Page 18 of Tell Them That I’m Coming

Especially since I’m the reason he was left behind in Brille Rouge long enough for him to be taken…

Thane studies me for a long moment, and I’m starting to think he’s decided to withdraw his offer of help when he lets out a soft breath.

“If you’re set on going that far,” he says, “there’s something you should understand first. And I offer this for nothing but your agreement that you’ll think about accepting my help.”

“Why you?” I wonder. “Why does any of this mean that you need to help me?”

“Because a lone outsider doesn’t reach the Gilded Court.”

My fingers curl at my sides. “I can take care of myself.”

“I don’t doubt it,” he replies easily. “In Sombra. In worlds where your shadows answer you. Not here.”

I bristle. How does he know my shadows aren’t working? “You don’t have any idea what I can do.”

“No,” he agrees. “But I know what Noctavara does to those who don’t belong.And I know what the Court does when it sees something it wants.”

Something—or someone.

“And what,” I say carefully, “makes you think letting you join us will stop that from happening?”

In answer, he draws his sword. “This isn’t just for saving pretty demonesses from snare traps.”

Pretty demonesses… my cheeks heat, and I try to ignore it.

“And what do you get out of it?” I demand, fiercer than I mean to because, gods damn it, he’s getting under my skin.

His lips twitch. “You stay alive long enough to reach the queen’s throne room.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“It’s the only one you need right now.”

Of course. I guess I should be grateful I’ve gotten any at all so far.

“What if I decide you’re a mistake?” I ask. “If I tell you to leave?”

Thane inclines his head. “Then I will.”

And the fae can’t lie…

I draw in a slow breath. “I don’t have gold.”

“I know.”

“I won’t owe you.”

“You won’t thank me,” he corrects lightly. “That’s enough.”

Okay. Fine. “I’m considering it. So what did you want to tell me?”

He gestures vaguely at me. At my horns. At the shadows that still curl too close to my boots, restless and uncooperative. At the way Binx is nuzzled against my neck, the monarch butterfly still perched in my hair.

“All of that can be hidden with a simple fae glamour. But I can only hide so much, and nothing from the queen. And Queen Celeste doesn’t allow shadow magic in Noctavara.”

My spine tightens. That explains so much. Is that why I was blocked before? Why I haven’t been able to open a portal to leave? Why my panties vanished, and Thane is better at disappearing into the darkness of the woods than I—one part shadow demon—is? If the ruler of this realm is against my type of immortal, what happens when the slavers bring Rafe in front of her?

And why is he telling me that now?