Ambrosia (Frost and Nectar, #2)(58)

I knew I looked like an absolute monster right now.

Why did this encounter feel more horrifying than a month in the Unseelie dungeon?

I winced and gave a slight wave to Andrew. Unfortunately, the happy couple now stood between me and the entrance to Shalini’s apartment.

I cleared my throat and pointed at the gate behind them. “Just going to Shalini’s.” I really didn’t want to get closer, to have them inspect the absolute state of me and ask why I was covered in blood.

Andrew’s nose was wrinkled, his eyes narrowing like he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing. “Ava, what happened to you? The gossip columns said you had a nervous breakdown after you were dumped. Is that, like, a psychotic break?”

My jaw clenched. “Is that what they said?”

His gaze darted to the top of my head. “Was it the horns? I didn’t know fae had horns.” His lip curled with obvious revulsion. “Did they cause the breakdown?”

Ashley’s blonde hair was pulled into a ponytail so tight it tugged at her features. Still gripping Andrew’s arm, she cocked her head, her forehead wrinkled. “Are you…okay?” Her voice sounded unnaturally high-pitched, and her words were slowly enunciated, like she was speaking to a confused child. “Should we call someone to come get you? ”

“I’m fine. I can’t really divulge what I was doing,” I ventured. “It’s fae stuff. Magic. Top secret. You wouldn’t understand.” I didn’t realize how insane that explanation would sound until the words were already out of my mouth. “Never mind,” I said sharply.

“What are you holding?” asked Andrew. “Why are you…where are your clothes? Where are your shoes?”

“It’s not really your business, though, is it?” I snapped.

“You nearly ruined my life, you know,” Andrew said sharply. “Everyone was sympathetic to the poor dumped fae woman. I got fired.”

“So you sold nude photos of me.” I inhaled deeply. “You know what? I really don’t care anymore. About any of this.”

He shrugged, his cheeks turning pink. “But maybe people should know what you are really like. Why I couldn’t be with a fae. Maybe then they would understand and have some sympathy that I just wanted a normal life.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You know, Torin really doesn’t like you.”

Andrew’s lip twitched. “He’s not your boyfriend, though, is he? They said you’re not actually marrying him. They said you disappeared after he turned you down at the altar.” His gaze swept down, taking in my tattered state. “Ava, you should really get some help.”

For a blinding, incandescent moment, I could see myself running up to him and ramming the shard of mirror into his shoulder. Not enough to kill him, but enough to make him deeply regret every decision he’d ever made up until this point.

But I was in the human world now. And here, we didn’t just stab people. In fact, I liked that about this place. Right?

I had at one point, anyway.

I clenched my teeth and hurried past him on the sidewalk.

As I left the two of them behind, I reached the black, wrought-iron gates outside Shalini’s apartment, gates that were just for show, because I’d never seen them locked. I cast my gaze around the courtyard garden of begonias and asters, thinking how tidy it looked compared to the Court of Sorrows. Nice and civilized.

I stood outside the apartment’s brick exterior and pushed the buzzer to her apartment.

I waited a few minutes, my chest tightening a little bit.

As the breeze nipped at my skin, I hugged myself.

I suppose she could have stayed in Faerie?

If she wasn’t in her apartment at six in the morning, then she probably had stayed in Faerie. But was it by choice? Had the entire kingdom frozen over when Torin left without a queen? I had no idea, but a nauseous feeling was starting to climb up my gut.

I pushed the buzzer of another apartment—then a second one, until at last someone answered, sounding annoyed and groggy. “What?”

“Sorry,” I said, in the best imitation of Shalini’s voice. I turned my head away in case they had a camera view. “It’s Shalini. Can you just buzz me in? I forgot my keys.” Without another word, the stranger buzzed the door open, and I pushed through the heavy wooden door.

I climbed the pretty tiled stairs to her apartment. I didn’t have a key, of course, but what I did have at this point was an insane lack of patience and the heightened physical strength of a fae.

After knocking several times and calling her name through the door, I kicked the door three times—hard—until the wood splintered just above the doorknob.

When I’d created enough of a gap, I shoved my hand through the splintered wood and unlocked the door from the inside.

As soon as I stepped in, the scent of trash and mold hit me hard. I cleared my throat with a growing sense of unease. When I stepped into the kitchen, I dropped the magic piece of mirror onto the table.

There, I found a box of donuts, completely overgrown with fuzzy gray and green mold. My nose wrinkled, and I dumped them in the trash.

I should probably eat, I supposed. I opened her cupboards and pulled out a box of Cheerios, then filled a glass of water from the sink.

At the kitchen table, I ate like a toddler, shoveling dry cereal into my mouth. As I chewed, my mind ticked over the possibilities of what could have happened.