Pink Princess Fairytini (Fairy Files #2) (14 page)

“Tell me I overreacted,” I said, once I’d gotten a few bites of burger into me and Sapphire had finished gloating about her kitschy finds.

“You overreacted,” she said, much to my annoyance. “You took your own insecurities, which are ridiculous by the way, and put them on Harvey. You expected him to be judging you, because you judge yourself.”

“No, I –”

“Your mother fucked with your head for almost two decades and convinced you that there’s something wrong with you, and it simply isn’t true.” I’d never seen Sapphire so angry before, and I’d never heard her say fuck. “You are the most loyal, honest, hardworking person I know, and the only thing wrong with you when it comes to your love life is that you’re a bit of a pessimist about romance and you haven’t met the right guy, yet.” She gave me a hard look. “Or you have met the right guy and you keep pushing him away.”

“What? I’m not pushing Harvey away.”

“I’m not talking about Harvey.” She sighed and shook her head. “I like him, but he’s going to have to accept you for who you are, all the parts of you, or he’s never going to be the right guy for you.”

“He accepts me.” But I doubted the words even as I spoke them. Harvey supported me as a business owner and he supported Ephemeral, when many had not, but he hadn’t yet accepted my fae side or my need to work with Frost to help the fae. “I might have overreacted,” I said, changing the subject. “But he was wrong to accuse me of having feelings for Frost.”

Sapphire frowned. “He was wrong to get so defensive and act like an idiot at the flea market. Only good, happy things should ever happen at the flea market. But is he wrong about you having feelings for Frost?”

Shock roared through me. I was physically attracted to Frost, but that’s where it ended. That’s where it had to end, because Frost and I were too combustible and we drove each other crazy on a daily basis. “You want to talk about someone never being able to accept me for who I am, look at Frost. He hates Ephemeral and everything it stands for, and he thinks I’m little more than an idiot who can’t keep it in my pants.” Even as I said the words, I knew they weren’t true. Frost may have felt that way about me in the beginning, but he’d shown me nothing but respect. He rarely agreed with me, but he didn’t disrespect me.

Sapphire laughed and took a long swallow of her milkshake. “If he hates your club, why is he paying a lawyer to help you save it? If he thinks you’re an idiot, why did he ask for your help with those missing kids? I’m not saying Frost doesn’t have some baggage, lack manners, and need to work on basic hygiene, shaving more than once a week and cutting his hair more than once every three months would be nice, but I think the two of you could be really good for each other.”

“And you don’t think Harvey is good for me?” I asked without really meaning to. Who I dated was my business, but Sapphire was my best friend, and I cared about her opinion.

“I think you will both betray your true selves trying to make the other happy, and that’s not a healthy relationship.”

“No,” I said. “No. I like Harvey and I can make this work. He’s a good man, and I can be a good girlfriend.”

She sighed and took my hand in hers. I hated the pity in her eyes. “Oh, honey,” she said. “You don’t have to prove anything to me or anyone else. We all know how loyal you are to those you care about. Part of being a good girlfriend is knowing when to walk away.”

“Maybe, but it’s not time to walk away, yet. Harvey and I are just getting started.”

She shrugged. “Whatever you feel is right, Clarinda. You always do the right thing.”

Her words were a weight on my shoulders, heavy and unwelcome. Life was easier when people expected nothing from me. When all I had to worry about was keeping Ephemeral afloat. “I’m going to lose my club,” I said, tears rising unbidden to my eyes. My worry over Ephemeral was like a dead weight in my gut, always there and always impossible to forget.

“You should let Frost help you.”

“No. I won’t take his money. If I’m going to save my club, I’ll do it on my own.”

“Why?” she asked, heat rising in her eyes. “So that you can claim to be independent, not to need anyone? Frost wants to help you and you should let him.”

“And what will I owe him?” I asked. “When he wants me to pay him back, what will he demand of me?” I wouldn’t speak those words, wouldn’t reveal that weakness to anyone but Sapphire, because she’d understand. She knew that no one ever did anything for free. She’d learned that lesson over and over again. Her past was even darker than mine.

She shook her head. “You give so much to so many, Clarinda, yet you can’t accept it when someone tries to give something to you.”

“I don’t give anyone anything for free, either.”

“Right.” She snorted. “I understand you’re paying all of your employees while Ephemeral’s closed. I suppose you want something in return for that.”

“No, of course not.”

“And when you gave Roddy a raise, right after you found out he was having a baby, that’s just pure coincidence, right?”

“Yes. He deserved that raise.” I was starting to feel a bit like I was under attack, but to throw my hands up and surrender would convince Sapphire she was right.

“And when you put your life on hold to find Buddy?”

“I owed him for saving my life,” I said. “And looking for him only caused more trouble.”

“He was angry, Clarinda. Give him time, and he’ll see that you saved him.”

I couldn’t comprehend her words. I hadn’t saved, Buddy. I’d been the reason his wife was killed. Buddy was just being held by the rebels. They would have let him go eventually. If I’d stayed out of it, he would have come home to his happy wife and everything would have been better.

I wished things were different, because I could really use his advice about the club right now, but they weren’t different and I’d never be able to make up for all of the ways I’d hurt him.

Life is not like a box of chocolates, it’s like a box of thumbtacks. You never know just how bad it’s going to hurt
. –Chloe Frangipani

You are my daughter, which means you are the strongest person you know
. –Althea Frangipani

I checked my phone after we left the diner, and found five apologetic texts and one apologetic voice mail from Harvey. It should have made me feel better, but it didn’t. I called him, but I was sent straight to voice mail, so I figured he was at work. I left him a message, apologizing for overreacting and asking him to come over later. Then I headed to Frost’s office to have it out with him.

“Oh, good,” Frost said, looking up at me when I walked in. “I was just about to call you. We need to go have a talk with the dragon.”

I sat down hard in the chair in front of his desk. “What? I thought you never wanted to go see him with me again.”

“I don’t. But Knuffington said he’d have the answers we need, and no one else is being forthcoming.”

I nodded, my annoyance with him forgotten. “He’s going to want something.”

He met my gaze, his expression grim. “And unfortunately I don’t have anything he wants. I won’t let him do anything to you that you don’t agree to.”

“I know,” I said. “But what if he asks for something that seems harmless to us, when it’s anything but?”

“Good question.” He stood and walked out without another word. I caught up to him in the hall.

“So you’ve got a plan?” I asked. I knew Frost well enough to know he didn’t do anything without a plan.

“Nope. I’m going to let the wolf lead, so you best do everything I tell you to do.”

“Or what?” I intended to sound derisive, but the wolf was scary enough to make my question sound just a touch fearful.

“Or I’ll kill every person in the room. Except you.”

“Oh.” That’s the best I had. “I promise to do what you say.”

“Huh,” he said, looking back at me over his shoulder. “I like the sound of that.”

“Yeah, well don’t get used to it. I’m only going along with it this time because the dragon scares the shit out of me.”

“Ah, Clarinda Frangipani, the fairy princess,” the gatekeeper dragon said. His blonde curls had been brushed to a fluffy nimbus that circled his sharp-angled face and made him look less pretty and more bizarre than the last time we’d seen him. He was wearing a shiny, purple suit and a ridiculous checkered cravat to match. “Didn’t I tell you not to bring your wolf the next time you came to see me?”

“She’s mine,” Frost said. “I go where she goes.”

I gave Frost a sharp look, but he ignored my gaze, and kept his eyes on the dragon, who frowned so deep I could have sworn I saw wrinkles forming.

“You dare to claim the fairy princess as your own? Do you have any idea of the trouble that will bring down on your head?”

“I’m aware,” Frost said through gritted teeth. “I make the claim all the same.”

“Well, then,” the gatekeeper said. “Since I am unwilling to challenge your claim, why don’t you tell me what you want so I can deny your request and get on with my day?”

Frost looked at me, his eyebrows raised, his expression thorough arrogance and cold grace. I wasn’t sure what to make of this side of him. I looked at the gatekeeper, goosebumps rising on my skin as I remembered the last time we’d been there and how he’d treasured the taste of my blood. “I need to know what happened during the last great war in Rubalia, when the nightmare realm began to cross over. What are the creatures like, and what do they want?”

The gatekeeper nodded. “Interesting. You are not the first to come to me with these questions, but you are the first I might give an answer. If you can fulfill my request of you.”

“I’ll try,” I said.

“Since I’ve tasted you, Clarinda Frangipani, I’ve had a hankering for the taste of royal blood, nothing else suits me. But, since your wolf has publicly claimed you, I may no longer drink from you. So I want you to bring me your cousin, or her blood.”

“My cousin?” I asked, hoping we weren’t going to have to go back to Rubalia.

The gatekeeper nodded. “Yes. Your mother had an uncle who moved to the Non a decade before the two of you did. He had two daughters and three granddaughters. Find me one of them and bring them to me, and I’ll answer your question.”

“Do you have a name?”

“Yes.” The gatekeeper’s smile was twisted and sickly sweet. “Your great-uncle’s name was Thomas Peppercorn, but I don’t know the married names of his daughters, assuming they married, or his granddaughters. That is up to you and your wolf to figure out.”

I sighed. We so didn’t have time for this, but we didn’t have much choice. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Frost grabbed my elbow and pulled me out of there before I could suggest he just take my blood again.

“What the hell was that about back there?” I asked. “What does it mean that you claimed me?”

He shrugged without looking at me and started walking. “It was necessary.”

“Right,” I said. “We’re going to my place.”

Frost stopped in his tracks and turned to face me. “What?”

“I followed your rules when we faced the gatekeeper, now you’re going to follow mine. I want to talk to you where there won’t be anyone listening in.”

“Fine.” He marched to his bike and motioned me to get on the back.

My phone rang just as I was about to get on behind him. “Hi,” I said, answering it and turning away from Frost.

“Where are you?” Harvey said. “I’ve got a couple of hours free and I’d like to take you out and apologize for my behavior earlier.”

“I’d love that,” I said. “I can be ready in half an hour.”

“I’ll pick you up.”

I hung up to find Frost scowling at me. “You’re going out with him tonight?”

“He is my boyfriend.”

Frost nodded at the back of his bike. “Get on.”

So I got on and tried to keep my distance as he sped us back to my apartment.

Hieronymus was waiting for me at my door. “Shit,” I said. “Is today our day?”

“Just as every other Saturday is our day,” Hieronymus said. “Would you like me to come back later?”

“Could you?” I asked.

“No,” he said. “I can’t just pop back over to Rubalia and wait for a more convenient time for us to spar. Our time is now. You come with me or I report your negligence to your mother.”

“Okay,” I said. “Can you just give me ten minutes? I need to talk to Frost.”

“You have five,” Hieronymus said, annoyance radiating off him in waves. I didn’t know what he had to be so uptight about.

Inside, Frost paced in front of the couch. “I thought you were going shopping for kitsch with Sapphire this morning,” he said. “This place doesn’t look like you at all.”

“Yeah, well,” I said. “I didn’t find anything I liked.”

Frost narrowed his eyes at me, but he didn’t challenge my claim.

“What did you mean when you said I was yours?” I asked.

He found the rug fascinating. “It’s just my way of protecting you. If I say I claim you, the gatekeeper can’t take your blood or fuck you without starting a war with me and my pack.”

“You don’t have a pack.” I’m not sure why that stuck out to me above the rest, but there you go.

“As far as he’s concerned I do.”

“I’m not a possession.”

“I know you aren’t, but that’s how dragons think of women. I’m as much—” He stopped himself with a curse.

“You’re as much what?”

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that now the gatekeeper, and all of the other fae who might want to come after you, know that they’d be fighting me as well.”

“Really?” I asked. “Why don’t I believe you?”

“Because you’re a paranoid pessimist?” he asked with a smirk.

“Lucky for you,” I said. “I don’t have time to beat the answer out of you, so moving right along, I need you to not pay that lawyer friend of yours to take my case.”

“Fuck,” he said, not even attempting to deny my accusation. “How’d you find out about that?”

“It doesn’t matter. I know, and I want it to end now.”

“It was Harvey, wasn’t it? He saw the papers on my desk when he took over for me.”

“It doesn’t matter. I—”