Page 52 of Harnessed in Gold

“Then come back with me, just for a little while.” Leo’s eyes dart to me before he hits the gas. “I want to show you all our research. And if you have any questions, I’ll answer them.”

“Any?”

“Any.”

I doubt a little while is enough for all my questions, but it’s a start. And it’s better than wallowing in self-pity and resentment. Like the old ladies crossing the street, he’s offering me his arm. I’d be stupid not to accept it.

I fiddle with the cuffs of my sleeves. “If you don’t mind?—”

He glances at me, expression soft, almost tender. “I don’t mind.”

Suddenly shy, I ask, “Will you show me the Secotan necklace?”

“Of course.”

“Okay, then.”

“Good.”

Instead of turning onto campus, he stays on Main Street, heading toward the north of town and Breakridge. With an elbow propped on the door and his head tipped into his hand, he sighs.

He sounds so tired.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

No sooner doesthe apartment door slam behind us than Leo shrugs out of his sport coat and loosens his tie. “I’ll be right back,” he announces, disappearing down the hall.

I glance around the apartment. “Where are Topaz and Rime?”

He returns from his bedroom, rolling up the sleeves of his now untucked dress shirt. “They’re out looking for Brier’s team. They go every day. Search campus and downtown. Down by the river, too.”

“No sign of them?”

“Not so far.” He gestures toward the kitchen. “Do you want some lunch?”

I shake my head. “Not yet.” The donut quarters I had at Redemption Baptist have been sitting like a lump in my stomach ever since Jean West uttered the wordhalfling. “Did it surprise you, what Jean said about there being other faeries here?”

“Yeah, it did.” He grips the back of a dining-room chair. “She knows all about us, and the only way that can possibly be the case is if there are far more of us coming here than I was lead to believe.”

“Do you think they’re just visiting, or are they living here?”

He stares past me to a spot on the puce carpet, brow drawn tight. “They’re not supposed to do either. Only a few of us have permission to come regularly to the Subworld, and we’re never supposed to reveal to humans who we really are.”

So he violated the rules when he told me—and Aaron and Avery—who he is?

Heart squeezing, I sink into the chair beside me. “Why? Because humans aren’t to be trusted?”

He lowers himself across the table from me and answers gently, “Historically speaking, no.” His hands fold on the cluttered tabletop. “In your sixth century, Nàdar closed all its portals to the Subworld. Before then, we used to travel freely here. To Ireland and Scotland mostly, but to Scandinavia too.”

“Did humans go to Nàdar?”

He nods. “We interacted all the time. Shared ideas, stories, religion.”

I gasp, realizing with crystal clarity what eroded the camaraderie. “The Christians?”

“Yes, and the Romans before them. The Romans wanted to steal our magic, and the Christians wanted to repress it.”

The donuts just get heavier and heavier.