When the Woods Go Silent (Haret Chronicles: Dark Fae #1)

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

R OSE

“So, tell me about this tall, handsome ginger,” Ruby says, cornering me with a grin later in the afternoon during a lull in customers.

Even though we’re still in the soft-opening phase, we’ve had a surprisingly busy day, and the excitement of making sales has washed away the negative start to our morning. Well, some of it, anyway. I’ve succeeded in blocking Kier’s confession of magic out of my mind until just now, when Ruby asks for the gossip.

What would she do if I spilled the hottest tea I’ve ever had?

Kier’s warning is the only thing stopping me from telling her absolutely everything, but once I hear the rest of his explanation tonight, I’m absolutely not promising anything. Ruby’s safety is worth everything to me, but he doesn’t get to decide how to protect her. For now, though, I decide to answer her with the sanitized version.

“Kier isn’t local, but he travels here for business a lot. Security, whatever that means. He reads smut,” I add, and Ruby pretends to swoon against the bookshelf.

“And has he picked up a few tips from the fictional men?” she teases me.

“Well, he has the whole pin-me-against-the-bookshelf technique down.” I laugh as she gasps and nudges my shoulder.

“Look at Rosey, getting all the hot guys.”

“And no biting,” I say, my laugh dying away when she flinches, her hand going suddenly to her neck. My eyes narrow. “What is it? Did something happen?”

“Um, I didn’t want to say anything. I don’t want you to be, you know. Mama bear.” Ruby grimaces up at me with a bit of guilt, and I frown back before slapping both palms across my mouth playfully. I know I tend to be overprotective, and this time she smiles at my silent promise to be, well, silent.

“So, I still don’t really know why the guys were arguing,” she hedges, and my stomach rolls a little. This is going to be about Torrence. I can feel it.

I sigh, shaking my head. “Me neither, actually. Kier was really vague on all of that.” Except when he told me about the fae and gobbelin war, that is. I give myself a mental slap as I realize exactly what he means by being in security. He’s probably here checking up on the gobbelins, spying on them to report back to some war general or whatever.

“Yeah. But Tor... he...” Just then, the door swings open, and a group of college-age girls walk in, making straight for the romantasy display. Ruby glances at them, her fingers stuttering across her throat again, then whispers hurriedly, “ He bit me .”

And before I can process the words, she’s off like the coward she is, turning into a ray of bubbly sunshine as she works the crowd selling books. All I can do is lean hard against the bookshelf, my heart pounding as all of Kier’s warnings whip like a hurricane in my mind. My gut told me not to trust Arlo, and I was fucking right.

Arlo bit me. He bit me, and if Kier is right, he was planning to do much, much worse that night. The only thing that stopped him was me - leaving.

And Ruby won’t leave. I know she won’t. She likes Torrence, and that girl is like a dog with a bone when she sets her sights on someone. She really is in danger, and keeping her out of the loop is the last thing that might keep her safe.

I don’t have time to wait for him after closing - I need to talk to Kier now.

Even as the adrenaline pulses through my body, my brain screaming at me to do something, I realize like a punch to the gut that I have no way to reach him. I have no idea what he does all day or where he goes. Fuck .

No matter how urgent this feels, I’m going to have to wait until he finds me again. I hate this so much, but I have no choice but to put my mask on for Ruby and every customer who walks through the door. The rest of the day, I scan every person like a hawk, hunting for any signs of danger, while my head rings constantly with internal alarm bells.

I’m exhausted when we finally lock up, and Ruby has definitely noticed.

“You’re so stressy today. Is there something else we need to talk about?” she asks as we go from room to room together, straightening displays and turning off lights.

“Just... worried, is all. I want things to be perfect.” I shrug, and Ruby laughs nervously.

“I know. You’re such a perfectionist, and the world will never live up to your expectations. But hey, the thing that’s really perfect? We get to ride this road together.” She bumps her hip into mine, wrapping me in a sideways hug, and my heart aches with all the things I need to tell her but can’t. Soon, but not yet.

“Dinner in?” I suggest, to stop myself from saying anything else. “I can make pasta.”

“Ooh, and wine. Yes, please. Let’s get into our jammies early and put on a movie or something.”

I smile, my heart aching for a different reason now. This is everything we’ve been dreaming of and working for - a shared business, living in the same house, and all the books we could possibly read.

And if Kier is right, it’s all about to slip through my fingers. I wasn’t imagining that fear at all.

“Come on, Rose. We did good work today. Let’s forget about the rest of the world,” Ruby says, tugging on my arm. She can tell I’m starting to spiral, and even though she has no idea why, she’s right there to catch me.

“Love you, Ru,” I say, letting her pull me upstairs.

“I make it easy, don’t I?” she replies, reaching for a bottle of red wine and winking at me. I roll my eyes, but I’m happy to take the full glass she pours. We clink glasses, and I start making dinner while Ruby flicks through the streaming options for something to watch.

For a few hours, I let myself forget about Kier and Torrence and pretend that this is my life. That I finally got what I’ve always wanted, and nothing will ever threaten the peace we’re building.

When the dishes are put away and the house is dark, though, I slide into bed with the edges of dread and depression blanketing me. Kier hasn’t come back, and I have no idea if he’s even okay, or what to do next. If only it were all a dream...

A tap at my window has me bolting straight up, though. I wait, hoping it was my imagination, but of course, it isn’t.

The tap comes again, quiet but purposeful. Cursing under my breath, I creep to the window and pull back the tiniest corner of the curtains. When I see what’s outside my second-floor window, dizziness washes over me as a thousand emotions and questions collide in my chest.

Kier is floating in the air beyond my window.

No. Floating isn’t the right word. He’s standing on a curved platform of vines that have somehow grown up the side of the house in a matter of minutes, holding him at eye level as he flashes a cheesy grin through the glass. Tendrils of the vine are tapping against the sill, like little feelers looking for a crack wide enough to slip into.

Battling against all the fear swirling in my mind, I take a deep breath and decide to choose information. That’s the only thing that will help me conquer fear. Once I know everything he has to tell me, I’ll be able to make a plan. I’ll come up with some way to keep Ruby safe.

I unlock the window and slide it open.

The vines immediately curl inside, forming a sort of rope bridge for Kier to climb down. But he waits, smiling more hesitantly at me now. “I’m so sorry, Rose. I’ve gone about this all wrong. I’ve made you afraid.”

I cross my arms over my chest, still watching warily as the vines crawl down the wall like snakes. They’re beautiful, but yeah. Scary as hell to watch.

“You said it was war, and Ruby is in danger. Those are pretty good reasons to be scared,” I point out, because beyond any of his talk of magic, those are the parts I’m worried about.

“Yes, but magic is also incredibly beautiful and powerful for good, too. I’m not used to showing a human any of this, and my fear made me reckless. Let me show you the beauty. Please?” He holds out his hand for me, and I suddenly realize he isn’t coming inside.

He wants me to step on the vines and climb down like it’s a fucking fire escape.

I stumble back a few steps, unwilling to risk such a thing, and then I notice how the vines have stretched and wrapped around a stack of books next to my bed, rifling through the pages with delicate tendrils. I have no words as I stare at them. I thought Kier was controlling them with magic, but something about the way they move makes me think twice. I think they’re searching for something in the pages.

And then I remember the busted window downstairs, the shredded books that we thought were caused by a storm. Somehow, I know now that if I go back and watch the security videos from that night, I will see vines just like these. A shiver wracks my shoulders as I imagine it.

I’m all out of explanations or twists of logic on how Kier could be faking any of this, and my brain is slowly assimilating the idea of this new world, inching over the threshold of a reality I never thought I would see. People say the simplest solution is often the most correct, and reducing all of these mysteries down to the single idea that magic is real would make all the explanations so simple. It would also complicate the hell out of my life.

It’s too late to go back, but I’m not ready to move forward, either.

“Tell me before you show me,” I finally decide, shaking my head at Kier’s outstretched hand. “I’m not going anywhere without more information. What can you do? Just you - I don’t need the whole shebang yet.”

Kier smiles ruefully, and I can see the regret in his eyes. “I really am sorry,” he repeats. He climbs through the window and leans against the wall next to it, turning his head to watch the night sky outside. The creepy vines continue to explore my room. I back up and hop onto the bed, hoping like hell they don’t try to climb up here with me. I can only take so much.

Kier turns back to watch me, but he doesn’t come closer, either. “I’m fae, like I showed you. We have magic of the natural elements - water, air, fire, earth. Most fae have power over one element, and the strongest over two. Mine are earth and fire. My mother was terribly, devastatingly powerful with her fire magic, and it makes me hesitant to use mine, but I can. I can start fires and end them without anything but a flick of magic. Direct the flames to an extent.”

“That sounds pretty powerful to me,” I hedge.

“My mother could burn people alive from the inside out, with nothing more than a touch,” he says, leaning forward a bit and looking me dead in the eyes. “And she often did.”

“Fuck,” I whisper, drawing my knees up to my chest. His description of his mother comes back to me now, how she was “kind of a nightmare.” I shake my head. No shit.

“My earth magic is much kinder, although anything can be turned into a weapon. I can grow plants of any kind, bringing them up from nothing, like the tree I made for you yesterday. Or these vines. I can speak with the woods.” He gestures out the window, and my mouth pops open.

“Trees can speak?”

“Of course. Everything alive has some level of sentience. Trees like these live much longer lives than humans - and they’ve been in your world for millennia. Why is it hard to believe they wouldn’t evolve the ability to communicate?”

I don’t have an answer for that one, so I just nod. “What else?”

“Fae glamor. All fae have it, and it’s like a muscle. Some are born with better frames to build on, and exercise can grow the ability. We’re all skilled at changing our appearance, though having more than one human face takes a lot more skill and endurance. Some of us can glamor ourselves invisible. And the strongest of us can glamor things around us. Or humans,” he adds.

“Can you do that? Make me look like someone else?”

Kier smiles. “I can, but I like the way you look.”

“Have you... have you watched me? When you’re invisible?” I ask, my mind running back through all the times it felt like there were eyes on me but I couldn’t see anyone.

“I’m sorry, Rose. It feels invasive, I know. But yes, I’ve been with you before when you couldn’t see me. I was with you the night you were sleepwalking, protecting you.”

Shock ripples through me, followed quickly by embarrassment. I was practically naked that night. And he was invisible. “Wait. That blur I saw on the camera feeds. Was that you?” The idea explodes in my mind, and the frown on his face makes me even more certain. I grab my phone and scroll to find the video of that night. “Here. See?”

Kier purses his lips as he watches the video of me entering the back door, and the odd blur I can still see, as tall as a person next to me.

“You can see something there?” he asks, disbelieving.

I point it out to him, outlining the vague shape with my finger. “I thought there was a smudge on the camera.”

“You shouldn’t be able to see anything there. Not unless...” His voice trails away and he fixes me in his intense gaze, his green and gold eyes flashing in a way that suddenly reminds me he has the power to be very, very dangerous.

“Unless what?” I squeak, scooting back farther on the bed, as if that would protect me.

“Unless you have magic of your own.”

A nearly hysterical laugh spills from my lips, shrill and hollow. “I think I would fucking know if I had magic. Ruby would fucking know. She’s been obsessed with finding magic since I met her.”

Kier takes a step toward me, then seems to change his mind, pivoting and pacing my room as he mutters under his breath. I can’t make out any of the words, and it’s making me nervous as hell.

“I would know, right?” I blurt, suddenly not so sure. I’ve read plenty of books where the main character suddenly discovers her magical powers and goes forth to save the kingdom after a fun training montage. I just never figured I’d be the star of one of them.

Because they’re not fucking real , I want to scream. Not to mention, I’d be the worst kingdom-saver ever.

“No. Magic can be hidden, even from the one who wields it.”

I let my head fall back and bang against the wall. Just great. “Is there a - I don’t know - a test or something?”

He laughs hollowly. “There is. You failed it.”

“What?” I freeze for a second, uncertain what emotion is bubbling up inside of me. Am I disappointed that I failed a test I didn’t know I was taking? No. Nope. That’s definitely anger.

“What test, Kier?” I hiss.

He has the decency to at least look a little ashamed. “I... I had your blood tested. By the court doctor. He’s spent plenty of time on Earth. He knows humans well.”

He’s babbling, but I’m fucking fuming. “Where did you get my goddamn blood, Kier?” His name is suddenly like a curse in my mouth, but he meets my eyes.

“I’ve been looking for the changeling for three years, Rose. My family has been searching even longer than that. You have no idea the lengths any of us would go to find her.”

“Where?” I practically growl, jumping up from the bed. I feel like screaming at him, but I can’t risk waking up Ruby and bringing her in here. Not with all this magical vine bullshit going on. My whole room is green, for fuck’s sake.

“After I brought you here, to your bed, after sleepwalking. I needed to know why the dreamwalker would be hunting you, so I sliced your thumb and brought the sample to Aralia. You never felt a thing.”

“Well, I fucking feel it now,” I snap, glaring at him. “You had no right.” But even now, the anger’s fading as I realize there are a hell of a lot of words in his sentence that I need more information about. “What is a dreamwalker, and why is one hunting me?”

“Dreamwalking is a rare magic. Very rare. And illegal, frankly. When I scented the remnants of the magic several nights ago, I began tracking it. That led me to you. Meeting you was no accident, Rose, as much as I’ve enjoyed it.”

I flop back against my pillow, staring up at the shadowy ceiling. He’s been playing me this whole damn time. Does he even like me at all?

“Do you even read?” I cry, and he chuckles.

“I do, actually. That book was very informative. However, I still don’t know the reason you were targeted.”

“And what’s a changeling, really? I know the legends. Human babies swapped with fairy babies and all that.”

“It’s been outlawed for centuries, although it was often risked to escape my mother when she ruled.”

“Oh my god. Can you stop with the crazy truth bombs? What did your mother rule? Are you like a prince or something?” I press my palms over my eyes, wishing this were all a dream. Why is this happening to me, and not to Ruby? She should be the one getting her world rocked, not me.

If there are fae princes in the world, she deserves to be the one talking to them.

“My mother was Queen of Aralia, the fae land in Haret, for a very long time. She was killed by another Queen, and now my brothers and I split the rule between us.”

“I’m going to have a few more thousand questions, but I don’t think I can take any more now,” I grumble, peeking through my fingers to look at him.

“I understand it’s a lot, and that’s why we so rarely tell humans anything. But... I did think you might be a little intrigued, at least. Don’t you want to see some of the beautiful parts?” he asks softly, holding out his hand as a familiar white flower forms in his palm. It’s the twin to the lotus-like bloom I found on my nightstand.

I stare at the bloom for a moment, my brain split down the middle between curiosity and “killed the cat.”

“Okay,” I say finally, taking a deep breath and commanding myself to be brave. “Show me some magic. But only beautiful things.”

Kier’s smile lights up his face, and despite the roar of chaos in my mind right now, I can’t help but match his grin, feeling a flutter in my chest. I stand slowly, and he grasps my hand, pulling me close to his chest.

“I don’t have wings or the magic to fly, but how do you feel about vines?” he asks, as a sweet-sharp scent of blossoms and growing things washes over me.

I suck in a gasp as several thicker green vines snake over the windowsill, knotting together into a rope and weaving themselves into something that looks very much like a fucking seat built to swing me across open air. I peek out the window and see the braided vines trailing away into the treetops.

It can’t be worse than ziplining was, right?

“Well, I asked for it,” I say finally, wrapping my hands around the plants, which are very much real. “Take me away, Tarzan.”