Reaching Answers (Artemis University #8) - Erin R Flynn Page 0,38

find the best way to protect you.” He kissed my hair and let me go, not pushing it. “I know this doesn’t change anything, but it’s a layer of security you need to feel safe.”

Ray snorted. “Doc, I’m buying you a case of something good. That just made our job so much easier.”

“I’m not using mind control or any runes on her,” Neldor snapped.

“Yes, but every person in this room believes it’s not beneath you to try,” Irma seethed. “Should that not at least give you pause to truly assess your behavior? Weeks of getting to know you, and we all worry for Tamsin and what you might do to her. That is because of you, Prince Neldor, not us. At least hear her this time instead of dismissing the only living heir to Faerie!”

Neldor winced and I did a double take. “Why do you say it like that? What does that mean, Irma?”

“There are legends that Faerie was not always split. Some thought it was the mistake of one god who wanted to help Hades that made a second royal bloodline. Which and who came first, none of us know. It might not be true, but nowhere does it say two queens must rule the realms of Faerie, simply it must be an heir.”

“And the heirs must be female,” another hobgoblin added. “The daughters of the blessed bloodlines will be the only ones Faerie will answer to.”

“What does that mean?” I sighed.

“The world will slowly die. The magic needs a conduit just as some supes need one to do other magic,” Irma said gently. “It’s why you’ve had such a tie to Faerie.” She sighed when I snorted. “Yes, there has been no control and Faerie has hurt you, but it’s too injured to behave as it normally would.”

“That’s true,” Neldor agreed. “I—the fact Faerie hurt you not once but twice means it was fizzling out and out of time. I’ve never heard of it doing anything but answer the call of the queens or heirs. Always.”

I flinched as Craftsman did. “It did once.”

Irma nodded. “Ryfon quickly shut down that I was going to say that Faerie only answers the call of the queens or heirs. He knew though. Yes, I’ve already beat him for that.”

“Faerie answered your call? It recognized you as the heir?” Neldor asked, his eyes flashing shock. “When? How?”

I sighed, thinking we had already told him this but we’d told him so much, I couldn’t blame him for not keeping up with it all.

Or us if we’d forgotten.

“Craftsman was dying,” I rasped, hugging his arms to me without even realizing it until he kissed my hair. “He saved me when I was injured in a trap while rescuing hobgoblins and it almost killed him. I brought him to Faerie and begged it to save him because I had no juice left. It saved him.”

Neldor went from handsome to disarmingly sexy when he gave me the first kind smile ever. “That’s our world, Tamsin. That’s what it truly is. It’s dying and in pain. I know you distrust it because it’s hurt you but at its core, Faerie is full of goodness and everything we need to heal and love. It would have risked dying to save the one you love to help keep you going. That’s Faerie.”

I smiled when the hobgoblins nodded. “That sounds nice.” I cleared my throat and let go of Craftsman, glad when he let me.

“Where did you get all of this?” Irma asked me, sensing I needed a topic change.

“I wanted to surprise everyone, so I had greenhouses put in so we could have fresh fae produce in the winter,” I told her. “There’s more in the garage I’ll get.”

“I’ve got it,” Lucca said, Darby nodding. Lucca came over and kissed my hair. “Rest. You didn’t sleep well.”

“Thanks.” I shot a glance at Craftsman but he didn’t react, offering to help the hobgoblins and prepping ingredients for them.

So it really had been a dream. If I had kissed him in some sort of spell place, he would have done it when I’d given him so many chances or at least… It wouldn’t be like it had been.

I snapped out of my thoughts when Irma set some juice in front of me. I thanked her and sat down, drinking it and running my hand over my hair. The dream had wiped me out emotionally and kept me from recharging in sleep.

But it had helped. I felt more settled. Not closure but… I