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

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

R UBY

How is it that I’ve gotten everything I said I was looking for, but none of it feels right?

I will always love books, but there’s something uncomfortably tedious about working in the store today and preparing for our grand opening party, set for tomorrow night.

It’s as though I was starving and ordered food, but the wrong dish was delivered, and I have to pick between sending it back and going hungry again, or eating something that isn’t what I wanted.

The bookshop was everything to me a month ago. I’m ashamed to admit to myself that this is no longer true.

Shuffling footsteps draw my attention, and I see Rose standing in the hallway between the office and the front of the shop. She’s been piddling around on her laptop, and it feels like she’s avoiding me more than anything else.

“What is it?” I ask when she doesn’t say anything.

“Just... I don’t know. Nothing, I guess.” Rose slumps against the wall, toying with the end of her messy braid.

“I’m not mad at you, Rosie,” I say again, although that isn’t one hundred percent true, and it’s probably why she keeps seeking the words. In truth, the hurt is there, but it’s pointless to direct it at my best friend. She was trying to process her own mindfuck from Kier. She was completely unprepared for the entry of magic into our lives, even though I thought she’d truly believed me.

Turns out she believed in me , which ends up not being quite the same thing.

“It looks good in here,” she offers after a few minutes of silence. “Ready. It looks ready.”

I nod, scanning the room as well. Our official store opening is tomorrow night’s party, and the flush of promised tourists is still only a trickle. I have confidence that our business plans are solid, but in the shadow of everything else happening, I can’t help but feel like the bookshop that drew us both here has become the background to our story.

“Tell me more about him. Torrence,” Rose requests, flipping through a book with pretend nonchalance. Nerves squeeze in my stomach.

“You mean, why do I still like him when it looks like he’s the bad guy, don’t you?”

She flushes as I call her out so easily, then shrugs, trying to play it casual. “I mean, now we know there’s a whole world of magical creatures. Why him? He’s... dangerous.”

I consider her question for a long moment, the silence stretching around us. I’m not sure how to explain something I barely understand myself. Whatever I say will probably sound pathetic, and if I remind her that Kier is dangerous too, it will look like I’m pointing a finger back at her.

Maybe I can appeal to the romance reader in her. To the woman who likes the hunt for men as much as I like the hunt for magic.

“There’s something right about him - about the two of us - even without the magic and everything else. I liked him before I knew about any of it.”

Rose purses her lips, and I know what she’s thinking without her saying it, because it’s stuck in my mind too. Liking someone before you know them is normal. Continuing to like them even when they fly the reddest of red, bloody flags? Not so normal.

And still, the energy between Torrence and me is magnetic. Inescapable.

“You know how it feels to be wanted.” I begin again, trying to put it into words. “It’s addictive. Powerful, knowing you could twist someone’s insides just by existing. He wants me like that - like in the books. Like his happiness depends on me.”

“But he could kill you,” Rose whispers.

“I don’t think he will.” It’s stubborn and makes no logical sense, but it’s there in my gut. A belief that Torrence, no matter what he might do to anyone else, will not hurt me.

“Not on purpose,” she says, scowling, and I blink, wondering if I said my thought aloud. “He drinks human blood, Ruby. He bit you once already. He might drink from you one day and actually kill you.”

I wince, knowing she’s right. In theory. I haven’t actually seen Torrence drink blood, and I’ve been hoping maybe he doesn’t need to, thanks to his fae side.

“He saved me from Arlo,” I protest, but it still sounds weak.

“He’s a gobbelin.” Her mouth sets in a stubborn line.

“He’s part fae. If I stay away from him, you have to stay away from Kier. Fae aren’t only good, either. Or humans, for that matter. I could be killed by a human man. Statistics say it happens to three women every day.”

“That doesn’t make your point. He’s still a man.”

“A man who protected me from his best friend and business partner,” I try, but she just rolls her eyes and sighs deeply.

“Whatever. I don’t want to keep disagreeing. I don’t trust him, but I trust you. If you believe he’s safe, then I’ll believe you.”

I start to smile, but then I notice the sheen of tears in her hazel eyes, and I hurry over to wrap my arms around her. “Hey. It’s going to be okay. I think I met Torrence for a reason.”

“Don’t go all fated mates on me,” Rose says, her voice muffled against my hair, and I giggle, sensing she’s trying her hardest to make light of the whole thing.

“He’s my alpha,” I croon, and she laughs, shoving me away.

“The kids don’t say that anymore,” she teases, and for a moment it feels like we’re back to normal. I just have one more thing to say, and hopefully, it won’t erase everything else.

“I know I fall hard and fast. I know I get hurt because of it. And Torrence will hurt me, eventually, in some way. Because people in relationships do that. But since when has that made either of us weaker? Men always think they’re the stronger one, but women are made of diamond and titanium, steel and granite. We may feel everything, but through it all, we gather that hurt and forge it into power. And if that’s the only magic I ever get to wield, then I’ll take a little heartache to make it happen.”

Rose leans back, studying my face and taking in my words. A smile plays on her lips, and I know I have her. We’ve talked about this sort of thing in other ways before - the power and magic of being a woman.

Now, more than ever, I feel the truth of it.

Finally, she relents, giving me a true smile. “Well, then Torrence is the one who should be scared.”

I grin, my heart swelling as I realize she’s going to trust me with this, even if she can’t quite understand it.

“I guess I don’t need to worry as much about you getting kidnapped in the woods, then, if you have a part fae, part gobbelin guide,” Rose teases. Unfortunately, all it does is raise a question about something we’ve both nearly forgotten. I fumble the books I’m holding, and they crash to the floor.

“Is he responsible for those missing girls?” Rose rushes the question out, and I feel myself start to shake. Because I don’t know.

That... that would change everything. It would have to.

“I... no. He can’t be. I don’t know,” I stutter, whipping out my phone and firing off a burst of texts to Torrence. I know he could lie, but still, I need him to answer this. Rose is silent as I glare down at the screen, both of us willing the right answer to appear.

Then it does, and a sickening relief rushes through me. I hold the phone up to Rose, hating that this answer feels like a win.

It was a horrible accident. We don’t kill humans. Arlo was too rough. Cruel and careless, but he’s taken care of now.

Rose nods slowly as she reads Torrence’s text. “Convenient, to blame it on the dead guy,” she murmurs, buttoning up her lips as she flicks her eyes at me, worried she’s said the wrong thing.

I sigh, letting the phone screen go dark. “I don’t know what to do here, Rose.”

“The police-”

“Would get nowhere,” I interrupt, and she sighs.

“Do you even know what they do? Sure, he says they don’t kill humans. I know I’m only going off of Kier’s word, just like you’re going off Torrence’s. But do you really think those girls volunteered to give up their blood? Maybe he isn’t a sadistic monster, but he’s dangerous because of what he is, Ruby.”

“I know,” I whisper, although my body still rejects the idea. Maybe I have the worst instincts in both worlds, but somehow I feel safer when I’m with Torrence.

I tap out another text, slower, trying to get the wording right.

I want to know more about you and what happened at your house. Not accusing you of anything, just want answers.

I’m typing out a list of questions for him when he texts back.

Can I pick you up tonight? I wanted to see you before I leave too .

I frown down at the message. Leave? Rose peeks over my shoulder and reads the text.

“Kier left last night. He got a message about an attack,” she murmurs.

“This is getting a little too real,” I admit. “Why can’t we just meet normal, hot, magical guys?”

Rose snorts. “You ask a lot of the world, Ruby Reed.”

“It owes me a lot.”

“Yes, it does. But in my experience, those kind of debts don’t always get paid.”

I look down at the text message again, and Rose sighs. She knows I’m going to go.

“Just trust me on this one,” I beg.

“It’s him I can’t trust, Ru,” she says, tears welling in her eyes even as she bites out the words. I try to give her a quick hug, but she turns away, and my heart sinks.

Why does it feel like I’m betraying her if I go, and myself if I stay?

It was never supposed to be this way.

Yet, when Torrence pulls up to the curb several hours later, after dusk, I give Rose a small smile and leave. I get in his car, and I let him drive me away from my best friend and all the safety she represents.

And she lets me go, because she loves me.