I even thought about it my mind went on the fritz, panic and darkness clouding it.
Finally, the large wooden doors of the library loomed in front of us and my legs almost gave out in relief. The trek from the Lanuaet to the library had never felt so long before. As I looked at my throne brothers, I knew I wasn't the only one feeling the effects of getting the castle out of the Fae realm and back to Amnestia.
When we pushed the doors open my heart stopped as I saw Nellie, in all her human glory, sitting there chatting with a young Fae male. The three of us froze as we each took in the scene before us. Nellie and her Fae companion looked up at us as we entered, the blood draining from the male's face.
"What is he doing here? And with her?" Sorrell said, stabbing a finger in the direction of Nellie and her companion as Groffet came around the desk area.
"I-I-I've helped Groffet in the past, my Lord," the Fae male said, speaking up unexpectedly. From the looks of him, pale and rather scrawny looking, I'd expected him to cower, especially in the face of Sorrell's anger, but he didn't. He may have been a lesser male, but he was brave and stood his ground, something I found impressive.
"Ash is trustworthy. He has helped me on many occasions, and I know he wouldn't betray us or Ms. Nellie over there. He'll keep his mouth shut if he knows what's good for him," Groffet said as he crossed his arms over his chest, daring Sorrell to disagree with him.
Of course none of us did. We were all smarter than that. Disagreeing with Groffet when he felt strongly about something was like yelling into the wind. It might be heard, but it didn't stick around. Nor did it change a damn thing.
"Fine," I growled before either of the others could say anything more.
Roan stepped in and leveled both Groffet and the male Fae, Ash, with a dark look. "We need to speak with the…” He flicked a glance between them and surprisingly, instead of saying “human” he spoke the girl’s name. “We must speak with Nellie."
"What's wrong?" she asked, and then she seemed to realize something. Her eyes roamed between us, scanning for something—Cress—and when her search came up empty, a worried frown turned her lips down. "Where's Cress?" she asked.
A dark, sinister feeling stabbed me in the gut, and having felt this particular emotion many times before, I could easily place it. Guilt. The vile creature clawed at my insides, laughing as it reminded me that this girl’s friend, someone we had—someone I had—sworn to protect had not returned with us. Nellie’s gaze pleaded with us, as if she could sense the onslaught of bad news and still hoped that her instincts were wrong.
It shredded something inside me to confirm her obvious fears. Except, I didn’t get the chance. My answer was interrupted by another.
"She was taken." Sorrell’s voice was icy as the temperature of the room dropped. A wave of cold air washed outwardly from his figure, visible only in the way Nellie shivered and stepped closer to her newfound friend. His anger was palpable.
"What do you mean t-taken?" Nellie stuttered, eyes round, luminous. Lost. I gritted my teeth when she shook her head and seemed to suck all of that fear back inside herself as she took a step towards us, a brighter fury coming forth. “Where is she?” she demanded. “What’s happened to her?” Were she Fae, I suspect, the fire in her eyes might rival even Roan’s. Unfortunately for her, however, she was not. The girl possessed no magic, and in our Court, she was nothing but a guest—the guest of a lost Changeling who had been stolen from us—and she was precariously close to the edge of both of my throne brothers’ tolerance for humans.
"The fault is mine," I said quietly. "It was my brother that took her.” My blood brother. The wicked soul that he was. Cruel. Senseless. And soon to be very, very dead. I sucked in a breath before continuing. “Tyr is using Cress to get to me, to us,” I corrected, “and because of my inability to predict his behavior, she's now paying the price.” Nellie’s eyelashes flickered as she stared at me in cold shock. “We will figure out how to find her,” I assured the human girl. “Of that, you can be sure. I will find