“I need to leave.”
“I’m sorry,” Zephyr said quietly. “I don’t know why you were left alone before or why you had no handler, but I’m sorry. I’m sorry that you had to go all of these years without the rest of us around to help you. I’m sorry we didn’t realize that you were left to figure it out alone.”
“I figured out that I had an ancestor that was other than human,” Lilywhite said. “That’s it. I have a father, a good father, who made sure I had everything.”
Before Zephyr could try to figure out what to say, Creed shocked him. “What if I knew someone who could prove it?” he asked.
“Who?”
Creed shook his head. “That’s the only catch, Zeph: you can’t ask. I’m in no shape to endure lying right now.”
“You could tell the truth,” Zephyr said. “Novel idea, I know, but you could consider it.”
Creed leaned back into the cushions and kicked his feet out in front of him. “I can help, but it has to be my way. It’ll take a few days, but I can send a message.” He turned to face Lily. “What do you say? Give us a week or so. I’ll bring you proof. You’re like us, Lily. Let me show you.”
Lily studied him before countering, “Fine, but I don’t want anyone else to know about this. Just the three of us.”
“And the mystery guest,” Zephyr snarked.
“Obviously.”
“Outsiders? This isn’t the way we handle things, Creed,” Zephyr started.
“I agreed to it,” Lilywhite said.
Creed remained silent.
“So . . . we have a week for this ‘proof’ to arrive,” she said after a long pause. “Until then, you’ve both offered your friendship, and whatever else is going on, it would be nice to try that as long as we can.”
Both boys glanced at her, exchanged a tense look with each other, but remained silent. Zephyr didn’t want to table anything. He’d been waiting for her for years. This should’ve gone differently. For starters, Creed shouldn’t have been there, and Lilywhite was supposed to look at him with appreciation, not Creed. Zephyr had given up Alkamy. He’d faced the queen. He’d looked after the cell on his own. When Lilywhite arrived, things were supposed to be better. She was to be his salvation.
“You can keep your secrets, and I’ll keep mine,” Lilywhite offered, drawing him out of his thoughts. “One week. A truce between all of us.”
“Done,” Creed said with a nod. “Zeph?”
Zephyr looked at Creed. They’d been closer once, years ago. Creed had been his best friend. It would be nice to have that again, even for a little while. He nodded and said, “A holiday from fighting with you? It seems unlikely, but I’m willing to try.”
nineteen
LILY
After a couple of hours, Lily returned to campus with the boys. Creed’s hoodie was once again hiding her face. Lily stopped at the wall of the garden and the vines shifted for her. Neither boy commented, but she saw them smile. It was an admission of trust of sorts. She’d meant it when she had offered a truce. For the next week, they would be friends. Being friends with fae-bloods—because she refused to believe that they were actually true fae—meant being herself in a way she’d never been able to be. With Erik, she still hid that part of her. With most of the staff, she did too. Hiding in front of Creed and Zephyr, and by extension the rest of the Sleepers, would be unnecessary and a huge sign of mistrust considering what they’d shared with her.
Lily slipped into her suite as quietly as she could, but Alkamy was awake and in the main room. She was wrapped up in a blanket sitting on the sofa and looked worried. “Where were you?”
“The Row House.”
“So do you know?” Alkamy asked softly.
“That you and all of your friends are fae-blood? Yes.”
“We’re true fae,” Alkamy corrected. “And the rest?”
“I’m not sure how much of it, but enough.” After a slight pause, Lily added, “So why weren’t you already rooming with Violet?”
Alkamy laughed in that childlike peal of happiness. “Oh, you won’t need to ask that after you spend a moment around Vi. I love her, but she’s . . . chaotic. I’d need to meditate half the day to stay close to balanced. She’s fire. I’m earth and air. We’re friends, but we need space.”
“Affinities matter that much?” Lily flopped down on the other end of the sofa from her suitemate, who shoved part of the blanket toward her. Wordlessly, Lily tucked her legs under it.
“Zephyr is earth, which you obviously know if you were off campus. Only the two of us can do that.” Alkamy sounded much like she had earlier when she was explaining the ways around campus and extolling the virtues of the dining hall. She was a natural teacher. “Creed and Will are air,” she continued. “Roan is water. Our only one of those.”
“But only one affinity?”
Alkamy glanced at her hands. “I seem to be both air and earth.”
“I have trouble with air,” Lily confided.
“So earth or . . . ?”
“Earth and water.” Lily had never admitted any of this, but regardless of what happened with Zephyr and Creed, she was hoping to keep Alkamy as a friend, so she added, “and a little air . . . sometimes.”
Alkamy gaped. “Three? You have three affinities.”
Lily didn’t answer, both because she didn’t want to lie and because Alkamy already had this reaction to three affinities. What would she think of four?
“That’s incredible. We’ll all be safer with you finally here.” Alkamy folded her hands together beatifically, and Lily couldn’t help thinking of statues she’d seen in the Uffizi Gallery. There was something greater than human about her. Even if Lily didn’t want to believe that they were all changelings, she could almost believe it about Alkamy.
“Does Zephyr know?”
Lily shrugged. “I didn’t say it. He and Creed know about the earth part. I think Zephyr knew about the water before we met. He was waiting for me at the pier when I arrived.”
“Right. The pier.” Alkamy drew the covers closer around her.
Lily took a deep breath before continuing, “I hadn’t met you then. If I had, I’d—”
“Stop.” Alkamy shook her head. “Zephyr and I aren’t meant to be, Lily.”
Lily let out a sigh. “I don’t want him, Kamy. I just . . .”
Alkamy reached out and patted Lily’s leg. “He’s been waiting for you since we started at Columba’s. You’re the second head of our cell. To him, you’re the grail.”
“I’m not. I’m a person.”
“Everyone loves Zephyr. Between him and Creed, I think they’ve stolen the hearts of most of the girls here. Roan and Will, the girls pine over them, but . . .” She looked down when she noticed Lily’s expression. “We can’t get attached, Lily. Not to any of the humans. There are rules, and now that you’re here . . .”
“What?”