Forever Fae (Forever Fae #1)(39)

“Well, Ryder, don’t you look handsome? I think all the blood will get the ladies swooning. I trust Calista’s guardian is still up and moving?” He pulls me into his room and slaps my back. I wince. My body is sore from fighting Merrick, but it should heal up here in the next few minutes. Aches and bruises typically only hurt for a couple of hours.

I slowly sit down in one of the chairs before I respond.

“Unfortunately, Merrick is fine. I came by to see if you’ve seen Warren. He told me a bunch of bullshit this morning that may have cost me Calista. She’s furious with me and I need to see him so I can kick his worthless ass and send him home packing.” I look at Kalen seriously and add, “He can’t be here anymore.”

Kalen looks bewildered.

“I haven’t seen him yet and I don’t know where he would be.”

“Will you look for him while I try to find Calista? I really need to speak with her.”

“Sure, brother, I’ll head out now to find him.” He stops me with a hand on my shoulder and looks hopeful. “Don’t worry, things will work out.”

I give him a slight smile and head on my way to Calista’s room. When I get there, I knock on her door. Nothing. I put my ear to the door, but no sound comes from her room so I knock again. Either she’s not in there or she doesn’t want to see me. I lean my forehead against her door and take a deep breath. I have to believe she will forgive me. I know she will be at the meeting so I’ll corner her there and make her speak to me.

I head back down to the main floor where the meeting will be held and the sight before my eyes has me worried. There are servants running around and people here and there crying. I see Kalen in the corner talking to Meliantha, Calista’s sister, so I run over to see what the deal is.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

Meliantha says worriedly, “Something bad has happened. One of the servants found a necklace on the council room floor along with a trace of ashes.” I look at her questioningly so she continues.

“The necklace belongs to one of our council members, Xylia’s mom, Raisa. No one has found her husband either. We believe him to be dead as well. If what we believe is true, we have a traitor among us.” She looks back and forth between Kalen and me.

I grab Kalen on the shoulder and say, “It has to be Warren. I saw him this morning leaving the council room. He had blood on his pants and he tried to cover it up, but I didn’t say anything. I also saw him talking to Avery last night.”

I turn to Meliantha and ask, “Has anyone checked to see where Avery has been? Calista told me of the bad vibe she gets when he’s around and I felt it as well. I know it’s not my place to request this, but can you please get someone to check him out?”

Meliantha nods her head and says, “Of course, I will get one of the warriors to take a look in his chambers, and Elvena as well. By touching the ashes, she’ll be able to identify who it was.” She pauses and puts her hand over her mouth and closes her eyes. When she opens them they are full of tears. I look at my brother and I can tell he wants to hold her, but he keeps his distance. She continues on and her voice breaks when she speaks.

“We haven’t told Xylia about her parents yet. We’ll wait for Elvena to come to the council room and take a look around. If you see Xylia, please don’t mention any of this.”

I look to Kalen and we both nod at her sympathetically.

“We won’t,” Kalen assures her.

“We are going to look for Warren for a few more minutes until everything gets settled. If you see Calista, will you please tell her I need to talk to her? I made her upset this morning and I need her to forgive me before I leave,” I plead to Meliantha.

She looks a little confused.

“But I thought things were going so well and Elvena told me what all has happened.” She points and nods in the direction of my changed skin.

“They were going well until Warren told me a bunch of shit that wasn’t true and I accused her of betraying me. I doubted her trust and now she won’t speak to me.”

“That sounds like Calista.” Her eyes show pity and she gives me a small smile.

“She’ll come around. She’s stubborn, but eventually she’ll realize she won’t be happy without you,” she claims.

She squeezes my arm and gives Kalen a long, lingering gaze before walking off. He hasn’t taken his eyes off of her retreating form yet so I wave my hands in front of his face and that snaps him back to attention.

“You seem to have it bad, too, little brother,” I say teasingly.

Kalen shrugs and laughs.

“Me, I don’t think so. I do not see myself settling down any time soon.” He says that now, but I can’t wait to see what he says when he finds the one he’s supposed to be with. From the way things look, it looks like Meliantha is tugging pretty hard on his heart strings.

Not believing him at all, I say, “OK, I believe you. Now let’s find Warren.”

We look for what felt like hours searching for Warren, but we never find him. We search his room and most of his stuff is gone. When and where would he have gone? The sinking feeling in my stomach is letting me know that something is seriously wrong and I need to figure it out fast.





Chapter 18


Calista