Creed simply watched her.
The tension was growing thicker the longer the silence dragged on, so she steered the conversation back to his earlier remarks. “Zephyr is the other person, right? The one you’re concerned about. You’re friends, and obviously both fae-blood. How did either of you know about me though?”
Rather than answer, Creed closed his eyes and tilted his face up to the sky like he was asking some unseen being to give him strength. If she hadn’t known he was a fae-blood, she would have suspected that’s precisely what he was doing, but she’d felt the way he moved the air near her when he sang. He wasn’t praying. Creed was literally drawing strength from the air above them, or more accurately, from the sun. In a voice so low Lily had to strain to hear it, he said, “I want to tell you everything, every secret, every good and bad thing I know, but I can’t.” His eyes were still closed. “I want to, but Zeph . . .”
“What?”
“It’s complicated,” Creed offered weakly, as if that was any kind of an answer.
“He blew up a ship. He’s a terrorist, isn’t he? That’s the secret. You’re not just fae-blood. You’re sympathizers.”
Creed laughed, a bitter, almost mean sound. “I’m not a sympathizer, not even a little.”
“Have you bombed anything?”
“No.”
His tone was hesitant enough that Lily prompted, “But?”
“I can’t answer that.” He stared at her, looking more lost than rock stars with bad attitudes ever should. “I wish things were simple. I wish no one could issue me orders. What I can tell you is that if people knew we were talking, if Zephyr knew we were talking, it would be bad. I broke a lot of rules coming to your house. I’m breaking more every moment we speak.”
“I’m glad you’re not opposed to breaking those rules,” she admitted. Then, she nodded and sent the vines that had been tangled around her skin earlier out toward Creed. They slithered toward him like serpents, and he looked at them in wonder. It felt intimate to share her fae-blood traits with him. She’d never let even Daidí see the extent of what she could do.
She wanted to show Creed though, to confess her secrets to him. She wanted to have him look at her the way he was watching the leafy tendrils gliding toward his skin. Maybe all fae-blood could manipulate their affinity elements as she could, but from the way Creed watched the vines, she suspected yet again that she was more fae than even those who had been arrested and convicted. It wasn’t the first time she’d thought it, but it wasn’t a truth she liked to ponder.
As Creed stared at the vines that were twining their way over his body, Lily asked, “Does it always feel intense when another fae-blood touches you?”
“Zephyr’s kiss?” he asked bitterly. “He’s experienced.”
“Not Zephyr,” she interrupted.
Creed’s attention snapped to her, but she refused to be embarrassed, not by the kiss, not by the question, and not by her next words.
She clarified, “When I met you . . . it felt different. Just having you stare at me . . . and then the kiss on my cheek.”
As her words trailed off, Creed failed to completely hide a grin. “No. It’s not usually like that.”
Lily nodded. “But you’re not supposed to know me?”
“No,” he said. “I’m not sure I’m even allowed to speak to you once classes start. There are rules, Lily.”
She felt like pieces of the secrets were clicking into place. He and Zephyr were tied into the same group, and for some reason Zephyr had a personal interest in her. “So you knew what I was before we met?”
“Yes.”
“And that’s not why you wanted to talk to me? Not that . . . or anything to do with my father?”
Creed made no attempt to hide his expression, making it clear that he wasn’t lying as he said, “I’ve listened to stories about the missing Lilywhite for years, so maybe it was part of it, but when I met you? I wished you weren’t fae-blood at all. Then you could be free of this.”
She could hear things in the spaces between the words he was uttering aloud, and she knew that he was very carefully trying to adhere to the letter of the rules he was under. It was a very fae approach. Even so, what he did admit told her enough. Whatever secrets Creed had, whatever secrets they shared now, it centered around the fae and Zephyr. Coming to St. Columba’s suddenly felt more than dangerous; it felt like a conspiracy, and getting tangled up in fae-blood conspiracies was both illegal and deadly.
“I don’t run, and I don’t let anyone decide my path but me.” She let the vines retract, pulling them back from where they had begun to twist over his calves and knees, and stood.
Abernathy Commandment #5: Be bold.
With every bit of poise her father had taught her, Lily looked down at Creed. He hadn’t stood.
“I’ve spent my life not getting mixed up in anything political. I haven’t attended school, gone anywhere without a guard. I like my privacy.” She let a little of her public facade down and smiled. “You’re tempting, but temptation isn’t enough reason for me to get mixed up in whatever mess you and Zephyr are in.”
“It’s not that easy,” Creed started.
Lily laughed. “I’m Nick Abernathy’s only child. It truly is that easy. To disappear. To eliminate anyone who tries to stop me from doing so. My father has taught me more about being ruthless than I ever want people to see.”
And with that warning to the fae-blood, she walked away from him and realized that it was a reminder to herself as well. She wasn’t going to be pushed around by a couple of tabloid darlings with penchants for drama. She was Lilywhite Abernathy, and no one, fae or human, was going to control her.
thirteen
ZEPHYR
When Zephyr realized that Alkamy hadn’t come outside all day, he went to check on her. He told himself it was because he had a duty to all of the cell members. He told himself it was because Alkamy wasn’t good at being bored. It simply wasn’t something she did. If there wasn’t entertainment, she created some. If there wasn’t anyone to amuse her, she found someone.
Zephyr wasn’t jealous. He couldn’t be. She wasn’t his. She was his best friend though, and he had been responsible for her since the day they’d met. She never demanded it of him, never reminded him when he failed. She was patient and tolerant with him as she was with no one else. It was a rare gift to be cared for by Alkamy Adams, one he’d let lead them both astray a few times.