Chapter Forty-Three
BLISS
“This place gives me the creeps,” Reese says, staring over at the small cemetery to the right of the church. I didn’t notice it the first time we came here, but today the tombstones stand out in the brighter sunlight.
Amelia, Liz, and I all look at Reese, giving my best friend a once-over.
She’s dressed all in black, a lacy black dress, black tights, black boots, and a black leather jacket.
Her lips are painted a dark blood red, and she’s smoked out her shadow and liner.
Amelia, who is dressed similarly, smirks at Reese.
“Really? I think we fit in very nicely here. These two—” she motions to my aunt and I, “—are the sore thumbs.”
Liz scoffs. “As the only one here who’s actually dealt with ghosts, I take offense.”
“What?” Reese breathes out. “Ghosts aren’t real.”
Liz raises her brows at my friend and smiles, shaking her head softly like she’s amused at our disbelief. “If that’s what you need to tell yourself.”
“Why is this the first time I’m hearing about you dealing with ghosts?” Amelia squeaks. “I love ghost stories!”
I give both my family members a short glare then reach out and knock on the door, using the old and very ornate knocker that has a gargoyle face on the base.
I don’t really love the idea of coming back here. I’m not sure if a couple days will have been enough for the guys to cool down, but I’m hoping. I have a plan to get Pisces back. Well, half a plan. And I need them to help with the rest of it.
A couple moments pass and no one answers the door.
I knock again, but again nothing.
I turn to Amelia. “What should we do?” I ask, though I don’t really expect anyone to answer. “I guess we can try again later?”
“That’s a good idea. We can grab some breakfast and come back,” Liz offers.
“Breakfast?” Reese asks, squinting at the sun’s downward arch through the sky.
It’s around sixty-thirty here in London, but in our time it was almost ten-thirty in the morning.
I should feel rested enough, but I didn’t sleep at all last night, too anxious to try to get part of my plan in motion.
Liz nods and amends her statement. “Okay, we’ll go have dinner, then try again. ”
As we start to descend the stairs, the door creaks open behind us.
I whip around and see Niamh standing there.
“Hello?” she asks, her voice sounding a bit distrustful.
I can see in her eyes when she recognizes us.
“What are you doing here?” The accusation in her voice hurts.
Not that we’d really become friends exactly, but she is definitely a girl’s girl and I appreciated the support she showed me during the festival.
I take a deep breath and head back up the stairs until I’m standing on the opposite side of the threshold from her. “I need to speak with the guys. About Pisces.” Maybe that last part is obvious, but I’m not sure how much Niamh knows about him being my mate.
She looks over her shoulder. Simon comes to the door. Niamh throws me a look, something between pity and anger, as she leaves me to Simon.
His hair is wet, and I assume he’s just gotten out of the shower.
It makes me think of how Pisces hadn’t showered or shaved in the few days they were keeping him stars knew where.
I wonder if Grim or Lyra have moved him back to wherever they’d originally been keeping him, now that I’m not there, or if he now has that room to himself. I hope it’s the latter.
“Hey, Simon,” I say, but he doesn’t look pleased to see me.
“Hey.” He dips his head in greeting and thankfully steps aside, motioning for us to come in. I walk through the front door, Reese, Amelia, and Liz following me.
“Any update on Pisces?” I ask. I already know from Liz that she hasn’t heard anything about him being released or transferred, but Evan has more connections than she does, so maybe they have more up-to-date information.
Simon shakes his head. “No, and we could have told you that over the phone,” he replies, letting loose a frustrated sigh. “Sorry. I—” He runs fingers through his wet strands. “I know it’s not your fault. This whole situation is just fucked.”
I nod. “It’s okay. I know I’m the guys’ least favorite person right now. But I wanted to try again, to help. I think I have a plan. If Shaun and Evan could just listen for a little bit, I think we can get Pisces out.”
“They aren’t here.”
Amelia groans. “When are they getting back?”
“Excited to see your mate?” Simon’s lips quirk upwards into an amused smile.
“Yeah, super,” my sister replies, rolling her eyes and plopping herself down on the nearest chair. Simon clocks her movement and nods his head in the direction of the living room we were in last time we were here.
“We can wait in there until the guys are back. They shouldn’t be out too much later.”
“Where are they?” Reese asks tentatively, and I’m reminded of some of their previous interactions.
He looks over his shoulder at her with a smile.
“They heard about a freshly turned warlock and went to go find him. That’s kind of what we do sometimes.
Well, not me, they won’t let me go with them, but they go out and find orphaned Made fae, bring them in, give them a place to live while they adjust to the change. ”
My heart seems to grow in size. “Pisces helps with that?” I ask.
Simon nods. “Yeah. That’s originally how the guys found him.”
There’s still way too much I don’t know about Pisces. So many things I wish I could have the chance to find out about him. And I will, just once we get him free.
“When was he turned?” I ask curiously.
“A little over six years ago now, I think,” Simon says. He pulls a couple more armchairs over so we can all sit together. Reese and Amelia take a seat on a little couch and the rest of us take an armchair.
“So he’s not one of the Made fae that have been alive for hundreds of years?” Reese muses.
“Nah, he’s still a baby, I guess,” Simon replies with a laugh. He gets up, going to a wall with a few smaller framed pictures, plucking one off the wall and handing it to me. “This was taken a couple weeks after I found him again.”
“Found him again?” I ask, taking the framed photo and poring over every detail.
Simon stands in the middle next to Pisces and the two are surrounded by Benny, Shaun, and Evan.
All five of them wear the biggest smiles.
I don’t think I’ve yet seen Pisces look this genuinely happy.
What I would give to be the source of a smile like this on his face.
“Pisces and I kinda lost contact after he turned. He just up and left afterwards. We didn’t know what happened to him, until I finally tracked him down. And I’ve stayed here with them since.”
I nod. “You all look so young here,” I say, tears starting to well in my eyes.
Simon smiles softly at me, squeezing my shoulder. I hand the photo back to him and he replaces it on the wall. He comes back and sits across from me. “Shaun and Evan have been trying to get Pisces released. It’s not been going well. Evan hasn’t been able to convince his dad.”
“Yves Lyra can’t afford to look weak against wraiths,” Liz explains. “They’ll have a hard time convincing him that Pisces is innocent with the evidence against him.”
Simon nods, his earlier softness replaced by ire. “But they let Bliss out.” He looks to me, panic in his eyes. “Not that I’m not glad for that. It’s just—”
“I know. It’s unjust, the double standard.”
Simon lets his head fall forwards. “I wish there was more I could do.”
There’s sound and motion towards the opening in the living room.
I look and see Shaun letting a backpack drop onto the floor.
He looks exhausted and his eyes narrow as they find mine.
“What are the succubi doing here?” he mutters as he trudges further into the room.
Evan follows him, going to the fire to warm his hands.
Benny smiles at us. “Hey, good to see you all again.”
“Bliss wants to talk about helping Pisces,” Simon explains, but Shaun cuts him off.
“We’ve already talked about it, and as we’ve already stated, we don’t need her help.” Shaun straightens a bit when he sees my aunt there, looking at him with an arched brow. He lets out a sigh and mutters something, turning back to the window he’s placed himself at.
Evan sits on the floor in front of the fire and leans back, letting it practically toast his neck. He looks to Amelia once before finding the ceiling much more interesting.
I look around at the three of them. They didn’t seem to bring anyone back with them.
“Did you not find the warlock?” I ask.
“What?” Shaun replies, looking to Simon.
“I explained where you all were.”
I notice blood on Shaun’s shirt then. And more on Benny’s and Evan’s. My eyes go wide.
Benny sits down next to Evan, pulling his knees into his chest. “We were too late.”
“What do you mean?” Reese splutters, taking in the blood as well.
“He’d attacked a fae family, and the fae constabulary had already gotten to him. We tried to help heal him, but he was already gone, and a couple of the family members that were attacked also died.”
“Stars,” Reese mutters at the same time Amelia says, “Fuck.”
Evan glances at Amelia and back to the rest of us. “Look, I can admit we might have been a bit harsh last time.” He throws a glance to Shaun. “But we can’t trust you.”
I’m about to argue against that when Benny speaks up. “Bliss, you were working with the wraith to steal Pisces’ tears. You have to understand why we’d be hesitant to trust you.” He looks at Evan and Shaun, pointedly. “But, I’m willing to hear you out.”
Shaun starts to argue, but Benny shakes his head. “Pisces was working with the wraith too. And we’d let him explain if we could get in to see him. So—” he looks back to me, “—start from the beginning.”
So I do.
I tell them everything.