107. Summer
Chapter One Hundred Seven
Summer
I stare down at my messages with the stranger. I’ve not heard from him, not since that night. One of the first things I did was lock my phone with a rune, but I assumed he would have bypassed it by now. He always has before, but this time he left it.
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve read his letter.
Every time I look at the crown, all I feel is a sense of dread about the future that I can’t avoid.
His letter though?.?.?. The apology makes my heart ache every time I read it.
This man doesn’t apologize. Ever. But he hurt me, and worse, he hurt Max.
On the other hand, while I can’t predict what will happen between Rafe and Mira, it’s too coincidental that she has been matriculated into this very school. One nowhere near Pyrrhos.
I start message after message, wanting to talk to him.
If I am honest with myself, I need to talk to him.
I spend forty-five minutes typing message after message, then deleting them all immediately.
Finally, it comes to me, and I realize I just need to do it.
If he ignores me, then I have my answer.
Chewing on my lower lip, I twist the ring on my finger.
I haven’t taken it off in months, wearing it religiously to keep him at bay.
Now, I’m not sure that’s what I want anymore.
After another long moment, I take a deep breath and slowly slide it off my finger.
I hold it between my forefinger and thumb, looking around the room, waiting with bated breath for something to happen, for him to bust into my room and take me, but nothing happens.
I exhale, letting out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding, and tap on the little Nexus icon. Unknown flashes up on the screen, and I barely breathe as it rings, once, twice, three times. The silence when it stops is louder than any noise I’ve ever experienced.
“Little fae.”
His voice is deeper than I remember, and my body reacts the same way it did the first time I heard it.
The same way it has every time I’ve heard it.
My breath hitches, and my body tingles. Fuck, I’ve missed him.
Whether he deserves it or not, it’s the truth.
I’m not sure at what point I went from vowing to spill his blood to missing him so desperately that my chest aches, but here we are.
He doesn’t say anything else, and I can practically hear the tension between us.
“Stranger,” I exhale, my voice barely a whisper. Has he missed me?
“Hi,” he says, his voice softer.
I swallow, my stomach fluttering. “Did you do it?” I ask, but I already know the answer. I have known since Alice and I spotted her across the campus.
“You asked me to,” he says simply after a long pause.
“Why?” I ask. He has already answered, but I can’t understand why he would still be working to win my affection when I plainly told him where I stand, especially after I started having semi-regular relations with Max again.
“He matters to you.”
I look down at my finger, at the light mark where the ring used to sit. “I took the ring off.”
“I know,” he says matter-of-factly. He must have felt it. Perhaps his magic was always trying to find a way around it.
“Yet you’re not in my room.”
“It wasn’t an invitation. You and I both know that,” he says. “I felt it the second you slipped it from your finger.”
“What do you think it was, then?”
“A step,” he replies, and I hear a clink as he pours himself a drink. “Just like this call is.”
“I’ve been seeing Max,” I say, the words just surging from between my lips.
There is a long silence. “I know.” His voice tenses, but there is no anger, or if there is, he is masking it well.
But that he knows means he is still watching me, and that is strangely comforting.
It turns out that despite all that has happened, I have been concerned about him losing interest in me.
I know I need to say something, anything, but words fail me .
“Mira was being held prisoner,” he says after taking a deep drink, and I shiver as I imagine the way his throat bobs as he swallows.
“Why?” I ask.
“I’m not sure, but it wasn’t easy to find her. Or liberate her.”
“ You liberated her?”
“I did. She found Avalon mostly on her own. I just left a few breadcrumbs for her to discover that it could be a sanctuary for her.”
“Was it dangerous?”
“Yes,” he says darkly, and the word sends a shock of awareness through me. “Very.”
“Tell me why you did it,” I say, releasing a shaky exhale.
There is another long silence before he replies. “For you.” His words would make me go to my knees if I weren’t sitting down already. I close my eyes and let his words wash through me, soaking them up.
“I missed you,” I whisper, the truth slipping out.
“I missed you too.”
“Thank you for the Solstice gift,” I say. “And the note.” The note is now worn from how many times I’ve opened and refolded it. “I got you something,” I add before he can say anything.
“You did?” he asks, and there is a heartbreaking undertone of surprise in his voice.
“I did.” I look at the wrapped gift sitting in my open closet door. “How can I get it to you?”
“If you leave it on the porch, I’ll be able to collect it.” It surprises me. No doubt he can enter my room now. The runes are gone, and I’m no longer wearing the ring, so he can absolutely just pop in. I am not sure how long it will last, but he is clearly trying to respect my boundaries.
“Two seconds,” I say, excitement sizzling through me.
I place my phone on the bed and retrieve the box before going downstairs. Stepping out into the night, I place the gift on the porch at the top of the steps. I pause to look out into the night before turning to go back inside, nearly running back up the stairs to my room.
“Okay, it’s there,” I say, a little out of breath.
A moment later, I hear him tearing the wrapping paper, and I wiggle in anticipation, hoping he’ll love the runed decanter that will keep his drink at the perfect temperature.
It is pure crystal from the Gylian Mountains, and I had stranger engraved on the front in my script, along with a peony. It’s signed, love, little fae .
“Love, little fae,” he whispers, and I feel my anxiety amping up.
“What?”
“The engraving?.?.?.” He goes silent for a moment. “I love it.”
“You do?”
“I do. Thank you, little fae.”
I smile, but I feel awkward. This is all so uncomfortably weird, being like this with him. “I should probably go?”
“Why?” he asks, tension lining his voice.
“Well, I?—”
“I shouldn’t have said anything,” he says, interrupting me. “I’m just greedy for more of your voice.”
“Well, maybe I could stay a while longer.”
“I don’t want to keep you. I’ve just missed your voice.”
I’m not sure why this makes me feel even more awkward. Perhaps he’s simply placating me. “I can go?—”
“No!” he nearly yells. He goes quiet, then clears his throat. “I?.?.?. desperately do not want that.”
“Then ask me to stay,” I whisper, my stomach fluttering.
“Stay.”
“Say please.”
He chuckles darkly. “I see someone has been saving their brattiness for me.”
“That doesn’t sound like a please.” My lips pull into a smile, and I lie down on the bed, my body thrumming from the thrill of just hearing his voice. The awkwardness has completely cleared, leaving only blissful tension in its wake.
“Brat,” he growls softly, and I bite my lip. “A brat who is desperate for me to pull her back into line.” I try to stifle my moan at his words, but he can definitely hear it because he chuckles again. “You’ve definitely been running wild.”
“Have you been thinking of me?” I ask cheekily.
“I’ll let you figure out the answer to that,” he says, and I can hear him pouring more liquid, but this is more than a measure, and I’m betting he is transferring his scotch from his old decanter into his new one .
“Say it? Please?” I frown, a little disappointed in myself that I need to hear it.
“It would be easier to count the moments I didn’t think of you,” he says, taking a long sip from his glass, the ice clinking softly.
My phone pings, and I glance at the message.
Do Not Fuck
You still game for tonight?
“Fuck,” I mouth.
Summer
Can we maybe reschedule? I’m not feeling great.
The lie makes me feel icky, but I have no idea how long this ceasefire with the stranger is going to last, and I’m enjoying talking to him.
Do Not Fuck
You want soup?
Summer
No thanks.
“Little fae?”
“Sorry, I’m here.”
“You went quiet.”
Do Not Fuck
Okay, feel better.
“Sorry,” I say, clicking out of our conversation and rolling onto my side.
“What is it? Talk to me,” he says, and his voice is so gentle.
I exhale. “I canceled my plans for tonight.” It bothers me how easy it is to fall back into trust with him.
“And that bothers you?” he asks, and I hear his confusion .
“No. It bothers me that I did it so easily.” I look at my ringless finger. “That I did it because I want to spend time with you.”
We are both silent for a moment, sitting in the truth and the pain of the past, but then the stranger breaks the silence.
“Tell me about the last few months. What I missed.”
I relax a little. This I can do. This is easy.
“Well, Rafe has been seeing this kitsune female, but that might be over thanks to the miraculous reappearance of a certain phoenix, and Alice has fucked at least one new shifter.”
“Leo King?” the stranger asks, his chair creaking as he sits back, the leather groaning.
“What? Absolutely not,” I say, shocked and a little horrified at the thought. Even having seen that Leo seems into Alice, the thought of them together is odd.
He chuckles. “He’s certainly interested, from what I’ve heard.”
“Oh?” I frown.
“Watching you means that I get all kinds of intel about the scandalous lives of the Avalon population.”
My lips twitch, and I try to tamp down the satisfaction I feel at further proof that he never stopped watching. “Oh, and I think Zach is trying to get information about Ashley. He’s been texting me nonstop about her.”
“Would it help for him to see her? Rafe could be off campus for the day.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’ve seen her getting up close and personal with a junior sorcerer.”
“How are the rest of your brothers?”
“They’re okay. I went to Eden a few weeks ago for the weekend.”
“I’m aware.”
I laugh softly, and he moans softly.
“I’ve missed that sound.”
His words kill my laughter, and my core heats a little. “I appreciated your letter.”
“I won’t mention how many drafts there were of it.”
“Tell me.” I almost moan at the thought of him getting frustrated at words on a page, over me.
“Many, many times,” he says, his voice low .
I bite my lip, hesitating for a while before I steel myself. “Can I ask you something a little inappropriate?”
“Ask me,” he says, his voice dark.
I feel my cheeks heat, and my confidence dwindles. “Actually, never mind.”
“Ask. Me,” he commands, making my core clench, my body eagerly responding to his tone.
“Tell me how you’ve been for the past few months,” I say, chickening out. I am such a coward.
“I will tell you after you ask me what you actually wanted to.”
“Stranger, please . . .” I exhale shakily.
He sighs. “You don’t want to know the answer to how I’ve been.”
“That bad?” I grimace.
“No, it’s simply not something you will want to hear about.”
“Why?” Was he dating? Fucking people? I have heard of entire realms with ongoing orgies. Unease slithers through me, and I know how hypocritical that is, considering Max.
“I was researching the fae.” He pauses. “So I could understand the threats against you better.”
“Ah?.?.?.” I swallow, the awkwardness seeping back in. “I should probably sleep.”
“All right,” he says, his voice tight.
“I’ll talk to you soon?”
“I’d like that.”
“Goodnight, Stranger.” I exhale.
“Goodnight, princess.”
Though when it comes time to end the call, neither of us does. We just remain in silence, and every so often, I hear him take a drink. I fall asleep to the sounds of him down the line, strangely enough, feeling safer than I have since I shoved him from my life.