The Endless Series Book Two The Dragons Heart

Chapter Three: Louisa Endless

CHAPTER THREE

LOUISA ENDLESS

Finding Bradley had been left in a tower in faerie hadn’t sat well with me. Especially after my own duration in one, and Emma’s. Mine had at least been self-inflicted to save a friend from Oberon, the crazed faerie King who had been obsessed with my sister. But Bradley had been tricked into making a bargain he didn’t have to, and now I watched him like a hawk.

“Is it really necessary to check on him?” Ben asked as we walked down the halls of the estate. “He’s a grown man, Lou. I think he’s perfectly capable of taking care of himself.”

“You heard what he said when he got out of the tower,” I reminded him.

“He showed us a lovely necklace given to him by Aphrodite apparently, and said, ‘I get to be with Adelaide in exchange for giving my heart to a goddess. I’m going to win my mate.’ I think it’s kind of romantic. Although, I do think it’s kind of weird that he uses the word ‘mate’ to refer to Adelaide but whatever. I understand that you all went through something traumatic, but Lou, they are grown. You don’t have to protect everyone you know.”

I scowled. “My house. My rules.”

I paused by the door and was about to ask Bradley if he was okay when I heard my sister Emma’s voice coming through.

“I’ve kind of been doing something I shouldn’t have been.” Emma was telling Bradley.

“Which is?” Bradley asked.

“Ben Taylor,” she answered.

“Emma!” Bradley sounded appalled but slightly impressed.

I walked away from the door, continuing with my rounds of the estate. The thing about being gatekeeper for faerie was that you never knew what little creature might escape through the cracks. The amount of times I’d found brownies or pixies hiding in the cupboards was ridiculous.

“Lou!” Ben said as he chased after me. “Come on, Lou. Don’t go distant. We talked about this.”

“I know,” I muttered. I stopped and turned to look at the young American.

He was tall, and gangly, with tousled brown hair. But he had muscles, and a mysterious past he refused to talk about. The moment that I’d seen him, I’d been attracted to him. But I hadn’t been able to do anything because he was my sister’s fiancé. I’d stayed away, but we’d gotten close when he had come to look for Emma.

And I’d saved his life.

“So then why do you look pissed?” he said.

I sighed. “Everyone’s always been fascinated by Emma. She was completely unattainable, and she used to have guys writing her love letters, sending her things, composing songs…meanwhile, I was the weird one who stayed at the estate. I didn’t even get kissed until I was eighteen---”

“You know Emma couldn’t act on any of those things,” he reminded me, “we’ve been talking about her past a lot. How do you think it felt for her to have some nice guy ask her to the school dance, and she couldn’t accept it even if she wanted to?”

“I know you’re right. It’s just hard.”

He stepped forward and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Look, all we’re doing is testing the waters. It doesn’t mean anything, Lou. Besides, I don’t exactly stand a chance against a faerie King and…. well…. she called out Clark’s name last night.”

I raised an eyebrow. “While the two of you were---”

“Emma’s trying to do the right thing by so many people. That’s what she’s been raised to do. I’m the first person that’s given her reason to be selfish, but she’s struggling with it. I won’t lie and say that I’m okay with her calling out Clark’s name, but they went through something really traumatic together. I get it.”

I shook my head. “You, Ben Taylor, are far too nice for your own good.”

He shrugged. “When you’ve seen as much darkness in the world as I have, you try to put kindness out into the world.”

“You know, you keep on talking about this darkness you’ve seen, but you’ve never explained it.”

He stared at me, his eyes becoming hooded with a darkness of their own. “That’s because there’s enough f****d up people in the world, Lou. I don’t want to f**k you up too. C’mon. Let’s finish doing the rounds.”

He started walking on ahead of me, checking corners and crevices for faeries with the flashlight that I’d given him. And, despite his warning still ringing in my ears, I followed him too. Because there was something about Ben that just made you want to.