Seven Black Diamonds (Seven Black Diamonds #1)(84)
Once she’d done all she could, she walked over to Violet and said, “Thank you.”
Violet wiped her mouth. “What didn’t he want you to say?”
“It’s not my—”
“I did as you and he asked,” Violet cut her off harshly. “Tell me, LilyDark.”
“Look at him carefully, Vi,” Creed interjected, as he leaned against the wall. “He was there on the night we were all made.”
Violet stared at him and then glanced at the fae she’d just burned. It didn’t take but a heartbeat for her to see it, but she still objected. “He’s not . . .” She pursed her lips, not able to utter the lie now that she saw it. “What affinity?”
“Fire,” Lily said quietly.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean anything,” Violet said, but her gaze was fixed on Torquil. It wouldn’t take long for her to admit the truth.
Lily looked at Creed. He shook his head.
“She’ll be fine,” Creed murmured as Violet walked back over to Torquil and sat at his side.
“Assuming we walk away from this.”
“Yes. Assuming that.” Creed stroked her cheek with his fingertips.
Lily exhaled loudly. “You seem fine with this . . . Honestly, between you and Zeph, I’m starting to feel like it’s odd not to be okay with dying.” She scowled at Creed. “We’re getting out of here.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Creed said lightly. “What do we do then?”
At that, Lily’s burst of confidence fled. “I don’t know. We’re unarmed. Torquil is . . . I just don’t know.” She met Creed’s eyes and confessed, “I don’t know what to do.”
Creed reached out for her hand and squeezed it. He didn’t offer empty words. He simply held on to her hand.
After a moment, Lily squeezed back and said, “Come on.”
They walked over to Violet, who was still staring at the seemingly unconscious fae. She glanced up at them briefly. “He looks our age. It’s weird to think of my mom and—”
“As I understand it, children aren’t to think of their parents mating,” Torquil said, eyes still closed.
Lily let out a relieved sigh that he was alert. She crouched down and checked the bright red wound. The burned skin was warm, but there was no new blood.
“So, you’re my father?” Violet prompted.
Torquil opened his eyes. “I believe so. The queen . . . gave me reason to think that I am. I thought it best not to mention it before you—”
“Burned you?” Violet shrugged. “If you don’t die, we can fight about it. Then you can buy me a pony or something.”
“A pony?” Torquil glanced at Lily and Creed. “Is this a human custom? Like the goat?”
Before they could answer, Violet said, “So since Dad isn’t bleeding out, what do you say we get out of here?”
“Nacton and Calder are full fae who have trained longer than you’ve lived, and I am . . . unwell,” Torquil objected. “You are not a match for them on your own.”
Violet simply stared at Lily and waited. They needed a plan. Unfortunately, Lily hadn’t come up with one—and she had no idea how long they had before their captors came back.
“Vi’s right. If we stay, you’ll die. All of you.” Lily pulled her hair back into a twist. “Our options are escape, die trying, or die by not trying.”
“Easy choices, as far as I’m concerned.” Creed looked at her. “I pledged myself to you once, Lily. I can say it again if you need, but the reality is that if you need me to buy you time to escape, I’ll gladly do so.” He gestured to Torquil. “I won’t have him or Vi doing it.”
“Back up, boy.” Violet’s temper finally sparked, setting off a mini light show in the dark cavern. “One of us can set fires to idiots, and one of us sings pretty songs. Guess which is more useful?”
“He can do a bit more than that,” Lily pointed out. “Part of working with air means stopping it too.”
For a second, Violet stared at him as she processed what that meant practically. “Suffocation. That’s good. We can use that.”
Creed winced. While he was apparently fine with being injured, he seemed less so with injuring anyone. That, more than anything, told her that he was Seelie. Despite the evidence given by the Seelie princes, the Seelie as a whole were the more gentle court—not by huge measures, but enough to draw the distinction.
“He could feed your fire,” Torquil suggested to Violet. “If he’s adept enough to suffocate with his affinity, he’s good enough to be your aid as you attack.”
The smile that came over Violet’s face was enough to make Lily shiver.
“I think we’re onto a plan then. What do you say, LilyDark?” Violet prompted with a grim tone.
“I don’t know that plan is the correct word, but it’s something,” Lily agreed. “I think . . . what we need is to fight like us, not like fae. You were both raised as guerrilla fighters, and I was raised to be ruthless. Proper swordplay isn’t us.”
Violet nodded and began twisting her own hair into some sort of knot. “I’m guessing Lily’s grandmother isn’t going to be very pleased about those two . . . jerks. I can’t wait to tell her.”