A Thief of Nightshade(7)
“But ... Jullian’s alive?”
Aislinn turned to her. “They didn’t bring him back sooner because they couldn’t find him. Just as it’s nearly impossible for you to believe in a world where magic is real, so it is for us to believe in a place where it isn’t. Once the Court of Man discovered what Tabor had done, that Jullian had been sent to another world, it promised the Fae it wouldn’t stop searching until they found him. Once it succeeded, it was only a matter of time before it figured out a way to pull him back.”
“If Jullian is alive, we can go back —”
Lipsey interrupted suddenly, “She doesn’t know, does she?”
“Know what?”
Aislinn looked back to the window.
“He can’t go back, Aubrey,” he whispered.
“He
doesn’t
remember
anything. Not you, or your world, not even his past in Avalar.”
That’s
when
the
reality
of
Nightshade’s prologue hit home ... the first few paragraphs she’d read so long ago in his first novel ...
And so it was done. Every generation the eldest of the royal family came to the Queen’s Winter Court, forgetting everything of his life once he entered. He became King, only to wither at her side and wait for the moment when the next prince would take his place and let him die.
Chapter Four
Once ...
AUBREY HAD SPENT THE MAJORITY OF
CLASS going over her budget. Her parents had recently severed all financial ties with her over their displeasure with her choice to forgo medical school. So she’d gotten a job, rented a house with Sam and started the classes she’d wanted to take for years.
To her chagrin, her sudden workload meant that a couple of those classes took place at night. This one in particular, Advanced Exposition, always left her a little uneasy about walking to her car afterwards. She felt a little too old to be afraid of the dark, but it never failed to make her stomach turn when Dr. Hale dismissed them.
She’d prepared to ask Tyler, one of her classmates, to walk with her, but just as she started to open her mouth, he took a phone call and jetted out the door. She stood still, unsure what to do next, before noticing the very last person she wanted to ask: rent-a-cop Jackson McAllister. He stood at the far end of the hall with a cigarette hanging halfway out of his mouth, his belly jutting over his belt.
She groaned and opened her mouth to do the unthinkable. “Um, Jackso—”
“Aubrielle?”
She turned her head to see Jullian walk up beside her. “Dr. Sellars.”
“I’m kind of embarrassed to admit this, but I seem to have locked my keys in my car.” He wore a dark green turtleneck sweater, chocolate brown slacks and looked so good it hurt.
When have I ever been this lucky? “I could take you to get your keys. If you have a spare set?”
“I would be eternally grateful.”
She motioned toward the parking lot.
“I’m not far.”
They walked in silence, her heart thudding in her chest. When they reached her Land Cruiser, she fumbled for a second with the keys, nearly dropping them before steadying her hand and unlocking the doors by remote. To her surprise, he opened her door and she laughed at herself as he went around to the passenger side. How old are you, Aubrielle? Too old to be acting like a teenager, that’s for sure.
When she started the engine, he gave her directions to his house and began moving things around in his briefcase.
They were two streets away from the college when he broke the silence again, “I really appreciate this.”
She gave him one of her sister’s tight-lipped grins. “Truth be told,” I am in love with you and want to have your children, “I hate walking to my car at night.”
He looked up and tilted his head, giving her a sideways smile. “Really?
Judging from your stories, I wouldn’t have pegged you for skittish.”
“Sorry, I’m a huge chicken.”
“Sometimes it’s a little easier to be ourselves on paper.”
“I write satire, Dr. Sellars. In my case, it’s more like who I wish I was.”
“Much truth is said in jest.”
“Touché.” She braved a glance in his direction and caught the glitter of streetlight in his eyes. Quickly, she looked back at the road. “I suppose that would mean you are young at heart then, considering Avalar is...” she trailed off, grimacing.
A wide smile lit up his face.
“Fantasy? You’ve read my work, I see.”
She cleared her throat, shocked at the slip of tongue. Sam would never let her hear the end of this. “I always research my professors. Do I turn here?”
“Yes and then a sharp left. Young at heart, huh? Are you saying I’m old?”
There was no getting out of this. “No.
I just meant ... I haven’t read faerie tales in a long time.”
“And I’m willing to bet they were nothing like what you read in mine.”
She ran through some of the darker scenes from Nightshade in her mind, as if she could have forgotten them. “I wouldn’t say faeries were evil, necessarily, in the stories I heard as a child. Grimm’s real stories, not the watered-down versions they publish now, were almost too graphic for children.”