The Fae Princes (Vicious Lost Boys #4)(42)

I was angry at first. Then vengeful. Then despondent. It got to the point where I could barely look toward the sky because I was envious of the fucking birds.

Eventually I came to bury all of those feelings until my life with wings felt like someone else’s life. Or a dream.

But as I rise to my feet and feel the new weight of my wings returned, I can’t keep the tears from welling in my eyes, all of that old, buried emotion flooding back.

Is this real?

Without thinking about it, my wings spread open and old, forgotten muscles flex across my shoulders, down my back.

The firelight catches my wings and they glitter with iridescence, like the dark, shimmering rainbow of mermaid’s scales.

I look over at my twin. Wings are spreading open from his back too. Bash has never been the type to show emotion other than arrogance and excitement, but his eyes are wet in the light.

How is this possible? he asks me.

I have no fucking clue, I answer.

The Neverland Shadow never gave Pan wings, but he often told me the shadows can react differently for different people.

It’s not out of the question that the shadow would have the power to return something to its natural state.

In front of us, our mother glows with pride as she claps her hands together. “My boys,” she says. “Restored to your former glory. You always looked so handsome with your wings.”

“Tell us where Darling is.”

“There will be plenty of time for that.” Tink comes over, arms spread like she wants a fucking hug, like she didn’t kidnap our girl and hide her from us and force Pan to give up his shadow for her.

“Don’t fucking touch me,” I warn her and she comes to a stop, the triumph fading from her bright face. “Where is Darling?”

Tink’s nostrils flare and her wings flutter faster. “What is it with Darling girls that makes all of you little shits lose your fucking minds?”

“Find her,” Pan tells Vane. “Take the twins with you.”

“Stop them!” Tink yells and the Lost Boys and the fae spring into action and mayhem ensues.





24





WINNIE


I jolt back to reality when pain echoes through the shadow’s connection.

I blink into darkness and for a second, I think I must be dead. I can feel my hands, my feet, I can wiggle my toes, but I can’t see anything and it’s so cold and still.

Think back to the last thing you remember…

The shadow whispers, The fairy trapped us.

Right. I’m buried in a box. And Tink must have created an illusion to make me think I was safe with the boys.

I’m going to murder her.

Just as soon as I get out of this box.

“Help!” I yell and beat on the lid. It’s so quiet, my ears ring from the sound of my own voice. “Can anyone hear me?”

Vane must know I’m in trouble, but if he’s in pain…

I have to get out. I have to save them.

Okay, think, Winnie. This is a game and you just have to figure out how to win. Except I’m buried in a box and I have no tools with me.

“Now would be a really great time for you to do something,” I mutter to the shadow.

It says nothing.

I bang some more until the heels of my hands ache and I’m pretty sure they’re bleeding.

But then, quietly, in the distance, the sound of earth moving.

“I’m down here!” I yell.

The ambient sound grows louder, the less earth that covers me. It must be one of the boys. They must have found me, maybe with Vane’s help and…

Something pries into the lid and wrenches it back.

And when I blink into the dim light of darkness, it isn’t any of the boys I see, it’s Tilly.

I lurch upright, ready to fight, but she holds up her hands, her wings casting shimmering light across the clearing. “I came to help you.”

I’m pressed against the back wall of the hole, dirt sloughing off, pebbling around me. “Why?”

“Because this is all my fault and I need to fix it.”

I’m wary of her. Of course I am. But I can hear the desperation in her voice, the thin reediness of a girl who’s made desperate decisions just trying to survive.

The twins said she tossed the fae throne into the lagoon as an offering, as a way to get an edge over Peter Pan and the boys. But now we’re all suffering the consequences.

“I was never loved by my mother,” Tilly admits, and her voice catches. “And somehow she loves me even less now.”

“So you saved me to get back at Tink?”

“No.” She swallows and licks her lips. “I…I don’t expect you to understand, but I did what I thought I needed to do to be the dutiful daughter and continue our family’s legacy. But it was never enough. And even now, when I am queen, when I hold all of the power to rule the court, I still have nothing. I still don’t have the respect of my mother or my brothers.”

She grits her teeth, stalling the tears, even though I can hear them in each word she speaks.

I know what it is to want love and never find it from the one person who should love you, no questions asked. Before Pan and the boys, I thought love was something you had to wait for, quietly, desperately, and that sometimes even when you waited, it would come to you in only pain.