“Where are we?” My voice comes out slightly cracked. Beside me, Slade keeps one hand loosely at my hip, his thumb slowly stroking over the fabric of my clothes as my side rests against his chest.
“Welcome to the Grotto,” Judd says with a wave of his arm from his spot on the sofa to my right. Lu walks back to the sofa next to him, curling her feet beneath her, though I don’t know how she manages to do that considering she’s wearing gigantic slippers on her feet.
“What’s the Grotto?”
Lu and Judd look to Slade, as if they don’t know how to answer. I thought this would be an easy question, but considering the hesitation that’s settled in the room, I guess I was wrong. The first drip of anxiety filters into my stomach, which is the last thing I want. Turning my head, I look up at Slade.
I finally get a chance to get a really good look at him, and what I see makes even more of those worried droplets fall down. He has circles under his eyes, and his five o’clock shadow has turned into the start of a thick beard. There’s tension held at his brow that he can’t hide from me, and he’s still wearing his wrinkled, gold-splotched clothes.
His eyes soften as he watches me. “The Grotto is our home in Drollard Village.”
“Okay…and where’s Drollard Village? Are we still in Fifth Kingdom?”
Judd grins and chucks his hands behind his head as he stretches his legs out in front of him. “That’s an interesting question. See, because it was Fifth Kingdom, but now it’s not. And technically, Drollard Village doesn’t exist. Neither do the people who live here.”
My mind swims. “Um. What?”
Slade shoots him an impatient look before turning his attention back onto me. “We’ll explain all of that later. How are you feeling?”
That’s not what I want to talk about. Not at all.
Ignoring his question, I shove the blankets that are still wrapped around me. Now that I’m awake, it’s sweltering under all these layers. When Slade loosens his hold enough for me to do that, I take the opportunity to stand. My bare feet sink into the soft fur rug as I pad across the room to the window. I look out, squinting at the swirl of glowing blue. “What is that? It’s almost like we’re—”
“In a house built inside a cave? Yep, we are,” Lu tells me.
“And it glows,” Judd pipes in.
My brows lift up in surprise. “Wow. It’s pretty.”
“Auren?” Slade calls my name tentatively, but it makes the skin around my eyes go tight.
Instead of answering him, I look back to Judd. He seems like a safe bet. “What kinds of card games have you been playing?”
I can tell that he sees right through me, especially when his eyes dart over to Slade for a split second before he answers me. Still, he plays along. “Oh, you don’t want to know, Gildy. Lu cheats.”
“I do not!” she says with outrage. “It’s not my fault you can’t hold your wine while we’re playing, and you make awful bets.”
He rolls his eyes. “See? Mean.”
A little laugh escapes me, but that quickly gets washed away when I hear, “Auren.”
I paste on a smile and turn to face Slade, but my stomach churns when he slowly stands up. “Yes?”
“I asked how you’re feeling,” he says carefully, his eyes the color of summer grasslands.
I can feel Judd and Lu staring at me, and my face goes hot.
“I’m fine.”
Seconds go by. Time’s pendulum swings like a spectator, eyes ticking from Slade to me as we watch each other.
He wants to talk. I can see the agonized words held back in his mouth. I can see the emotions he’s ready to face. But when I snapped back into consciousness in that other cave, those very emotions were too consuming. The memories too raw. I didn’t shove up walls only for my gold and my fae nature. I barricaded everything else too.
“I’m not ready.”
My lips are protective over that truth, pursing together defensively as soon as I’ve said it. I’m not ready. I can’t go there. Because if I go there, then I’ll have to think and process and feel. I don’t want to feel yet. The clock can count down all it wants, but I’m still not going to give in.
It’s apparent that Slade doesn’t want to give in either, but I get saved from whatever response he was going to say when a man walks in through the front door. A man who looks just like Slade.
Fake Rip.
CHAPTER 15
AUREN
It’s only the second time I’ve seen him without the concealing armor and helmet he always wore when he pretended to be Rip. It’s a bit jarring. He looks so much like Slade that I can’t help but stare, trying to pick out the small discrepancies.