“I’ll take your word for it. I don’t plan to visit anytime soon. Go on…”
“The fae live in the Faelands. Neither can enter the other’s world. There’s still the occasional war that breaks out, and it takes place here on Earth. We usually manage to put it down and banish the guilty parties to where they belong. We lock down the portals between the worlds until things settle.”
“So what’s changed?”
“The two sides have reached an accord of their own. We’re changing the emphasis of what we do as we’ve come to the conclusion that it can only be a matter of time before our existence becomes known to you humans.”
“Already happened.”
“But not the general public. Over the next few years we plan to prepare them.”
“That’s what Ryan and Ash are doing?”
“Yes, meeting potential…allies.”
She supposed it made sense. With increased technology, more and more people would notice the monsters among them. Look at those photos of Christian. How long until someone spotted that he hadn’t aged in…
“Hey, just how old are you?”
“Five hundred years, give or take a few.”
Her mouth dropped open. She couldn’t imagine living that long. He appeared pretty good on it, though. One of the perks of being the undead.
She covered her mouth with her hand as a huge yawn escaped her. “Sorry,” she muttered. “Stressful day and night. So what happens now? Can I go home?”
“Not until you decide what you’re going to do. Whether you’ll join with us, or whether you want to forget.”
She didn’t want to forget. And she didn’t want anyone messing with her mind. It was messed up enough already.
“So I go back to my cell until I decide?” At least there was a bed, but all the same she wasn’t looking forward to returning to her cell—she needed a shower. She glanced down at herself. Her white shirt was stained dark with dried blood. Yuk.
“I think we can manage something a little better. There’s guest accommodation upstairs. You can stay there until you decide what you want to do.”
“I’ll show her,” Ash said, pushing himself up and coming to stand in front of her.
She didn’t want to go with him. But he obviously had something he wanted to say, and maybe it was best to get it over with.
He was silent in the elevator. They went up a long way. At least she would be aboveground. Finally, they stopped and Ash led the way out and across a corridor. He opened a door and gestured for her to enter.
The door led straight into a large, luxurious living space, decorated in creams and blues. She took a deep breath and turned to face Ash. He was leaning against the wall, arms folded, watching her.
“What?” she asked.
“I was just waiting for you to say you were sorry.”
Chapter Nineteen
He could wait as long as he liked. Faith was through with apologizing. “Sorry? Sorry for what exactly?”
“For not telling me you knew where Tara was last night. For letting me kiss you when all the while you knew who had my daughter. For lying to me.”
Her blood pounded in her veins. She’d been feeling sort of pathetic and the anger felt good. She stepped up close to him and stabbed him in the chest with her finger—it was rock hard. “Piss off, Ash,” she snarled. “I’m not the only one who fucking lied. I didn’t see you spilling the truth. By the way, Faith, I work for a bunch of vampires. Did you say that? No you fucking didn’t.”
“I—”
She jabbed him again. “And another thing. I didn’t even know Tara was your daughter until you were leaving last night. Because you know what, that was one more thing you didn’t tell me. All I knew was she didn’t seem to like you very much.”
“We were estranged for a long while.” He unfolded his arms and straightened taking a step toward her. “I’m glad you didn’t know.”
“What difference does it make?”
“It means that while you came so beautifully in my arms, you weren’t hiding my daughter from me.”
Did he have to bring that up? She so didn’t want to go there. Time to change the subject. “So is there anything else you want to tell me? Any other little facts that you might want to reveal about yourself?” For a second, she thought he was going to say something, and then he shook his head. Maybe he needed a little help. “Like how come you kill so easily? Have you killed a lot of people, Ash?”
He shifted. “A few.”
“Yeah, and I bet they all deserved it.”
“Some perhaps. Others not so much.”
She sighed and turned away. “I’m going for a shower. See yourself out.”