Page 74 of Welcome to Fae Cafe
Cress’s turquoise eyes took on the cold and rage of the North Corner snow. “I’m not afraid of the Dark. Let them come for me.”
Mor raised a finger; his voice wavered. “What are you saying, Cress?”
“You know what I’m saying.” Wind ruffled through the streets, and the lamps flickered as a flush of power prowled along the air.
Mor blanched. “Cress—”
“I will get the Shadow Fairies out of the human realm before they come for the rest of you and punish you for my crimes,” the Prince said.
Mor’s curly hair bounced as he frantically shook his head. “No! You shouldn’t be alone right now! It’s far too dangerous—”
“Give me one day to think all this through. Alone,” Cress commanded, unable to look at his friend for the first time in over five faeborn years.
Mor looked like he wanted to object. But he nodded. “There’s another problem, Cress. I’m sure you’ve picked up on it,” he said.
“Go home now, Mor. I have things to do.”
Cress turned to leave, and Mor’s deep voice followed him. “Why in the faeborn Corners can that human feel your stare? I don’t know what’s going on in your faeborn heart, Cress, but if you’re not careful, this will end badly for her, too. You must see that.”
Cress kept walking. His fingers traced over his belt toward his back pocket where his fairsaber was missing.
“She’s the least of my problems now,” he called back. “Goodbye, Mor.”
Mor did not reply.
Though it was a simple farewell, the tone of Cress’s voice had said,“Stay away from me.”
26
Kate Kole and the Decisions that Came After
The apartment seemed darker after the assassins left. They were almost silent in their escape, but Kate heard the soft click of the front door. She’d never been afraid to be alone before, and tonight was no exception.
But tonight, the darkness seemed darker, and the coldness seemed colder, and the emptiness seemed emptier.
She wandered from her bedroom and peered out the window. It was too dark to see much, but the wind had picked up and some of the streetlights teetered slightly. For a moment, she stood there in her quiet kitchenette, listening to the silence. Listening to all the voices that weren’t there.
She pulled out a notebook from the kitchen drawer and scribbled across a blank page:
Dranian,
I’m sorry I made you kiss my friend’s shoe.
- Kate
After nearly rewriting the note three times, she went to her small desk by the window. She dug through her drawer for her blue-light glasses and flipped open her laptop while shoving them on her nose. The spine of the most recent book she read cracked when she pressed it open. She dragged her finger down a page where notes about things that inspired her for her own novels were scribbled in the margins. Ten minutes went by of her glancing at the door every few seconds. Eventually, she abandoned her novel and made a chamomile tea.
Finally, the door inched open and two fae assassins tiptoed in. Dranian jumped when he saw Kate standing there. He slapped a heavy hand over his broad chest like she’d startled him, like he’d been caught in the act of doing something he wasn’t supposed to.
“You’re up late,” Kate commented, pulling off her glasses and sitting back down in her desk chair. She took a long sip of her tea, waiting for an explanation she worried wasn’t coming.
“You’re up late, too,” was all Shayne said back. He set his crossbow against the wall and stretched with a yawn.
“Well, the café’s grand opening is tomorrow. And honestly…” Kate set down her tea and hugged her arms to herself. “I thought you’d left.”
“We did leave.”
“No, I thought you’d leftforever.”
