“If you’re going to hide from me, at least admit you’re doing it.”
She shook her head and looked away from him. She had to. Whatever this pull was, it was strong and growing stronger. She couldn’t afford to give in to it. As much as she didn’t want to believe that she was anything other than who she’d always been—Nicolas and Iana Abernathy’s daughter—the queen had summoned Lily by name. That meant that she needed to think about protecting the people already known to matter to her—and not invite more people close to her heart.
She stared out the window of her bedroom, not wanting to look at Creed. Lily had always known her mother was fae-blood. As Lily had gotten older and developed multiple affinities, she had considered the idea that her mother was wholly fae, so that wasn’t that surprising either. But if she was one of the fae who had agreed to give over their children to be used as weapons, then why did she leave her stories for Lily? The answers Zephyr had offered simply didn’t make sense. There was too much unknown, and Lily wasn’t going to risk Creed’s life by getting closer to him.
The boy in question walked farther into Lily’s bedroom, and against her best intentions, she looked at him. His gaze was fastened on her like she would flee at any wrong move.
Admittedly, he wasn’t far off. She was poised for escape, even though there was no exit save for the one he was currently blocking. “Does Zephyr know you’re here?”
“I told him I was going to find Kamy.”
“She told everyone she was going into Belfoure this afternoon. You were there.”
“Oops.” Creed shrugged. “Must’ve slipped my mind.”
Lily shook her head. “You’re making this more difficult than it needs to be.”
He was directly in front of her now. “Really? I believe you are.”
His hands didn’t make direct contact with her skin, even though he raised them like he’d touch her. He didn’t. He stayed perfectly still, his skin millimeters away from her. She could feel warmth radiating from him.
Then he shut his eyes, and she realized what he was about to do, but that meager second of knowledge wasn’t enough to brace her for what followed. As he had in the gardens, he started to sing “Deadly Girl” using his affinity to reach out to touch her skin.
His voice was so low that she wanted to move forward to hear him.
She wouldn’t, couldn’t do that.
His breath was on her skin like a much firmer touch, like fingertips tracing her cheeks and jaw, like a caress on her lips.
She shivered.
“Run, my deadly girl,” he sang. The words weren’t part of the song. They were only for her. “Run to a distant shore. Run from the monsters that lie in wait.”
Creed’s words fell like a kiss on the base of her throat and slid lower, stopping at the top seam of her blouse.
“Run before it’s too late.”
Lily stepped backward. It wouldn’t change his ability to touch her with his voice, but it did give her the momentary illusion of control. “I’m not going to run from Endellion.”
“But you’ll run from me?” He gave her a sad smile. “Some would be flattered to be considered more terrifying than the Queen of Blood and Rage.” The lightness in his tone did nothing to hide the darkness in him as his voice once more made the air take form. He caught her chin and forced her to look at him; at the same time, his next words held her wrist like a vise. “I am not one of them.”
“What do you want from me?”
“Everything,” he said baldly. “But I’ll settle for honesty.”
For a moment, she thought about telling him her fears and worries—her suspicion that she wasn’t an Abernathy by blood—but she wasn’t going to be so selfish as to put Creed in more danger than he already was.
Abernathy Commandment #19: If your loved one’s life is in peril, break any commandment to protect her or him. She wasn’t sure she could love anyone, but she felt something strong for Creed. That meant keeping him away from her.
“You’re avoiding me,” he charged. “You said we were friends. It’s not what I want, but you offered me that crumb.”
“We are.”
“Why won’t you talk to me alone then? I see you alone with everyone else.” He inhaled, as if he needed to draw her scent in, reminding her that he was an air affinity and only air. The pain in his voice wasn’t hidden at all as he added, “Even Zephyr, Lily. I see you walk with him and talk to Roan and Will. You are alone with Vi or Kamy every day. It’s only me you reject.”
Lily thought back to Zephyr’s warnings, to the thought of the queen targeting Creed because of something Lily did, and she met Creed’s eyes. “They aren’t pursuing me like you are. None of them tell me that my friendship is a crumb.”
“Are you trying to say that you don’t want my attention? That you only want friendship?”
“That’s what I’m trying to say,” she told him. It wasn’t a proper lie. She was trying to say she wasn’t interested. If she had said she wasn’t interested, that would be a lie, but her words as she’d uttered them were truth.
Creed laughed. “Oh, my beautiful liar.” He traced her lips with one finger. “We’ll talk about this tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?”
“I’ll have your proof of what we are tomorrow,” he clarified. “Then, we will discuss what happens next.”
“We don’t need to discuss it,” she started, the words burning her tongue to even utter.
The way Creed watched her was frightening in its intensity. As much as she wanted his attention on her, it also made her want to run. If the queen asked for her by name, if Creed and Zephyr were right about what they all were, there were reasons aplenty to stay away from them all. It was Creed, though, who made her dare to believe that love could be true. It was Creed she already wanted to protect.
“You can refuse me, but don’t try to lie to me,” he chastised with a shake of his head. “I’m not some human boy who will be misled by your clever omissions. You feel this as much as I do, Lilywhite Abernathy, and I’m not giving up on the first girl who gave me reason to hope.”
Lily was silent as he called her out by her full name as if they were true fae. As she knew it had been done for centuries before they’d either one drawn breath, the act of calling her out by her whole name made the words have a weight that was just shy of a vow. If he knew her secret name—one known only to her father, one that all acknowledged fae-blood had—Creed could trap her with such words.
And for an awful too-honest moment, she wanted to tell him that secret, to let him bind her to him, to ask him his secret. She knew he’d tell her, but wanting a thing doesn’t make it wise. Lily kept her lips tightly closed and dropped her gaze.
“We can’t,” she forced herself to say.
“You’re wrong, Lily. You’ll see,” Creed said gently, and then he left her there with tears on her cheeks and a lie still burning on her lips.
twenty-four