My gaze flicked up, and I saw that, like the last few times I had seen him, he wore no crown. I’d only seen it once, when he revealed it. How he made it appear and then disappear, I had no idea.
I looked away, exhaling long and hard. Today, I would just pretend that he didn’t exist. I wouldn’t interact with him, and I wouldn’t rise to the bait. He could say whatever he wanted, tell me as many terrible stories as possible. It wouldn’t change anything.
Faye rose, bowing elegantly in the King’s direction.
“There’s no need for that,” he advised her. “I keep telling you that. All of you.”
“Habit,” Faye murmured.
Despite what he had just said, all but Kalen waited until the King sat in one of the upholstered, gray chairs before they took seats themselves. Kalen remained standing just to the left of the King.
Because I apparently had no self-control, I glanced over to where the King sat. Our gazes immediately connected. Crap. I refocused on Tanner, my heart thrumming.
“Thank you all for coming.” Tanner leaned back, clasping his hands together. “Unfortunately, Kalen has some distressing news that we felt we needed to share.”
“Why don’t you guys ever want to meet with us when you have good news?” Ren asked, having finished his sugary treat. I had to wonder the same thing.
Kalen gave a faint half-grin. “For a while, we had no bad news.”
“And you never really called,” Ren replied, sitting on the arm of the couch that Ivy sat on. “I’m beginning to think you all don’t like us that much.”
“Well…” The King drew out the word.
Ren’s eyes narrowed, and considering that neither Ren nor Ivy had really gotten over the whole being kidnapped by him when he’d been possessed thing, I really couldn’t blame the King for not wanting to be around a pissed-off, constant reminder.
“You know all of you are always welcome here,” Tanner cut in smoothly, although I doubted he was talking about me. “No matter what is going on.”
“Anyway,” Kalen said. “Back to why we’re all here. It has to do with Elliot.”
Oh, no.
I looked over at the King, who had been the one to stab the young fae. I knew that he’d shared the news with Tanner and crew at some point. He was still looking at me, and I had to wonder if he was aware of how noticeable—and creepy—that was.
Faye shifted across from me, tensing. Her cousin Benji was also missing, and considering what had happened to Elliot, I knew she feared the worst. “What about him? Something happened to him that made him evil, but he’s gone. Right?”
The King nodded. “He’s been sent back to our world, but when I spoke to his family, his older brother didn’t want to believe what’d happened.”
“Which is understandable,” Tanner said. “Everyone responds to grief differently, and denial is so much easier than anger.”
“I’ve kept an eye on Avel, but apparently, not a close enough eye.” Kalen folded his arms over his chest. “His parents just told us last night that he left here on Friday and has not returned since.”
“We’re concerned that whatever happened to Elliot has befallen his older brother,” Tanner explained.
I pressed my lips together as the worst-case scenario formed. Damn it. Those poor parents.
“That’s only a couple of days,” Ivy pointed out. “Are we sure that’s the logical conclusion? Is it possible that he just needed to get away?”
“It is totally possible, but the entire Court is aware that something happened to change Elliot,” Faye said. “Of course, those of us who have missing family members are…assuming the worst. Even if Avel didn’t want to believe what the King shared with him, he would’ve come to understand it. He is a reasonable man.”
“If he understood it, then why would he have left?” I asked. “I’m guessing if you all told the Court, it was probably advised that they not leave the hotel.”
“We haven’t advised that. Not yet,” the King answered.
Surprised, my brows lifted as my stare met Ivy’s. She wore the same WTF expression as I did. “Something out there is capable of turning happy-go-lucky fae into murderers, and we’re just going to let the younglings go out there?”
Tanner stiffened.
The King, however, smiled at me. It wasn’t exactly a warm expression, and nothing about him was like the man who sat in my bedroom a little over twenty-four hours ago, telling me about Aric and coming…so close to kissing me. “Taking away the freedom of others because one has been changed does not seem like an appropriate measure to take at this time.”
“Except we now have parents who lost one child and are now missing the other,” I challenged.
“And we have hundreds of fae that come and go here every day without incident,” the King continued. “We advise them to use caution. All of them are aware of the concern, and therefore, would not disappear without telling their family.” That was said to Ivy. “Avel would know that his parents would assume the worst.”
Their assumptions were probably true.
I got why the King didn’t want to force all the fae to stay within Hotel Good Fae, but it seemed like a pretty successful preventative measure to me.
“I know that you two are patrolling, so we wanted to let you know to keep an eye out for Avel,” Kalen said. “I’ll text you guys the most recent photo that his parents provided to us.”
Ren nodded. “We’ll keep an eye out for him. But, man, the other two haven’t surfaced. Sorry,” he said to Faye. She nodded, her shoulders tensing. “There’ve been Winter fae out there, and none of them are talking about the missing younglings. I fear we’ll hit the same roadblock with Avel.”
“It doesn’t hurt to be aware, though.” Ivy tipped forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “I’ll talk to Miles, too. Let him know.”
I snorted, earning strange looks from everyone but the King. “I’m sorry, but good luck with that. I already tried, and the Order are… Well, you can guess.”
“That’s bullshit,” Faye snapped, rising to her feet. “Sorry for cursing,” she added when Tanner frowned at her. “Bullshit was the least offensive word I could think of. We helped them defeat the Queen. We saved Order members’ lives.”
But the Order didn’t see it that way.
I didn’t say that, because I doubted anyone in the room needed to hear it.
“I will try to talk some sense into Miles. It’s just that right now, we have a lot of new recruits still learning the ropes,” Ivy advised. “Things are a bit chaotic on that front.”
“But he could learn to multi-task,” the King countered. “If not, I believe the Order needs a new leader.”
Ivy looked at him dead-on. “I’ll let Miles know you said that.”
“Please do.” His tight smile returned. “Perhaps it will motivate him.”
Ren coughed out a laugh. “Hopefully, it motivates him to do what you intend.”
The King lifted a shoulder that said he wasn’t worried. Not even remotely.
Kalen turned to me. “The King told us you found something in your mother’s research about Devil’s Breath. Some kind of substance mixed with nightshade that changes those who drank it, correct?”