The Never King (Vicious Lost Boys #1)(21)

Up the hill, I can just make out Cherry crossing the balcony and scanning the beach. When she spots us, she comes down.

I’m not in the mood for Cherry.

I’m not sure I’ve ever been.

Unlike the Darling, I’ve always had free access to Cherry. Takes away some of the fun.

“Hi,” she says when she comes up. “Can Winnie come to the bonfire tonight?”

Kas gives me another gentle push with the stick. “Why?” he asks.

“I thought it might be good for her while we wait for the full moon.”

“Pan will say no.”

Cherry puts her hands on her hips. “We have a bonfire every night. Since when do we need his permission?”

“We don’t,” I say, “but he’ll certainly have an opinion about the Darling attending.”

“I’ll take care of Pan.”

Kas laughs at the sky. “Just what the fuck do you think you’re going to say to Peter Pan to make him bend to you?”

“He’s not as unreasonable as you both make him out to be.” She squints as the wind shifts and the palms break open allowing the sun to stream in. “Besides, where is she going to go? There’s nowhere to run.”

“Looks like you did plenty of running last night,” I say.

Kas frowns at me and says, Stop teasing her.

Why, when it’s so easy to get her flustered?

“Stop doing that,” she says.

“Doing what?”

“Talking in your fae language. I can hear the bells, but not the words and it annoys me.” She huffs.

“We were just discussing the Death Shadow is all,” I lie. “Did it give you the best, most terrifying orgasm of your life, Cherry?”

Her face pinks.

To be honest, I’m surprised she’s upright and walking.

When Vane’s shadow takes over, it fucking terrifies me and he’s not trying to fuck me.

“I’m not talking about my sex life with you two anymore,” she says. Then, “So can she?”

“I suppose,” I say. “You know how much I love pretty girls and parties.”

“Because you’re a self-absorbed prick,” Kas says.

“He’s not wrong,” I tell Cherry.

“Will you make the food?” she asks me.

“Is there anyone better?” I don’t wait for her to answer. “No. There’s not. So yes, I’ll make the food.”

“Good. Let’s say seven.”

“I thought you were going to ask Pan first? The sun doesn’t set till eight-thirty at the earliest.”

She smirks. “I will ask him. For forgiveness.”

“Brave little Cherry,” I say. “Fine. Now go away.”

She rolls her eyes, then starts back up the hill, disappearing through the palm fronds.

“You think you can keep your dick in your pants tonight?” Kas asks.

“Doubtful.”

He pokes me with the stick again. I snatch it from his grasp and whack him with it.

He laughs and rubs the sore spot. “If you get us kicked out of the treehouse, we’ll have nowhere else to go. So behave yourself.”

“Pan doesn’t kick people out. He thins them out. If Pan grows tired of us, we’re dead. So really I don’t know why you’re worried.”

He grumbles to himself.

I close my eyes and sink back into the hammock. The ropes tied around the tree creak. We’re quiet again and then Kas says, “Tilly will be here tomorrow night.”

“I know.”

“I miss our sister.”

I sigh. “I do too.” And the palace. And the court drama. I thrived in that place.

“You think she’ll ever forgive us?”

“I don’t think so.”

It’s hard to forgive your brothers when they gutted your father right in front of you.

“You know what I’ve been wondering about since Merry?” Kas asks.

“What’s that?”

“I wonder if our dear sister is really doing what she claims to be doing with the Darlings.”

Now my eyes are wide open. “You think she’s lying to Pan?”

Kas turns in the hammock so his feet are in the sand. “What if she is? What would we do about it?”

“That is a loaded question.”

“I know it is.”

We drop it then and there.

I think we’re both afraid of the answer.





14





BROWNIE


The Brownie has no name.

He is older than most on the island, but not older than Peter Pan.

Even the Brownie is unsure of where Pan came from or what he is.

It’s undeniable that he is connected to the island, that both he and the land have laid a claim on one another.

Which explains why the island’s energy is like a buzzing wasp nest that’s been whacked with a stick.

The Brownie remembers when Pan was king and he doesn’t wish to return to what Neverland was when it was under his rule, but if they are to be rid of him, they have to have a plan.

The Brownie set one in motion a very long time ago with Tinker Bell, stars rest her soul.