The Summer King Bundle 3 Stories - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,84

said. “Back to why we’re all here. It has to do with Elliot.”

Oh, no.

I looked over at the King, who had been the one to stab the young fae. I knew that he’d shared the news with Tanner and crew at some point. He was still looking at me, and I had to wonder if he was aware of how noticeable—and creepy—that was.

Faye shifted across from me, tensing. Her cousin Benji was also missing, and considering what had happened to Elliot, I knew she feared the worst. “What about him? Something happened to him that made him evil, but he’s gone. Right?”

The King nodded. “He’s been sent back to our world, but when I spoke to his family, his older brother didn’t want to believe what’d happened.”

“Which is understandable,” Tanner said. “Everyone responds to grief differently, and denial is so much easier than anger.”

“I’ve kept an eye on Avel, but apparently, not a close enough eye.” Kalen folded his arms over his chest. “His parents just told us last night that he left here on Friday and has not returned since.”

“We’re concerned that whatever happened to Elliot has befallen his older brother,” Tanner explained.

I pressed my lips together as the worst-case scenario formed. Damn it. Those poor parents.

“That’s only a couple of days,” Ivy pointed out. “Are we sure that’s the logical conclusion? Is it possible that he just needed to get away?”

“It is totally possible, but the entire Court is aware that something happened to change Elliot,” Faye said. “Of course, those of us who have missing family members are…assuming the worst. Even if Avel didn’t want to believe what the King shared with him, he would’ve come to understand it. He is a reasonable man.”

“If he understood it, then why would he have left?” I asked. “I’m guessing if you all told the Court, it was probably advised that they not leave the hotel.”

“We haven’t advised that. Not yet,” the King answered.

Surprised, my brows lifted as my stare met Ivy’s. She wore the same WTF expression as I did. “Something out there is capable of turning happy-go-lucky fae into murderers, and we’re just going to let the younglings go out there?”

Tanner stiffened.

The King, however, smiled at me. It wasn’t exactly a warm expression, and nothing about him was like the man who sat in my bedroom a little over twenty-four hours ago, telling me about Aric and coming…so close to kissing me. “Taking away the freedom of others because one has been changed does not seem like an appropriate measure to take at this time.”

“Except we now have parents who lost one child and are now missing the other,” I challenged.

“And we have hundreds of fae that come and go here every day without incident,” the King continued. “We advise them to use caution. All of them are aware of the concern, and therefore, would not disappear without telling their family.” That was said to Ivy. “Avel would know that his parents would assume the worst.”

Their assumptions were probably true.

I got why the King didn’t want to force all the fae to stay within Hotel Good Fae, but it seemed like a pretty successful preventative measure to me.

“I know that you two are patrolling, so we wanted to let you know to keep an eye out for Avel,” Kalen said. “I’ll text you guys the most recent photo that his parents provided to us.”

Ren nodded. “We’ll keep an eye out for him. But, man, the other two haven’t surfaced. Sorry,” he said to Faye. She nodded, her shoulders tensing. “There’ve been Winter fae out there, and none of them are talking about the missing younglings. I fear we’ll hit the same roadblock with Avel.”

“It doesn’t hurt to be aware, though.” Ivy tipped forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “I’ll talk to Miles, too. Let him know.”

I snorted, earning strange looks from everyone but the King. “I’m sorry, but good luck with that. I already tried, and the Order are… Well, you can guess.”

“That’s bullshit,” Faye snapped, rising to her feet. “Sorry for cursing,” she added when Tanner frowned at her. “Bullshit was the least offensive word I could think of. We helped them defeat the Queen. We saved Order members’ lives.”

But the Order didn’t see it that way.

I didn’t say that, because I doubted anyone in the room needed to hear it.

“I will try to talk some sense into Miles. It’s just that right now, we have a lot of new recruits still learning the ropes,” Ivy