The Fae Book 3: Butcher and Raine

Chapter 25 (Raine): Those Silver Eyes

"Why would you all think that I should be kept in the dark? You're my best friends!" Daisy and Harmony knew I wasn't happy.

Daisy shrugged. "We didn't think you should be, but Butcher refused to let us tell you, and the man has a way of insisting on things that you don't ignore."

"Since when do we let a man dictate what we can or can't do?"

"We ended up telling you anyway," Harmony soothed. "We just didn't want to tell you too many days in advance. We didn't want you to worry and stress out the baby."

"What makes you think I'd worry about a man who did what he did to me?"

"Because we see the way you look at him?" Daisy said it like a question, but it wasn't. Not at all. My friends knew me well.

"And we see the way he looks at you," Harmony added.

"Like a psychopathic killer?" I scoffed.

"Well, kind of, I guess," Daisy said, "but like he's your psychopathic killer."

"I can't believe the fae won't protect Butcher," I returned to the real topic at hand.

"They can't," Daisy explained sadly. "It's the way they're wired. The king, as the source of all magic, is the one they protect when it's a life or death circumstance like this one. They're facing off against the moon fae, so it's all hands on deck to protect the king."

"So Butcher has no one to protect him."

Daisy shook her head, her face distressed. "Oberon's been arguing with them, but they won't budge. They won't let the source of magic be put at risk."

"The man was in the military! How'd they let him do that?" 

I wanted answers because this wasn't sitting well with me. Butcher was helping to put away the bad fae -- and he'd be left unprotected for his efforts? Left to possibly be killed?

"I asked Burr the same thing way back when he became an officer," Harmony said. "He told me that it's one thing to face man-made threats to life. Child's play for the fairies. But facing magical threats? That's something else entirely."

"This isn't fair," I said quietly to my friends. I tried to tell myself it was the general principle of the thing that was bothering me, but my eyes drifted to Butcher, and I knew it wasn't. He'd agreed to help put the moon fae underground only because of me. He'd told me that.

"You're doing the right thing. It's for a good cause."

"If you're the good cause, then yeah, I am," he'd said.

"He'll be OK," Harmony said, grabbing my hand.

"Did Nan see it?" I asked with hope.

"No, but that doesn't mean anything." Harmony's voice was soft with understanding and compassion. Daisy stayed quiet, probably feeling guilty, but she didn't have any reason to. This wasn't on her and it wasn't even on Burr. The fae and I might be beefing later, though...

The men walked over to us, their faces serious, for once no insults flying between Burr and Hatch. The mood felt heavy, somber.

"Almost time," Burr said.

"You've got this," Hatch said seriously. "You're both ready."

Burr gave him a half smile; Butcher's face didn't change.

Burr tugged Daisy a few feet away, and Harmony pulled Hatch off to the side, leaving Butcher with me. He needed to focus so I refused to be a drama llama, but I had to say something to him.