Page 155 of False Comeback

My brow creased. “Yeah, so?”

She sobered and stared at me. “He is fae, Vince.”

“I know.” As I stared back at her in confusion, realisation slowly dawned. With a snort of incredulous laughter, I gestured at the bakery Crossbody had vanished into. “He was just thanking me for his own money. It didn’t actually mean… Besides, that’s not true, is it? The thing about the fae never thanking anyone because it means they’re, like, indebted to them or whatever?”

“Why would it not be true?”

“Because it’s just…” I waved my hands, gesturing at nothing. “A folktale. Right?”

“No, it’s not. It is true.”

“I’ve been around fae my whole life. I have definitely heard them thank people.”

“Fae who live in the human world, yes? Fae whose ancestors lived in the human world. Not Otherworld fae.”

“What difference does that make?”

“Because belief in its power plays an important role in our magic, Vince. The fae who settled in the human world probably still adhered to the rule of never thanking anyone at first, otherwise you’d be acknowledging that you owed them a favour. Although I’m sure the odd ‘thank you’ did happen as they integrated themselves into human ways of living. But humans now…” She spread her hands and shrugged. “They don’t believe in us. So they would never know that there was now a fae indebted to them, so they would never ask for their favour, and the debt would never have to be repaid. Eventually, the fae settlers would have realised they didn’t have to worry about being so careful with their words. And once they stopped believing in the power those words held, the words stopped holding the power.”

“But… Otherworld fae still believe in it?” I asked cautiously. “So it still works?”

She gazed at me solemnly, dark eyes flitting briefly to the bakery, as if she was considering her words. Eventually, she nodded. “Yes. For us Otherworld fae, it still works. So we don’t thank anyone.”

“But he—”

“Anyone at all, Vince, but those we trust completely. Because it indebts us to that person.”

I flushed, not sure whether she was just teasing me in a weird, fucked up fae way. A squawk of anxious laughter burst from me as I rubbed the back of my neck.

“I—No.” I shook my head vehemently. “Nah. I’ve heard Crossbody thank other people. I know I have. I’m… I’m sure I have.”

Her brow lifted. “Have you?”

“I…” Staring at the cobblestone path, I tried to think. Tried to remember a single instance of Crossbody thanking Holt, or Corey, or Hogbody… Hell, even the waitress at the diner near the motel.

I couldn’t. But that wasn’t unusual, right? It wasn’t like I’d been tracking every time he thanked someone. I wouldn’t have had any reason to store that information away.

But surely I could remember one instance of hearing him thank someone other than me. I mean, just last week, Holt had congratulated and praised him for his match against the Ghastly Boys. I remembered Crossbody’s pleased flush. He’d thanked him then, right? Surely he had.

And just now, Ianthe had offered him money and he’d politely refused. He’d thanked her, hadn’t he? He’d literally said, ‘No, thank you,’ right?

“He didn’t thank me,” she said when I parted my lips, as if she knew exactly what I’d been about to say. “Only you. He won’t go around thanking people, Vince, I assure you. In fact, I am so certain of this, I would even promise you. Which is just as powerful a debt.”

“But…” My voice was a weak croak. “He’s… He’s always said it to me. Even before we… I remember this big argument we had, and I know he was being all sarcastic and everything but he literally said ‘thank you’ to me…”

And he’d definitely said it again, when I’d had him restrained and begging that night in the arena, his hard cock in my hand. He’d thanked me then multiple times.

And the morning after our first night at the motel. I had paid attention to them then, because he’d been acting so differently from how I’d ever seen him before. Soft and gentle and calm and non-combative. I specifically remembered being surprised by him—the snooty royal fae at work who’d hated me—thanking me for anything, let alone for spending an entire night fucking him like an animal.

He’d always thanked me. Even when we hadn’t been…

“What the fuck does that mean?” I croaked, scrubbing anxiously at my face.

“It means he trusts you.” Ianthe rested a hand on my shoulder. “Above all others. And technically, it means a fae prince—well, former prince—owes you many debts.”

I shook my head quickly. “But we definitely didn’t trust each other before, and he said it to me then.”

She was quiet for a moment as she removed her hand. “He must have felt very strongly about you, even if he didn’t let himself acknowledge it.”