The Fae Princes (Vicious Lost Boys #4)(28)

With the slower pace, we have more of an opportunity to talk and I can’t let this chance pass me by. There are so many things I want to know about Vane and his life before Neverland.

“Tell me about your sister,” I say.

Roc falters and I step on his boot.

“Sorry.”

“Never surprise a Crocodile,” he warns, but there’s a grin on his face.

“I didn’t mean…”

He spins us through two couples. “It’s all right. She was a lot like you. Brave and bold and irritatingly curious. She wanted to study magic history at the University of the Dark. Probably she would have made it in. We were nepo babies, if I’m honest.”

“What?”

“Nepotism? The practice among those in power to give advantages and favor to their blood.”

“Oh. Right.”

That means Vane’s family was, what, noble? Aristocratic?

“Noble born,” Roc fills in, as if he can read the questions on my face.

He spins us and I melt into his movements.

“Our family founded a society known as the Bone Society. Keepers of Time. Creators of Time. It was necessary, considering what we are. But beyond the beasts, we were the elite.” He laughs and the sound rumbles deeply through his chest. “Vane and I grew up in manor houses and castles, every whim catered to.”

I can’t imagine Vane being one of those wealthy spoiled assholes I came to know so well in my world. The kind of men who believed everything belonged to them, and if it didn’t, they would take it.

“Our father was vicious and greedy. He tried to overthrow the monarchy, the Lorne family, the ones in power in Darkland back then.”

We waltz around the edge of the dance floor. The music fades from my ears as I focus only on Roc.

“Our father was discovered, of course. He had a surplus of ambition and a deficit in warfare, even the quiet kind. He was arrested. Much of our wealth stripped away. Vane and I, along with Lainey, moved to the Umbrage. An ashy, filthy, pit of despair. I loved it.”

He smiles down at me, his green eyes catching the glowing light of a pixie bug lantern and goosebumps pop on my arms.

“We might have been spoiled assholes, but we were cunning, we were hungry, and most of all, we were powerful. So the right men took us under their wings and in return, we devoured for them. We let our monsters out and we consumed until nothing was left.

“And then one day, we found ourselves in charge.” He laughs to himself and spins me through the crowd, back into the center of the room.

“We entertained a lot of the Darkland elite. They would frequent the Umbrage to engage with their darkest desires, and we would cater to them. So even though we had fallen from grace, somehow we found ourselves among our people.

“And everything probably would have been fine had I not accidentally devoured a Lorne princess.”

My mouth pops open in surprise. That’s not how I thought this story would go.

“The Lornes wanted revenge, of course, and who could blame them? Except they didn’t kill me. They raped our sister and then killed her in front of us.”

The music stops and we come to a halt. I’m jarred by the story and by the absence of the music and I sway on my feet as Roc steps back and claps again for the band, like he didn’t just tell me a story that would break any heart.

I am not clapping.

A tear runs down my face before I realize I’m crying. I know cruelty exists in the world. But it pisses me off that it does.

Roc reaches over and swipes away the tear with the pad of his thumb. “Don’t cry, little girl,” he says. “It was a long time ago.”

“Yes, but time means nothing to heartbreak.”

And my heart is breaking for Vane all over again.

I catch the sinking line of Roc’s Adam’s apple as he swallows. “I suppose you’re right.”

A new song begins and dancers fill the space around us.

“Looks like your men are tamed,” Roc says and nods in their direction over my shoulder. When I follow his line of sight, I spot Vane with Pan now, Tink long gone. They’re arguing, I can tell, and Pan is downing fairy wine like his sanity depends on it.

With the shadow, I can hear and see much farther than I ever could before, but there are so many people here, so many voices rising and falling and filling in every pocket of space in the room that I can’t zero in on what they’re talking about. I’m sure it has to do with Tink.

“You look like her.”

I turn back to Roc. “Who?”

“Wendy.”

His levity is gone, his expression unreadable. “She was softer than you in the face, but you have the same eyes, the same cunning mouth.”

It’s odd to imagine my ancestor connected to Vane’s brother. Time is meaningless here.

“Did you love her?” I ask.

“Bold question, Darling girl.”

“Did you?”

He sighs and looks away. “I loved how she made me feel.”

“And how is that?”

“Let me rephrase that.” He meets my gaze again. “I loved that for a moment, with her, I could pretend I could feel.”

There is sorrow on his face now, a wrinkle between his dark brows.

A dancer bumps into me from behind. I lurch forward. Roc catches me, then lunges around me, grabbing the man around the throat with a sure grip. “Watch where you step.”