27. Carter
27
Carter
T he next morning, I woke to the sound of Lex talking to a small, childlike voice that I guessed was Poppy since she wasn’t in bed with me anymore.
“Do you like eggs?” he asked.
“Guess so,” she said. “Are they the same as in Faerie?”
“I think so. We’ll check,” he said. “And pancakes. I bet you like pancakes, too.”
“What are pancakes?”
“They didn’t have pancakes in Faerie either?” He blew out a disbelieving whistle. I didn’t have to look at him to know he was shaking his head. “You’ve been missing out, kid.”
“We liked to eat roasted boar and salted fish for breakfast.” She said it like she ached for that very same thing.
Fucking. Yuck.
“Sure,” Lex said, his tone dripping with the same disgust I felt. “If you’re into that sort of thing. But when I was ten, I liked French toast the best.”
“When Lex was ten,” Ivy said, rolling over to prop herself up against the headboard, “he used to sneak his eggs under the table to his dog.”
Lex gasped and held a finger to his lips, glancing down at Poppy with a smile. “You see? Ivy can’t be trusted with secrets.”
“Don’t worry, I still haven’t told your au pair.” Ivy shot him a grin and winked.
“What’s that?” Poppy asked, glancing between us. “Au pair?”
“It’s someone who takes care of you,” I said.
“Like you?” She raised her eyebrows, expectation dripping from every syllable. The question hung between us because we hadn’t officially discussed this yet. “Are you going to take care of me now?” She seemed unsure and hesitant. Who could blame her? We’d brought her here with no plan and no idea of what to do next.
“No matter what, Poppy,” I said, swinging my feet to the side so I could stand and walk closer. “We’ll always make sure you’re safe. Okay?”
She nodded and frowned. It wasn’t the answer she was looking for, but it was the only one I could give her. I agreed with Lex and Ivy. She couldn’t come back with us to the States. If she did, she had to stay hidden. She had to stay with someone unconnected to any of us, somewhere Alberich wouldn’t think to look if… when… he came searching.
“Thank you,” she said again, her voice small and hushed.
“Don’t mention it.” Lex chucked her chin with his fist, giving her his classic charismatic wink.
The whole scene warmed my heart, and I again hated the fact we couldn’t bring her home. We’d spent the last two years apart, but being together again reminded me why we were given this gift to begin with. We were soul mates, all of us. We were each other’s home. We’d promised so long ago that it seemed like lifetimes had passed since then.
Were we really so different from those college students in the woods? I looked down at the scars on my hand and reminded myself it hadn’t even been half a decade. We’d made a vow that night, and we had the proof etched into our skins. We were already committed to each other, and in the end, it was the four of us.
I had to believe that. I had to believe Lex’s vision would come true because if I didn’t, I’d be sucked down into misery and I simply would not have that. We would end up together or so fucking help me…
“Breakfast’s here.” Miri came into the room carrying a tray of coffee and a few plates of food.
My stomach growled. Loudly.
“Carter’s always hungry,” Lex said to Poppy.
“That’s right,” I said, rubbing at my belly while I hovered over Miri’s shoulder. “A never-ending pit. Whatcha got, Juliet?”
“Let the girl pick first, Romeo,” she said, shielding the tray with her body.
Poppy looked over the items on the plate but ultimately decided on an apple and sat down.
“That’s it?” Lex said. “Here, try this.” He handed her a cinnamon roll, but she shook her head and clutched the apple tighter.
“No thanks. Just this.”
“All right,” he said. “Your loss. More for Carter.”
That made her smile, at least.
Miri nodded to the alcove, gesturing for the rest of us to come with her so we could have a private conversation.
“You stay here and eat,” Lex said to Poppy, rubbing a hand over her messy hair. “We need to have a grown-up talk, okay?”
Poppy sighed, scribbling a pen over a piece of loose-leaf paper. “Okay.”
“We can’t stay here,” Miri said once we were in a circle far enough away from Poppy. “Bill is already asking when we’re headed out.”
We told Miri about Poppy’s teleportation ability, how she’d taken Ivy and me on a wild carpet ride last night only to return with a tale of gifts from time and space.
“She’s one of us,” Miri said, her hands covering her mouth in shock. “She needs us. She belongs with us.”
“Are you volunteering to take her back to grandmother’s house?” Lex raised an eyebrow.
“Well, no.” Miri furrowed her brows.
“Exactly.” Lex sighed.
“We need to figure out what to do next,” I said. “We can’t go home with her, but we can’t stay here.”
“Should we check on Smythe?” Ivy said.
“Smythe?” Lex asked.
“He lived in Faerie for how long?” she said. “He might know who her father is. He might know where to hide her.”
Lex cleared his throat. “Yeah, or he might steal her to sell to the highest bidder.” All our gazes snapped to him. “They kicked him out, remember? What would he do to get back in? Abduct the Great Gift and barter her to the king, perhaps?”
Ivy scratched her fingers over her X and clenched her features. “Well, I don’t have any other ideas.”
“I do.” Lex licked his lips. “Last night, I made a few calls.” He scrubbed his palms over his face, stalling.
“Out with it,” I said.
“My uncle Dmitri.”
I tried to swallow my reaction. Dmitri Romanov was the brother of the emperor of Russia and a powerful man in his own right, even before the country became a parliament. He was corrupt, sure. But from what I understood, he loved his nephew. Blood was the most important thing to a man in his position, and he’d doted upon Lex his entire life. Lex’s mother used to say Marcus had been born a Fairfax, but Lex was Romanov blood through and through. I’d never asked him what that meant, but I could have guessed.
“Will that work?” Miri asked.
“I don’t see why it wouldn’t,” Ivy agreed. “Would it be safe?”
“I think so, and if we go down the rabbit hole far enough,” Lex continued, “she’d be completely removed from all of us, me included.”
I didn’t like the thought of Poppy in Russia alone with more strangers. Perhaps it was a risk to put so much distance between us. But what else were we going to do? The only people I could call were my family, and they’d be in just as much danger as she was if Alberich came to this realm.
I blew out a breath, the weight on my heart damn near a ton.
“Let’s do it,” Poppy said, snapping all our heads in her direction. “Russia, you say? Sounds nice. If your family is as kind as you, I’m sure I’ll be safe.”
I looked back at Lex, who glanced between the four of us. After my conversation with her in the bathroom last night, I knew there was more going on with Poppy. She may be ten years old physically, but mentally, she seemed as old as us. Time worked differently in the land of the fae. A night or two had been twelve days. How old was Poppy really?
Ten years in Faerie could be the equivalent of sixty here in the human realm. Did that mean that Poppy’s mind was like a sixty-year-old? I didn’t have the qualifications to answer that.
“Well?” Lex looked at me, followed by Miri and Ivy, like they were awaiting my permission to go forward with the plan.
“Let’s go to Russia,” I said.
“No,” Lex said. “I’ll take her to Russia.”
I narrowed my eyes on him, digging in my heels. I trusted Lex; I did. But after his speech about protecting us last night, I wasn’t about to leave her alone with him, either. I didn’t think he’d do anything to hurt her, but I needed to know for sure. “I’m not leaving her until I know she’s safe.”
Lex’s hazel gaze darted between mine before he ultimately relented and nodded. “As you wish.”