Tooth and Nail (39 page)

“Humans are violent.”

I blinked. “Sorry?”

“Our job’s done,” he said, his eyes not leaving mine. “We caught the Olde Way threat. It’s over. It’s human nature to turn against each other. Let it play out the way it always has. Our job’s done.”

It took me a moment to find my voice, buried as it was under a layer of shock and indignation. “But … but the fae caused this. They caused this to happen. If they didn’t depend on the half-fae to be their warriors, Riley’s dad would have been able tell the truth about his half-fae son. Riley would have been safe and wouldn’t have had to live in that festering fear and shame that caused this whole mess. Instead, he became the perfect conduit for midnight fae, to weaken kids until they could be transformed into demons.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I am making an unsubstantiated but educated guess.”

He never broke eye contact, and his expression didn’t change.

“Our job isn’t done,” I said. “The fae caused this. We have a responsibility.”

“We bear no responsibility to a species that nearly wiped us out.”

“But it’s okay to feed off humans’ teeth to help us get what we want? Humans don’t even know fae truly exist, so displacing the fae on Earth wasn’t intentional. But the fae have the advantage of knowledge. They know better. Right now, you and I both know we’re at fault.”

Svein didn’t move.

“We need to act like morning fae should,” I said. “You need to. Or am I supposed to save everyone myself?”

I’d moved closer to him without realizing it, and I noticed it now as I felt his tiny resigned exhale blow against my cheek.

“We’ll revisit this,” he told me.

I didn’t want to push. I understood the magnitude of his concession and what it would mean for the fae to step in now. So I forced my happiness of the evening to push this aside for just a few hours. This was all going to haunt me for a very long time, so I’d grab this one night of peace.

Svein closed the front door behind him and leaned against it. The streetlamp directly in front of his building was buzzing, the bulb failing, and it played light over his hair.

Svein was adept at using his glamour, but he would never truly need it.

“You and I,” he said, “we never resolved things.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, looking at my pointy-toed shoes. “When you tried to give me the gun, I got very—well, sanctimonious. That wasn’t necessary. You were trying to help.”

“I’m sorry,” he responded, “because even after you gave me a tongue-lashing about my assumption that your human side could be so easily violent, I didn’t believe you. I didn’t believe you until I saw you defeat Clayton without killing him. I’m sorry that the moment I met you, I was positive you wouldn’t be any kind of hero.”

He tilted my chin up to look at him. “Well done,” he said.

We stayed there for a long moment. “Are we resolved?” I finally asked.

“Not quite yet,” he said quietly. “It’s hard to put an end to your constant presence in my mind. But I’ll get there.”

He dropped his hand and I turned to go, but when I heard him open the door to go inside, I turned back. “Do you want to come back to the party?” I asked. “I did call to invite you but I guess you didn’t get the message. Frederica’s there, and Reese, and my parents and Avery’s dad, and Smiley and the guys. We’re having a great time. This part’s a happy ending.”

He smiled and shook his head. “Not quite yet,” he repeated, and closed the door between us.

>=<

I woke up in the middle of the night, and in that space between conscious and unconscious, I tried to retrieve my dream. I couldn’t. I remembered shedding my black shoes in the living room, my blue dress in the bedroom, and my underwear in bed, but I didn’t remember anything after closing my eyes. Rolling over, I curled into Avery, all of his skin warm against all of mine, his arm around my waist.

When I drifted to sleep again, it was deep and dreamless.