excitement.
“Don’t worry,” he tells me, before lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “I compelled him to keep his mouth shut about what he sees here no matter what.”
“Compelled him?” Understanding dawns, and I turn to stare at Kian fully. “You used your powers? Kian…”
My heart hurts for him.
I know he hates what he can do, the gifts he has, and the last thing I want is for him to feel like he needs to utilize his powers for me and our makeshift family. This sweet, broken man has been taken advantage of his entire life, and I won’t allow that to happen again. Not under my watch.
Kian places his hands gently on my shoulders and gives them a squeeze. “It’s okay, angel,” he tells me sincerely. “I want to do this.”
He swallows, and I watch the way his throat works in rapt fascination. Kian truly is a beautiful man, and not just on the outside. He glows with an inner radiance that puts most other fae to shame.
“I’d do anything to protect you and the others. You guys are my family. I know that you don’t want me simply because of my powers as an incubus.” A soft smile curls up his lips. “Which only makes me fall for you harder.”
Overwhelmed by the enormity of my feelings for this man, I wrap my arms around his waist and rest my head against his chest. I can hear his heart beat rapidly beneath me, the repetitive thump-thump-thump somehow able to calm the turmoil raging in my mind.
That is, until the healer steps away from V’s still form and says, “I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”
I whirl towards the old man so fast, I’m half afraid my head will fall off my neck. “What?” I reach for one of my bracelet blades, but Kian places a comforting hand on my bicep, stopping me. “What do you mean? You’re a healer?—”
“And I’ve never seen anything like this before.” The fae heaves out a tired breath and runs a hand down his face. Exhaustion lines the skin beneath his eyes, creating dark shadows. “My magic shows that he’s perfectly healthy. I don’t detect the fae virus or anything of the sort. And if it is the fae virus, then it’s a mutation that I’ve never seen before.”
The drawing Devyn showed me pops to the forefront of my mind, but I need to rule out all other possibilities.
My heart pounds erratically, and I turn towards Xander. “Could this have anything to do with visiting Faerie? The drug we took?”
Even before I’m finished speaking, Xander is shaking his head, the slightest tightening of his jaw the only outward sign of his distress.
“No. That drug V must’ve taken is perfectly safe in small doses. It's different from the one Foster gave you.” He casts a pointed look at the fire elemental, whose cheeks tint crimson with shame. “ That drug only works for a few hours, at most. But V has access to a higher dosage, which can last up to a week. It’s designed to trick the world into thinking you’re human. Yes, if he were to stay longer than a few days, the drug would have adverse effects, but he was only there for a couple of hours.”
“What kind of adverse effects?” It feels as if I just swallowed a hairball that has gotten stuck going down my throat.
It’s hard to speak, hard to even breathe.
“Well…” Xander absently scratches at his chin, where a tiny bit of stubble resides. “After a few days, you’ll slowly start to lose your powers. And it’s been rumored that if you stay in the world longer than a week, you’ll turn completely human. Any longer than that, and you’ll be dead.”
A week.
One week.
My brain examines all of this information.
Gage—one of the most powerful fae healers in the world—is under investigation and is unable to leave council headquarters. Devyn made sure of that. I understand his reasoning, even if I don’t have to like it.
V is sick with something that no one can detect. A sickness he received shortly after he arrived in the fae world but that I suspect has to do with the killer. Somehow, he or she created a mutation of the virus that can’t be cured by a normal healer. I doubt even Gage will be able to use his abilities to help V.
So where does that leave us?
“And are we even sure V took the drug?” I press.
I wouldn’t call V reckless, but if he discovered I was going to Faerie without him, there’s a chance that he might’ve slipped through the portal without taking the liquid designed to dampen his powers. Maybe he was exposed to the virus while there.
“My shadows tell me that a vial is missing from the labs,” Xander tells me severely. “So yes, I believe he took it.”
“Okay…” I lick my lower lip as my thoughts whirl. And then, with more confidence, I repeat myself. “Okay. There’s only one thing we can do.”
Kian, who has been talking to the healer—no doubt using his powers to make the old man forget this entire conversation—turns to me with his eyebrows scrunched together, a deep furrow forming in the center of his forehead. “And that is?”
“Xander, I need you to get your hands on higher doses of that drug. Then, I need you to stay with Gage and V. Use your connections to free Gage and also do what you can for V. If he wakes up, he’s going to need an explanation for why I’m not here, and you’re the hardest to stab.”
Xander frowns. “And where exactly will you be, Ms. Jenkins?”
I turn to address the others. Kian, Tristan, and Foster. Some of the very first friends I made when I arrived in this town and started at a new school. Who would’ve thought that they’d come to mean everything to me?
“We’re going back into Faerie to find a cure for the virus. Or someone who can help us make one.”
And pray that whatever happened to the psychotic fae prince doesn’t happen to all of us as well.