Fated Crown by Eva Chase
Chapter Fourteen
Talia
We’ve gotten to the sports field outside Jamie’s high school just as the last class of the day is getting out. Students are already streaming across the grass and the sidewalk around it. I pick up my pace, worried that I might have missed him. If he doesn’t head to our aunt and uncle’s house from here, I won’t know where to find him.
August and Kesral have accompanied me for the same reasons as before. In a way, Corwin is following me too, sharply aware of my emotional state through our bond. I can tell he wants to know the second I’ve made a decision—and to be able to weigh in if I only find myself more confused.
I hurry over to the school building as fast as my limp allows, scanning the teens ambling around us. To my relief, it’s only a minute or two before my gaze snags on a familiar head of curly brown hair.
Jamie is meandering around the side of the school, talking with another guy as they look at papers they’re both holding. The vibe of their conversation strikes me as more businesslike than friendly—maybe they’re supposed to work together on a project or something.
From seeing my brother eating on his own at lunch the other day, I don’t get the impression he has much in the way of friends here at school. He must have met his girlfriend and the people they were hanging out with in his photos somewhere else.
There are so many other people around, it’s hard to get close enough to him to pick up anything but fragments of what he and the other guy are saying. My fae companions and I have to weave between the dispersing students as we keep pace with the two of them. They head off across the field, where the other teens are starting to gather in clusters, leaving more room for us to maneuver. Would it be too much to ask for Jamie to stop walking and finish his conversation standing still?
A bunch of the teens nearby glance toward Jamie and his partner as they pass. I recognize a couple of the guys who hassled him at lunch the other day. One of them points to Jamie and makes a grossed-out expression for the benefit of the others, who titter with laughter.
Jamie keeps talking to the guy with him, but I can tell he’s noticed the attention. His jaw has tightened, his gaze staying studiously on the paper he’s motioning to.
I bristle on his behalf, glaring at the bullies, not that they can tell anyone’s pissed off with them. Jamie’s partner rubs his mouth, looking like he wants to be anywhere but with my brother.
A dog’s bark reaches my ears from somewhere behind me. I don’t pay much attention to it, too focused on my brother, until the pounding of heavy paws comes after it. A squirrel streaks past us over the grass, making for a tree at the other side of the field—and a big black hound charges after it, leash streaming, right into Jamie’s path.
It doesn’t look all that much like the massive wolves the Seelie can shift into. Its fur is shorter, its muzzle boxier, its ears floppy. As big as it is, I think the top of its head would only reach the level of Sylas’s shoulders when he’s in wolf form. But the sudden movement, the flash of bared teeth, and the general canine shape are enough to make my pulse hiccup in the first moment before I recognize what it is, even though I’ve had a lot of time and practice getting over my fears.
Jamie flinches so hard the papers he was holding and the book he had them propped on thump to the ground. He jerks back a couple of steps, a panicked sound escaping his mouth, a tremor running through his body.
He hugs himself but can’t seem to stop shaking. My heart wrenches with the urge to run right to him, throw my arms around him, and tell him he’ll be okay.
Before I can, a mocking laugh rings out. The bunch of teens who were giggling over Jamie’s appearance are sauntering closer, the two guys from before in the lead.
“Monster boy is afraid of a pet dog?” one sneers, glancing over to where the dog’s owner has finally caught up with the hound and grabbed its leash. “Pretty sad getting terrified over something that’s a whole lot less terrifying to look at than you.”
Now I want to wrap Jamie up in a hug and tell August to rip out that jerk’s throat so he’ll find out just how much reason my brother has to react like this. I step forward, my hands flexing, the words rising from my chest to ask August to take the magic off me so they can see me.
So what if I seem to come out of nowhere? It couldn’t be more obvious that my brother needs me—he needs me right now.
“Wait!” Kesral says, probably with instructions not to jeopardize the secrecy of the fae world. He grabs my arm before I can get close enough that they’ll feel my presence even if they can’t see me.
I turn to tell him off, but my voice catches at Jamie’s movement. His shoulders still rigid, he bends to pick up his things from the ground. There’s a bit of a stutter to his next couple of breaths, but then it evens out. He’s no longer shaking or cringing like I would have been just months ago when shocked into the memories of the past.
But then, I guess Jamie’s had a chance to work through some of those fears too. Maybe he hasn’t gotten to confront his attackers face to face, but he’s had access to things I never got, like therapists and years of life outside a cage.
He straightens up and faces his bully. Even his partner is staring at him, having backed away as if to avoid any association with Jamie at all.
“You got a problem with me, McCarty?” the other guy says, folding his arms over his chest and raising his chin like a dare.
Jamie fixes him with a cool but cutting stare that I suspect Whitt would appreciate. “Not really. See, the thing is, I don’t care if you think I look terrifying or whatever. Why the hell should I care what a dick like you thinks?”
The bully’s jaw drops. His friends stay totally silent with varying expressions of shock. It takes a moment before the guy manages to speak, and then it comes out with a sputter. “Who the fuck do you figure you are? Everyone thinks you’re a deformed loser who belongs in a freak show, you know.”
Jamie shrugs. “Then ‘everyone’ can go fuck themselves. I don’t need some stamp of approval from you. I’ve got a family and a girlfriend and friends who don’t think I’m a loser, and they matter to me way more than a bunch of random idiots. And you know what? Because I’m not a prick, I hope you never have to go through what I did to end up looking like this.”
He makes a swift gesture toward the scars on his face and then turns on his heel to walk away. I’m gaping now too, but with as much admiration as shock.
“Look at the spine on him,” Kesral says with an approving chuckle.
August slips his arm around me and nuzzles my hair. “It must run in the family.”
Maybe it does. My brother’s stronger than I guessed. But I pull away from August to follow Jamie, my heart thumping harder. Was he really so confident in what he just said, or was it a bold front to cover up the pain he didn’t want the bullies to see?
I doubt that their comments left him completely unscathed, but they don’t appear to have done any major damage even to his mood. As Jamie leaves the schoolyard behind, he pulls out his phone. I manage to peek over and see he’s texting the girl from the pictures in his room, who just sent him a selfie and a message asking him to meet up with her after dinner.
Sure, Jamie types back. I can’t wait. But I should warn you, I just told off the second most popular guy at school, so being seen with me is probably bad for your reputation. He adds a winking emoji at the end and grins as he sends the message off.
His girlfriend replies a moment later with a laughing emoji and the words, Who needs a reputation? I’d rather have you, thank you very much.
They banter back and forth a bit more, and by the time Jamie tucks the phone into his pocket and slips into a convenience store to grab a snack, he looks totally relaxed.
He’s okay.
The knowledge settles over me with a weirdly bittersweet sense of relief. He handled that situation all on his own, no need for a big sister to come running to his rescue. Maybe the trauma of the attack isn’t gone, but he’s obviously figuring out his way past that.
What could I do for him that he isn’t already doing for himself? If I insisted on staying and pushing my way into his life, would it honestly be for his benefit, or would I only be looking to absolve my own guilt?
I can’t completely walk away from him. I don’t want to. But maybe… Maybe it would be all right for me to go back to the life I’ve made for myself away from here and just check in on him every now and then.
Something about that idea sends an uncomfortable twinge through my gut. If I only stop by once a month or something like that, a lot could change without me realizing it. If he was in serious trouble, I’d want to know right away.
As we trail after Jamie along the sidewalk, I worry at my lower lip. He heads into a bowling alley next, and ducking inside after him, I see him setting up behind the shoe counter. So he’s got a part-time job too.
“The kid seems pretty independent,” August remarks.
“Yeah.” I grapple with my thoughts as we return to the street. If there’s anyone who could help me with this, it’d be August, right?
I touch his arm. “You know a lot of medical and bodily magic, right? Is there some kind of spell you could cast that would sort of connect me to Jamie from a distance—that would alert me somehow if he was in major physical or emotional distress?”
August cocks his head. “I can think of a couple of strategies that might work. But they’d require a sort of token to attach the spell to. Something you’d keep close to you and something he would too.”
I glance down at myself, and my gaze falls on the bronze bracelet Sylas gave me. As I trace my fingers over the smooth metal, an image sparks in my mind that brings a smile to my lips.
I don’t have to leave my brother completely. I can give him a little piece of our family to hold onto. He might not totally understand it, but from what I’ve seen, I think there’s a good chance he’ll keep it nearby.
“You can conjure up some bronze even here, right?” I say. “I want to make him a cuff bracelet that matches mine. We’ll use those.”
August beams at me. “Whatever you need, Sweetness.”
It only takes him a few minutes to construct a bracelet nearly identical to mine, just a little larger and more manly-looking, with a notch in the bottom so Jamie can slide it on if he decides to wear it since he can’t magically expand it.
“I’ll do the finishing touches,” I say with a rush of exhilaration. It really will be a present from me.
Grasping the metal loop in my hands, I focus intently on it. “Fee-doom-ace-own.”
With my will and the syllables, I etch four names into the inside of the bracelet: Dad’s, Mom’s, Talia, and Jamie. Sweat has broken out on the back of my neck by the time I’m done, but I hand the bracelet to August with a deep sense of satisfaction.
He takes my own bracelet as well and sits down on a patch of lawn to work the more intensive magic I requested. I glance around, realizing there’s one more thing I’d like to include.
“Do you have a piece of paper and something to write with?” I ask Kesral, figuring I can pilfer one from somewhere around here if not.
The winter fae man has been watching the proceedings with obvious curiosity. He looks almost pleased now to be brought in on our little mission.
“I can create them for you,” he says, and murmurs a few magic-laced syllables of his own. In a matter of moments, he’s offering me a slip of fine paper like the stuff in Whitt’s books and a narrow stick of charcoal.
I debate the message for a while and finally settle on something short and to the point. Always with you, I scrawl on the paper.
By the time August has finished his spellwork, evening is descending on us. We sneak to my aunt and uncle’s house, and I slip through the back door to Jamie’s bedroom. Folding the note around the bracelet, I set it on his pillow for him to find when he gets back from his date.
I straighten up and look down at it, weighing my decision and the ache in my chest. Am I doing the right thing—for me? For him?
I won’t know for sure until more time has passed, but after seeing his strength today, it feels right. I will be with him, just not every moment of every day. The fae and the humans back in the fae world need me so much more.
Taking a deep breath, I head back out to meet August and Kesral. “Okay,” I say. “Let’s go home.”
As we head back to the park, a trace of dread creeps into my stomach. I rub my fingers over my bracelet, but my apprehension has nothing to do with Jamie.
The other arch-lords were very eager to see me gone from their world. How are they going to react when they find out they can’t get rid of me so easily after all?
