It wasn’t as if she could return to her home in Los Angeles—or walk right into a university and start tomorrow.
On the other hand, this would totally and utterly ruin her reputation. Oh, her grandfather would probably spin some tale about her being off, but still, they’d know, they’d disapprove. Even Jeff and Vix would probably disapprove.
The thought of such disapproval from her family hurt. At the same time, where else did her choices lay?
“It’s just until we figure things out … perhaps we should apply to the university together … for next term. I think we’re not too late.” His fingers intertwined with hers, but she didn’t completely relax.
“I like that idea,” she replied. As much as he tried, V didn’t quite fully understand mortal conventions—or why she clung to them. But if she didn’t cling to them, that would be admitting she was no longer mortal and no longer wished to be so. That the queen had won.
Also, going to the university and becoming a botanist was still a goal.
“You two could just go to the university here.” James rolled his eyes, still toying with the watch chain. “That’s what the Academe is, right? A university?”
“There are universities here? I didn’t know that.” Noli looked at V for confirmation.
“A university,” V confirmed. “The Academe is very different from universities in the mortal realm. We can look into it, if you’d like. I’ve wanted to use their libraries for research. I’d also like to travel to the cloisters and to visit their library.”
“Cloisters, too, what sort?” There was so much she didn’t know about this realm.
“Men and women who dedicate themselves to the Bright Lady. They have excellent records and libraries. If any information exists that would help return you to yourself if would be in one of those places.” He touched his forehead to hers, sending little shivers up her spine.
James yawned, not bothering to hide it. “That sounds so boring.”
V looked down his nose at his brother. “What? Dedicating your life to the Bright Lady or researching in the library?”
“Both.” He threw his feet over the chair, food abandoned, as he continued to finger the watch chain.
Researching wasn’t Noli’s favorite thing, but if it would help return her to her old self she was willing to try.
“The plan is to return to the mortal realm, speak with Quinn, let your father know you’re alive, let my mother and Jeff know I’m alive, then come back here and visit to the university here and the cloisters?” It wasn’t as if she had anything else to do. “While we’re there we could research the artifact as well.” For some reason that seemed important, but she couldn’t quite remember why. What was it she needed to recall about the artifact?
“Definitely. I’d like to know who Kyran is—and I still don’t believe that Kevighn actually scattered the pieces in the mortal realm.” V made a face of disgust.
“Will you stop?” Noli shoved him. “He said he would and I believe him.”
V held his hands up in surrender. “Fine. I’ll believe you until proven otherwise.”
“We could go find him, if you’d like,” Noli goaded, feeling the need to make V squirm a little. “I know where to leave word for him.”
“You do?” V cocked his head. “Why?”
“Because he told me.” She met his eyes, daring him to say anything.
V sighed and pulled her closer. “I don’t want to fight. No, we don’t need to find him.”
“Kevighn told me that if anyone could return me to my old self it would be Ciarán. Do you think that’s true?” Noli writhed in her seat. Kevighn said a lot of things and sometimes it was hard to know what was truth, especially when she wanted it to be.
“Oh, I didn’t think of that,” James interjected from his chair.
“But that doesn’t mean he would, or that his price would be something we’d be willing to pay. Ciarán is as dangerous as the high queen. More.” V’s lips pressed into a hard line.
Right. There would be a price, and if he was the dark king …
“I don’t know. That could be less scary than asking the Bright Lady herself—or the magic,” James replied.
“You’re barking mad,” V retorted. He squeezed her shoulder. “We’ll fix it. I promise.”
She nodded in agreement. “Of course we will”
Somehow.
Noli lay in the bedroom she’d come to think of as hers. The butterflies and flowers James had painted for Elise long ago danced across the walls. Ruffles and bows trimmed many a surface, though it didn’t bother her. Usually she ended up sleeping in V’s arms on the rare occasion they were able to stay the night in the Otherworld. This had become a room in which she’d stored things and got ready in.
As elated as she was that V had found a way for them to be together, there was still the fact that oath or no, Queen Tiana would never permit them to marry. Neither would Mr. Darrow.
She also felt torn. Where did she belong? This realm with him, since ultimately he’d become the rightful king of the earth court? Or the mortal realm with Jeff and her mother?
Confusion swirled around her and she sobbed into her pillow. Somehow she’d thought getting V back would remedy everything. Instead, it merely exposed a new set of problems.
She hadn’t told V that she felt odd from either her illness, her experience in the tree, or both. That there was something she had to remember, but couldn’t.
Thankfully, the sprite had been quiet, but Noli knew she still lurked in there someplace.
“Don’t cry, darling. Please?” V whispered from the doorway.
“I’m not crying,” she choked. He had enough to worry about.
“Come sleep in my room? I missed you.” His shadowy figure entered the room.
“I missed you, as well.” She sat up and peered at him through the darkness, wiping the tears from her eyes. “The queen will be angry, won’t she, that we’re still together? Your father, too.” Her chest tightened. Mr. Darrow didn’t have any power over her. Not anymore.
The queen, however …
“I don’t care. I nearly lost you.” His voice broke as he approached the bed. “I don’t think you understand what seeing you lying so still and small in that bed in Boston did to me. Now that I have you back, I’m not letting you go unless you tell me to. I’m sick of being told what to do— and she can’t take you away without breaking her oath. If you wish to stay with me, be with me, then I won’t allow them to keep us apart.” He held out his hand to her.
She took it, his conviction giving her inner strength. “Queen Tiana scares me.”
“She scares me as well. But we can’t let fear rule our lives. Right?”
“Right.” She gazed into his green eyes. Even though he hadn’t worn his spectacles since he’d rescued her, she still expected to see them sometimes. “And your father?”
V exhaled heavily. “I don’t care. I want to be with you.”
“Good.” Using his hand, she pulled herself into a standing position.
She followed him to his room. V climbed into his bed and patted the space next to him. Noli crawled into the bed and he wrapped his arms around her.
Curling into him, her face buried in his shoulder. “Where do I belong, V?”
“Where do you want to belong?” His warm breath caressed her ear.
“I … I don’t know,” she hiccupped.
“We’ll figure it out, Noli.” V stroked her hair. “We’ll figure it out.”
They lay there in the bed, bodies entwined. It felt so nice to be in his arms, his body against hers, feeling the rise and fall of his chest, hearing his breath.
“I love you,” she whispered.
His lips brushed the top of her head. “I love you, too, darling.”