The Glass Man - Lila Gray Book 1

Chapter Twenty-Five

Gallagher approached as a few of the guards escorted Liam to the elevator. "Lila—"

"I need to leave." My voice drained of emotion. I couldn't bear to watch Liam walk away, even though I'd ordered it.

"Leave?" Gallagher asked, his tone tight with worry. "Whatever for? We need you to call the fae home. It's what your mother would have wanted."

"Don't you dare tell me what my mother wanted. I spent the last seven years bearing the weight of what my mother wanted. She was so proud of me she didn't even tell me what I was. Just sent me off into the wilderness alone with some cryptic shit and a psycho hunting me down. I have one task left to be done, and it isn't what you're asking. Why would I want anything to do with her people who didn't care enough about their own city to stay and defend it?" I realized I was yelling and shut my mouth.

Gallagher's white brows pressed together, and he stared at me for a long time before answering. "I wish I could give you a brilliant reason for wanting to help us, but I can't. We've always been too passive, too involved with ourselves and our customs, too short sighted to see our own strengths and weaknesses. Your mother was our backbone, our visionary. When she fled the city without a word, it seemed all hope abandoned us along with her. That is our own shortcoming, and I'm ashamed to count myself among those who wondered if we had come to the end of our way of life. Until I learned why Arianne had fled. To save you, Lila. She sent you into the wilderness, not as a punishment, but as a means to ensure you weren't like us, so you had the strength to save us from ourselves, as well as from Parthalan. I see that strength in you, along with the hope I thought lost forever."

That old familiar weight settled back on my shoulders as I scanned the room. Everyone stared at me with pleading eyes. Silence had fallen as they waited for me to give them an answer. Why did their fate fall on me? I was one woman. One angry, fucked up girl dragging the chains of my bloody past behind me. Could I really make a difference to these people? It wouldn't matter if I didn't send Parthalan to his grave. I'd still have to leave, but maybe I had a chance to set these people back on course before I went.

I sighed, and a collective one hissed through the room from everyone else. "Fine, I'll call the fae, but I don't know how."

"Your Sight of the Goddess will make it easier," Gallagher said. "We'll go to the top of the tower. Concentrate on all Seelie, then use your Light to make your voice carry stronger upon the wind. When they feel your power, they'll return."

"And then what?"

"And then you'll greet your people as their queen. Tell them what you expect of them. We must deal with Parthalan as a nation or fall beneath his boot."

What? They were really willing to help me? That hope he spoke of threatened to soften my resolve to do this alone, but they were weak and untrained. I wouldn't risk them. I wiped a hand down my face. "Okay, but first I'll heal the city. The creatures here are suffering."

Nix offered me his arm. "I'll help you."

"The return of the fae will heal the city." Neasa's four inch heels tap-tapped across the room toward us. Her tinsel hair swished out behind her. "Don't waste your Light on lesser beings. You'll need it to call our people home."

"The only lesser being here is you." My energy welled up in a flash. The air in my vicinity vibrated and glowed. My golden hair danced around me, weaving itself into a chaotic tangle above my head. I didn't realize how much I'd missed my Light, like an entity living within me with its own pulse, its own mind.

My old friend.

Neasa's mouth flew open as if I'd shoved a taser up her backside. Pity I didn't have one.