Darkness & Light (War of the Fae: Book 3) (39 page)

“Better?” he asked, searching my eyes for confirmation.

“No.”

He smiled, pulling me to him and squeezing me tight.
 
“Better.
 
Good.
 
Take a shower.
 
Becky will bring you your stuff.”

I put my hand on his face as he moved to pull away.
 

He stopped instantly, a question on his face, hope in his eyes.
 
His hand dropped to my waist and held on.

“Thanks, Spike.
 
You got soaked for me.
 
You probably have my
boogs
on your shirt too.”

“Anytime, babe, you know that.”
 
He leaned in for a kiss, but I dropped my head.
 
I was embarrassed about what I’d done ... my tantrum ... my runny nose ... everything.

He grabbed my chin, forcing my head up and giving me a very chaste, close-mouthed kiss on the lips.
 
“Later, when you’re feeling better, we’ll finish what we started here.”
 
He raised an eyebrow and then looked pointedly at the shower.

I cleared my throat, embarrassed and a little aroused.
 
“
A-hem.
 
No promises.”

“I don’t need any,” he said, winking.
 
He released me and walked out of the bathroom, yelling to Becky on his way, “Hey Beck!
 
She needs clothes and a towel!”
 
The door swung shut behind him.

I leaned against the wall, letting the water wash over me.
 
I was still fully dressed.
 
The water felt good but it couldn’t do what I needed it to
 
- wash away the memories and the feelings.
 
Unbidden images of Chase’s happy face kept coming back and flashing through my mind’s eye.
 
It made me miserable all over again.

Becky walked through the door with a load of my stuff in her arms.
 
As soon as she saw me, she instantly looked sad.
 
“Oh, honey, don’t let this get to you so much.
 
We’re gonna fix it ... I promise!”
 
She looked so hopeful, I couldn’t keep crying in front of her.
 
No reason to torture everyone else with my shame.
 
If she wanted to have false hope, who was I to take that from her?

“Thanks for bringing in my stuff, Becky.”
 
I worked like hell to keep my voice from catching on the giant lump that wouldn’t leave my throat.

“You’re welcome.
 
Can I ... help you or anything?”
 
She looked like she was at a loss.

“No.
 
I’ll take it from here.
  
Just give me a few minutes.”

“Sure, hon
.
 
No
problem.
 
I’ll be just across the hall in your room with the guys.”

“Where’s Scrum?” I wanted to talk to him about Chase.

“He’s out training, but he’ll be here soon.
 
We sent him a message that you’re up.”

“‘Kay.”

Becky left me to my shower and I used the time to get out of my clothes and clean off every speck of Dark Fae dirt that might be hiding on my body.
 
No matter how hard I scrubbed I felt like there was still some there.
 
I only stopped when my skin turned bright red and threatened to bleed.

I dried myself off and dressed in the white tunic and jeans that Becky had brought.
 
Under the pile of clothes was my sheath and, miraculously, Blackie too.
 
I pulled the weapon out, dragging my fingers along its length.
 
Chase
.
 
He had to be the one who made sure I got it back.
 
What had I done to deserve such loyalty?
 
He’d changed sides and yet he still took care of me – a stupid Light Fae girl.
 
I took in a big wavering breath and let it out slowly.
 
Time to face the music.
 
I needed to be someone who deserved that kind of dedication.

I left the bathroom and joined my friends.
 
I just hoped like hell they’d still want to be my friends when all was said and done.
 
I’m not sure I’d be as generous with them if I were in their shoes.
 
Hopefully, they were better fae than I am.

I walked in and noticed right away that Scrum had joined the party.
 
I expected him to judge me harshly, so I was a little surprised when he perked right up with, “Hi, Jayne!” as soon as he saw me.
 
I gave him a half-hearted wave and avoided looking at Spike, focusing on Tony instead as I went over and sat down next to him on the bed.

“Hey,” he said, moving over to give me more room.

“Hey.”
 
My voice was rusty from all the emotion that had ravaged my throat in the last hour.

Tony looked at everyone.
 
“Okay, so as all of you know, I’ve been made the new training coordinator for the Light Fae.”
 

He glanced at me, and I acknowledged the pride I felt with a nod.
 
I was so glad he could feel me right now with his
wrathe
vibing talents.
 
I was too wiped out to say the right things.

“The gray elves have met with the council, and now, after taking Jayne and Tim’s kidnapping into account, you will notice several changes around here.”
 
Tony turned his gaze to me.
 
“Jayne, the gray elves and the council want to meet with you as soon as possible.”
 
He looked up at Becky.
 
“Can you let them know we’re ready and find out where and when they want to see us?”

“Sure,” she said, a second before she disappeared into thin air.

“What
kinda
changes should we be expectin’?” asked Finn.

“Well, first of all, there will be several cross-training exercises.
 
The green elves and dwarves will be working with all the other fae on battle tactics.
 
The silver elves, gray elves, and I will be collaborating together to share our work with the wind and the Gray with all of you.
 
The witches will be giving some lectures and demonstrations on the most common spells we’re likely to see during wartime.”
 
He paused, looking at all of us in turn, “And each of the high value targets in our compound will have constant guards and additional training duties.”

“And who would those high value targets be?” asked Finn.

“Well, Jayne for one.
 
Me for another.
 
Naida.”

“Why us?” I asked.
 
“What was the selection criteria?
 
‘Cuz obviously it wasn’t those who are the best fighters, or Finn would be on the list.
 
And if it included the fastest or most dangerous, Spike and Tim would be on it.”
 

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“No, those weren’t our criteria.
 
We’ve done a full analysis of our resources and those that are both vulnerable and valuable are on the list of those needing extra protection and work – to help them be not quite so vulnerable.”

“Ah,” I nodded.
 
“I’m not worth a shit at fighting off the bad guys and I’m dangerous to let loose.
 
I get it.
 
I’m on the short bus.”

Tony frowned at me.
 
“Don’t say it like that.”

I held up my hands, “No, no offense, don’t worry.
 
I got myself kidnapped by the bad guys and couldn’t get myself out of it.
 
I deserve to be on that list – except I’m not sure I agree about the high value part.”

“Don’t underestimate your powers, Jayne.
 
The gray elves have some theories about you that I think will surprise everyone.”

I sighed, knowing that while it sounded romantic, it wasn’t very likely.
 
Even while getting my ass kicked and feeling like I was on death’s doorstep, I still couldn’t pull that rabbit out of my butt.
 
Weren’t a person’s most awesome skills supposed to come out in moments of stress?
 
The only thing I found out in my moment of stress with
Leck
was that I had a low tolerance for pain and no skills to get rid of it.

Becky reappeared, interrupting my one-woman pity party.
 
“They’re ready for you now.
 
The meeting’s in the assembly hall,” she said, nervously.

“What does that mean?” I asked, looking at her and then Tony.

“Don’t freak out,” said Tony.
 
“I know they want to hear from you about what happened, even though they know most of it from Tim already.
 
There are a lot of important decisions to make and so they’re probably involving everyone.
 
It’ll be faster that way.”

I sighed.
 
That’s all I needed – to be in front of the assembly
again
... for the third time.
 
These fae were probably getting sick and tired of seeing me up there.
 
It reminded me of being called to the principal’s office, only this was worse because I had a couple hundred witnesses.
 
I thought I’d left public humiliation behind me in the human world at high school.

Spike stood up from his spot on the floor.
 
“Don’t worry.
 
We’ll be with ya.”

“Yep.
 
All of us,” said Scrum cheerfully.
 
“And if Chase were here, he’d be with you too.”

Everyone groaned at him but me.
 
Finn threw Tim’s tiny bed pillow at Scrum’s head.
 
I just fought the urge to cry.

“Who invited this kid here, anyway?” demanded Tim.

I waved his anger away.
 
“He’s right.
 
Chase would stand up for me.
 
He’s that kind of guy.”
 
I cleared my throat to push the frog that was in there back down.
 
I would not allow myself to cry in front of the Light Fae.
 
If they were going to roast me, I was just going to have to take it.
 

We arrived at the assembly hall much quicker than I would have liked.
 
There were only a few seats left, but knowing I was going to be called to the front to testify to my own stupidity, we didn’t bother taking them; my friends had already declared their intentions to stand with me and show their support.
 
I looked up at the front and saw that the council was already in place on the raised platform of seats set in a semi-circle in front of the audience chairs, some of the members talking to one another, and others just looking at the crowd.
 
Jared was standing in his usual spot behind them with Ivar and Niles.

Dardennes raised his arms up, standing in the front of the room behind his council seat, calling out to everyone to take their places and quiet down.
 
His eyes scanned the gathering group, stopping when they reached us.
 
He gestured for us to come forward.
 
As we walked down the center aisle, the noise in the room hushed, everyone watching us.
 
A few latecomers scrambled to get to their saved seats as quietly as they could.
 
By the time we reached the front, everyone was in place and observing us with undisguised curiosity.
 
I was in the center of my group of friends, Finn and Scrum on either side of me, Spike and Becky behind me, Tony in front, and of course, Tim on my shoulder.
 

Dardennes began his opening speech while we stood there trying not to feel totally self-conscious.
 
“My fellow Light Fae, thank you for gathering here today.
 
We asked you to come because we have some information to share, and the council has requested that your input be considered before certain important decisions are made.”
 
He paused a moment for his words to sink in and then continued.
 
“The changelings you see before you today are here because we have asked one of them, Jayne the elemental, to tell you a story about her recent kidnapping by the Dark Fae.”
 

Murmurs broke out across the crowd, signifying to me that maybe not everyone knew about what had happened.
 
I was surprised at this, considering how small our compound community is.

“On a related note,” Dardennes paused to point at Tony, “just a general announcement – the changeling Tony, who is our one and only
wrathe
here in the compound, has been working with the gray elves and is now officially our newly appointed changeling training coordinator.
 
I understand that this appointment was well-earned and has been unanimously approved by all of the gray elves, who as you know, are head of our war strategies group.”