I stop short. Slowly, I turn so that I’m facing him. There’s a dare written across his face that has my heart rate picking up. “Excuse me?”
“I’ll use my name for you, or your true name. No other. Let everyone else believe you’re Elle. Not me.”
Where the hell is this coming from? “Why do you want to know my real name?”
Rys shrugs.
In Faerie, trust no one.
“Whatever,” I mutter. “Call me Leannán if you want to. It doesn’t matter and it doesn’t change anything. I’m still going with you to the Unseelie Court.”
“It’s a bad idea.”
I’m sure it is. There’s still nothing else I can do, and I remind him that.
“What’ll stop them from deciding that I didn’t fulfill my end of the bargain? You saw the way he held that over Riley’s head to get her to agree.”
He hesitates, almost as if he doesn’t know how to answer that right away, before admitting, “The Shadow is different.”
Of course she is. “Okay. And? Helix already threatened me with going back to jail once. Who’s to say he won’t show up while you’re gone and take me to that new one?”
“I’d never let him.”
“You wouldn’t be here to stop him,” I point out.
“Then I wouldn’t rest until you were free again. I got you out of Siúcra before and that prison is supposed to be unbreakable. Samradh won’t be able to stop me.”
“Yeah? And what would it cost us this time?”
“Everything comes with a cost. For you, I’d pay it.”
He would. I know he would.
And that’s what makes this whole thing so terrible.
Shaking my head, I step away from him again. Being too close to him is a temptation I can’t ignore.
“I can’t rely on you to protect me, Rys. I learned that one the hard way. You’ve made it perfectly clear that we don’t have any kind of future. What was it you said? Let’s live in the now? I… I can’t. I can’t do that. I need to look out for me.”
“That’s what a ffrindau is for.”
Oh, really? “Well, I don’t have one of those, do I?”
I think I’ve finally gotten through to him because, with my comment, the mood in the bedroom changes instantly.
Rys purses his lips. It makes his scar stand out and, as my eyes are drawn to the raised, pink slash in his face, he bows his head. It’s on purpose, too. His gorgeous hair falls forward, creating a curtain that makes it difficult to read the rest of his expression.
“Very well. You made your point. If I can’t stop you, the best I can do is prepare you. By the time the Shadow and her mate are ready to leave, you will be, too.”
Rys is true to his word—and not just because, as a fae, he has to follow through on his promise. Though he slowly begins to pull away from me, as if he’s back to keeping distance between us, he does everything he can so that I’m ready to take the journey into the Shadow Realms with the rest of them.
It’s not going to be as easy as hopping in a portal and coming out on the other side of Faerie. It can’t be. As a human, I can walk through a Seelie portal or the Unseelie shadows and come out alright. Riley, too, though I guess that’s because she’s half-human. But I learned from my time in the Shadow Realm that the Seelie are basically powerless in the Unseelie Court. It’s like how the shadows in the oubliette were designed to sap a Light Fae’s energy, or how one of the Dark Fae can be burned by faerie fire. Rys can’t travel through the shadows. Nine, Riley’s dark mate, isn’t able to use a Light Fae portal inside of Faerie. So we have to walk, and that doesn’t even begin to take into account that no one knows exactly where to find the Unseelie queen.
Since none of us know how long this mission is going to take, either, Rys finally convinces me that I need a new wardrobe. We might have to blend in, and while I asked for another shadowy cloak for when we’re back in the Shadow Realm, we have to leave Oberon’s lands first. Though I won’t be alone, I still haven’t forgotten that some of the faerie folk might take one look at me and see a target.
Rys hasn’t forgotten, either.
At his request, I’ve taken to wearing my hair down, covering my ears so that the round tops aren’t so obvious. The teal streaks are starting to grow out, but the way they mix with the blonde strands looks more natural now. With my new Faerie clothes, I can almost pass as a native.