She looked like hell. Dark shadows formed half-moons under exhausted eyes. Her hair was a tangled mess, with even more purple streaks than when he saw her hours ago. Skye was turning into one of them.
He ran his fingers over one of the purple strands, wondered how long it would be before her flesh turned cold and her eyes transformed from grass green to some impossible Crayola crayon color. Once the chrysalis was completed, she would have wings. Skye would fly away and never look back. It was the fairy way.
“Talk to me, Kheelan.”
“You’ve changed. I can see it in your eyes and your hair.”
“Look, I’ve had a hell of a night. Don’t give me attitude.”
“What was Annwynn doing here?”
Skye’s eyes turned crafty, just like his childhood Guardian.
“I saw the lights outside your apartment. Hell, I even heard you talking with her. And the worst thing is I couldn’t understand a word any of you were saying.”
“You were eavesdropping.”
“So what? That’s what I’ve been trained to do. It’s my job.”
“You shouldn’t listen in on other people’s conversations.” She folded her arms reprovingly.
“Don’t get hostile on me. You were both jabbering in fairy.”
Skye eyes widened. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You don’t realize your Gift? Annwynn spoke in the fairy language and you answered in fairy. You’re one of them now.”
Skye backed away, avoiding his eyes
“How long have you known?” he demanded harshly.
“I only found out tonight.”
She edged away from him, bumped into a coffee table and almost fell. Even as she stumbled, she shifted her body position so she stayed facing him.
Dread unfurled in his gut. “Turn around,” he demanded.
“No.” She tugged at the end of her sweatshirt while he tried to edge around her, catching a glimpse of the odd lumps beneath the fabric.
The truth was so evident. “You got your wings.”
She lifted her chin. “It was a total shock to me. How long did you know it would happen?”
She had him there. “From the beginning,” he admitted, “on the night we met. After Kyle left and Michael and Tanner came in, you went and stood near the crystals and they lit up like a Vegas nightclub. Your whole body swirled with a rainbow aura.”
“I . . . had no clue I could do that.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know. Unless Annwynn has filled you in on the details. What has she told you?”
“That I am The One to save them from the Unseelie. She asked me to leave with her, offered the protection of the good Fae against the goblins and other creatures that have been attacking us.”
Kheelan cursed under his breath. “Don’t go alone with her, Skye. They could trap you there forever.”
“You knew about this legend,” she accused.
“Of course I knew. No one else has the rainbow aura.”
Comprehension lit her face. “You planned on using this, using me. What kind of dangerous game are you playing Kheelan?”
“You were my one shot at freedom.”
He was using her. Pain shot through Skye coupled with a fierce anger that made the room crackle with tension.
She’d endured a cold mother, an absent dad, ridicule all during high school, rejection by Tanner, but this . . . this was the worst.
“You accuse me of turning into them – one of the fairies. I can’t help my biology but you are more like the Fae than I could ever be. You’re deceitful and selfish and scheming and–”
The look of hurt astonishment on his face broke through her haze of anger. Kheelan sighed deeply and ran a hand through his tousled hair. Her eyes zeroed in on the ostrich and Celtic wreath tattoo, the mark of his forced servitude.
“What was your plan Kheelan?” she asked in a more calm voice. “I’ve already agreed to help you. Tell me what I’m missing here.”
“I’ve read their Book of Legends. It predicated that a human will accompany The One to the Seelie Court on the night of Samhain. Whoever brings her into the Fairy Realm will be granted a boon from the Fae.”
“And you planned to ask for your freedom,” Skye guessed. She tried to swallow around the lump of hurt in her throat. “You should have told me.”
“You wouldn’t have done it just for me. Why should you? I’m nothing but a commodity to the Fae. To tell you the truth, I think you’re right. I am like them; they’ve squeezed out every ounce of humanity I tried to keep for myself.”
“Kheelan.” Skye walked to him and drew his hand to her mouth, kissing his tattoo. His skin fluttered against her lips, as if the tattoo feather was trying to fly free. She couldn’t stay angry. Skye had no idea what it was like not to have freedom, to be set apart from human contact and denied affection. She looked up into his dark, tortured eyes and was lost in their warmth.
He cared. Even if he didn’t realize it yet, didn’t understand the strength and depth of human love, Skye knew it was there deep inside him.
The air around them was charged; electric, magnetic pulses radiated and swirled with energy.