Seven Black Diamonds (Seven Black Diamonds #1)(54)
“Oh, and if he’s coming anyhow, could you send a few of my favorite pieces of jewelry too?”
At that, her father became very quiet. He knew she’d taken a small purse gun and several blades with her already. All she could hear was the steady rhythm of his breathing for several moments, and then he asked, “Are you sure you don’t want to come home and get them yourself?”
“Not right now, but I’ll tell you if it changes. Can you . . . can you talk to the Gavirias for me? I want Erik and his family to know that they matter to me.”
“Should I tell them everything, Lily?”
“No,” she all but whispered. “I’d rather that some things stay between us if possible, Daidí.” She took a big gulping breath for courage and asked, “Do you remember Mom being pregnant?”
“You’re my daughter, Lilywhite. No matter what else happens in this life, no matter what you ever hear . . . you are Lilywhite Abernathy.”
“I have questions that doesn’t answer,” she admitted.
“When I get back from the Gavirias, I’ll come see you and answer what I can.” He took a breath of his own, exhaled in a sigh, and told her, “I expected you’d have questions. I hoped that Creed . . . that he could help.”
“Don’t let Se?or Gaviria hear that you’re matchmaking,” she teased.
Like the rest of their conversation, her father heard what she was really asking and said, “At some point—”
“But not right now,” she cut in firmly.
“Fine.” Daidí paused, and she could hear people in the background now. Then he ordered, “You’ll be careful.”
“I am Nicolas Abernathy’s daughter,” she promised. “You be careful too.”
“Always.”
“Get back to work,” she said in lieu of good-bye.
The week of their truce was almost up, and the closer that proof came, the more Lily worried. She had spent the past day and a half mostly alone in her room when possible.
She wasn’t hiding. She simply needed space. Abernathy Commandment #11: Know when to walk away from trouble. The problem was that she wasn’t sure this was trouble she could escape. Despite what she’d said to Zephyr and the assurances she’d given Daidí, Lily wasn’t ready to meet the Queen of Blood and Rage, not now, possibly not ever. Even if Lily hadn’t grown up reading and re-reading the tales her mother had written for her, seeing the news her whole life more than clarified exactly why Endellion was a living nightmare. Just in the past two weeks, the water supplies in ten mid-sized cities around the world had gone toxic. The media spin on the disaster ranged from environmental causes to governmental negligence. However, a few journalists, notably all independent media, suggested that this was yet another act of terrorism by either fae-blood sympathizers or by the fae themselves.
Lily could allow that they might be wrong, but ten coordinated attacks were unlikely to be an accidental disaster. Thousands of people sickened and died, many of them children or the elderly, whose immune systems weren’t as strong, because their water supplies were tainted.
By Sleeper cells like the Black Diamonds.
Unfortunately, knowing that the queen was a terrorist wasn’t news—or a legitimate excuse to refuse her invitation to the Hidden Lands. If Lily refused, she’d be taken against her will. If she went . . . honestly, Lily had no idea what would happen if she went. Abernathy Commandment #13: Don’t ask questions when you’d rather not know the answers. The queen clearly had no compunction about killing. Would being a strong fae-blood be a strength or weakness in her eyes? The fae-bloods publicly claimed that being descended of the fae was a strength, a way to unify the two worlds if only humanity would stop polluting the earth. They were, in effect, radical environmentalists. Lily didn’t agree with their theory that peace was that simple, but she did agree that humanity needed to stop being so careless with the earth.
“Your door was unlocked,” Creed said softly.
She looked up to find him in the doorway to her bedroom. She hadn’t even noticed that he was there until he spoke. Now she couldn’t see anything else. She didn’t want to cause more problems than necessary, so she had avoided any private conversations with Creed for several days now.
“If you’re going to hide from me, at least admit you’re doing it.”
She shook her head and looked away from him. She had to. Whatever this pull was, it was strong and growing stronger. She couldn’t afford to give in to it. As much as she didn’t want to believe that she was anything other than who she’d always been—Nicolas and Iana Abernathy’s daughter—the queen had summoned Lily by name. That meant that she needed to think about protecting the people already known to matter to her—and not invite more people close to her heart.
She stared out the window of her bedroom, not wanting to look at Creed. Lily had always known her mother was fae-blood. As Lily had gotten older and developed multiple affinities, she had considered the idea that her mother was wholly fae, so that wasn’t that surprising either. But if she was one of the fae who had agreed to give over their children to be used as weapons, then why did she leave her stories for Lily? The answers Zephyr had offered simply didn’t make sense. There was too much unknown, and Lily wasn’t going to risk Creed’s life by getting closer to him.