Page 15 of The Never Queen

“Keep going,” Vane says from across the room at the bar.

“I searched the area. Searched and searched, calling her name. But she was just gone, and no one I crossed paths with had seen her.”

“Where were you before the park?” I ask.

“Umm…the coffee shop. We go there first for tea. Merry likes a Lostland Fog. We get the tea, we go to the park.”

I glance across the room at Vane. He gives me an almost imperceptible nod.

Good. He’s thinking what I’m thinking.

“You can go, Leo,” I say. “But stay here in the treehouse until we get this sorted.”

The other fae drops his mouth open, as if he means to protest, but then he thinks better of it. “Okay. Sure. Let me know if you need anything else.” He gets up and makes his way down the stairs.

Bash is still going on, pointed at his brother. “I knew something was going on. Doren met us at the Rock today?—”

“Brother,” Kas says quickly, glancing at Darling.

I sensed there was an underlying story to be told when they suggested we have a party. “Celebrate our friends” was code for strengthening our numbers, ensuring our allies. I had planned to ask them about it later when Darling was out of earshot, but now I don’t have to.

“If you two have something to add,” Vane says, “start fucking talking.”

The twins glance at one another. I don’t hear the chiming of their fae language, but they now share the Neverland Light Shadow. I would be an idiot to think they have no other means of silent communication.

“Spit it out,” I say.

Bash sighs. “Doren was conveniently at the Rock today when we went out for a fly. He apologized. Said he was retracting his objection to Darling being crowned queen.”

“The timing isn’t suspicious at all.” Vane lights a cigarette and spreads his arms out over the bar behind him, the cigarette caught in his mouth as he takes a drag, then lets it dangle as he exhales, head tipped back.

“That can’t be a coincidence,” Darling says. “We should go to the fae palace and demand to see him.”

“I agree, we need to at least look at the possibility he’s involved,” Kas says. “But while Doren is the most likely villain in this scenario, the motivation doesn’t quite add up. Why make the effort to apologize to us if he was just going to kidnap Merry to blackmail us into retreating?”

“Because he’s dumb?” Darling says. “Because he’s reckless and dumb?” She throws up her arms. “I don’t know.”

“Kas and I will go there.” Bash is already up on his feet.

“Not alone,” I say.

“I’m going with,” Darling says.

“No, you’re not.” Vane looks at me. “You or me?”

“I can go,” Darling insists.

“Sure you can, but you won’t,” he adds.

“Vane,” she says with a huff.

“You’re not going, Darling,” I tell her. “So stop asking.”

She glares at me, and it occurs to me that her promise is already broken. She is not having fun. Though I suppose of no fault of her own.

I can’t tell what she’s thinking or feeling about the possible disappearance of her mother. Her relationship with Merry is complicated, sometimes fraught with tension. It’s something all of us understand. None of us had good relationships with our mothers. I suppose that’s why we looked for sustenance in drink and power and sex. We never had the benefit of warm arms and unconditional love.

Right now, she seems determined to get to the bottom of her mother’s disappearance, but is that because she wants to make sure Merry is safe? Or some other reason?