“It’s one of” –I hiss as I roll off him and onto my feet– “Arienna’s! Don’t kill it.”
“Are you crazy!” But when he jumps back up himself, his sword raised, he doesn’t go on the offensive. We stand side by side, my knife out despite my desire not to kill the thing.
It hovers in front of us, its colourful body playing dress-up to the dark nightmare of its stinger. As I take in the teal of its thorax, I’m reminded of my queen. It’s her favourite colour.
I slip my blade back in its sheath. There’s no way I can kill it now.
“Dickie, I swear if you die out here, I am throwing you a brownie funeral.”
“They didn’t kill Arienna.”
“You don’t even know if this is one of hers! And this could be the murdery one.”
I look into its giant black eyes. It definitely looks like a murderer. My skin buzzing, I take a step towards it as I try to think of its name. “Bo?”
It flitters around in front of us, darting side to side as if it’s trying to figure out where it wants to stab me first. My face? My chest? My ass? Trying not to think about that, I search my memories some more.Ah, I think Bo is the one that died.
You mean murdered.
By another one of the wasps.
“Delilah?” I ask hopefully as I take another step. Jace curses behind me. That was the nice wasp, right?Now that’s a fucking oxymoron if there ever was one…
The buzz seems to get angrier; its flying more erratic. My stomach dropping, I say, “Hyatt?”
It lands. Then seems to… purr? It’s a softer vibration, and it’s cleaning its front legs as if it doesn’t have a care in the world anymore.
“Dammit, Richard,” Jace says. “Just make sure I have a clean shot.” He must’ve put his sword away, trading it for a throwing knife. Or two. Or three. I don’t look behind me to check; I don’t trust the wasp not to sting me if my back is turned.
Slowly, I take another step towards it. When it walks up to me though, I nearly shit myself. How the hel did Arienna cuddle these damn things? And Iknowshe cuddled them. The way she hugs everyone gives me a heart attack. Does she know how easy it’d be for someone to stab her?
My heart pounding, I try to stay calm. If I panic, Jace will panic, and when Jace panics, he kills things. And the last thing I need when my queen is already upset with me is to be the bearer of bad news.
So I stand without so much as a breath to move my chest while Hyatt sniffs me. Sweat beads down my back. I highly regret putting my knife away.
But then the wasp pulls back, spreads its wings, and flies off.
Staggering, I look at Jace.
“It’s coming back,” he says tightly.
I turn my head around, only to be instantly puzzled by its weird loops of flight. “That’s not normal, right?”
Hyatt flies towards us, then back. Towards us, then back. Circling loops and spirals that are confusing the hel out of me.
“The only thing I know about wasps,” Jace says, “is that they’re evil fuckers.”
“Arienna likes them, so they can’t be all bad…”
“No. She just doesn’t care if things are psycho monsters.”
My chest tightens.Fuck.
All this time, I’ve been thinking of her as a brownie. But she’s so much more than the stereotypes of her people.
Would she have seen the monstrous heart of Raza not as something to fear but to love?Couldshe be queen?
It doesn’t matter. Nicholas will take my place.
