… but maybe we were. He was against his dad; I was against his dad. Maybe we could be a team.
Liam’s gaze darkened. “Lily, that’s your name, is it?”
My stomach warmed at the sound of my name on his lips. He must have seen it around my house before he left, because I hadn’t told him.
I nodded.
He stepped closer to me, reaching up to trace my collarbone. My mouth went dry as I held in my whimper. “You don’t want to know my story. I’ve done things so horrible they would make your blood run cold.” He leaned in, his breath washing over my neck. “We’re not friends. We’re not lovers. We’re not in this together.”
His words should have scared me, but they only saddened me at what I knew would need to be done. He pulled back and took my chin into his hand. “Go now. Don’t come back—”
With the base of my knife, I cracked him over the head, cutting the words off in his throat.
Seeing the look of betrayal cross his face before he crumbled to the ground killed me inside. Tears blurred my vision as I spun and burst into the room. There, lying on a pedestal, were … two crystals.
Holy shit.
Jackpot. It was only when I got closer that I saw that one of them looked … different than the rest. It was bluish green and fading to black at the base. It didn’t look like the other crystals in Faerie but … I should still grab it, right? Surely it was the same thing?
Reaching out, I grabbed the blue Tree of Life crystal and slipped it into my bag, hesitating on the second one. I don’t know why, but my intuition was screaming at me not to grab it. But surely it was the same one we needed? It was the same size and shape, just a different color. Without another thought, I reached out and wrapped my fingers around the dark crystal. Hot searing pain shot up my arm to my elbow and I screeched in agony, drawing my hand back. Sweat beaded my forehead as I looked down at a black scorch mark on my palm.
Shit.
My hand still throbbed with pain as I decided to ditch the dark crystal and ran out of the room. The guard was stirring, but Liam was still out cold. Guilt gnawed at my gut as I remembered that first day I met him and how he’d hidden me inside of the closet…
Shit! Shit!
Pulling out my knife, I cracked the guard over the temple, knocking him out again, and grabbed Liam under the armpits. Heaving him backward with all my might, I stashed him in a dark alcove behind a potted plant. He almost looked like he’d had too much sex and booze and had just passed out. Hopefully, that’s what someone would think if they found him there.
Footsteps down the hallway had my heart jackknifing in my chest. Letting my wings beat slowly enough not to make too much noise, but fast enough for flight, I hovered as a guard with big horns walked out into the large space.
“Shit, Donny!” said the guard, and ran for his fallen friend. I noticed that the second floor had a window open. It was large enough for me to fly through, so I aimed for that space.
As I slipped out into the cold night, the weight of the crystal in my messenger bag gave me comfort. I did it! I’d got the crystal.
I was halfway across the yard, ready to land and run to where I’d stashed the bike, when I heard the flapping of wings.
Fear gripped me as I took off like a hummingbird, glancing over my shoulder to see none other than the Winter King himself.
His wings smoked as small embers fell from them.
Holy fuck. I was fast. It was a trait of a seeker, but this was a freaking king. Royalty was powerful, and although my mother was the queen’s sister, according to Indra we didn’t share the right blood for me to have those kind of powers. I was way out of my league and my warrior guardian AKA Elle, was nowhere in sight.
I flapped madly, trying to get to our meeting site where I’d stashed the motorcycle. I didn’t think the rolling pin would fit in the purse and didn’t want to be caught with it if searched.
Risking another glance back, I was relieved to no longer see smoking wings attached to a very