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He also was my pick for a traitor, since he was all buddy-buddy with Bronio.
“I didn’t realize you were all so bored. Maybe I should’ve brought you to the chapel in New Mexico with me,” I said.
“Of course you should’ve. No reason Van should get all the fun,” Bronio said.
Fun? He really thought that had been fun?
“We can’t do our job if we’re not with you,” Wilken said with such soft seriousness in his voice that I almost laughed. He was even leaning forward, slightly bowed, as if asking for forgiveness. His golden blond hair fell into his face, hiding his dark brown eyes.
“It’s a wonder I can’t smell the shit from here with how thick you’re laying it on.” Van’s tone was as sharp as his blade. “Please, tell me how you’d rather have been in the chapel swarming with demons, open gate to Hell, instead of here, eating your fill, drinking your weight in wine, and sleeping with anything that would bed you?”
I nearly choked trying to stop the laugh that was rising up. I wanted to cheer on Van for his brutal assessment of Wilken. The man was my brother Tiarnan’s best friend. The same brother who’d sent the assassin Van killed in this room today.
I’d been surprised when Wilken asked to leave Tiarnan’s guard to join my own, but after three weeks of interrogation and investigation, Van decided Wilken would be an asset to my guard. But now Tiarnan’s assassin somehow got into my personal rooms?
Wilken was quiet. He couldn’t lie, so he was stuck. But he was probably another traitor.
“Right,” I said. “Anyone else have a grievance they’d like to air?”
The rest of them were quiet. Nex, Taslin, Cyros. All with black hair, tied back in a long, low ponytail. Each with crystal blue eyes. I’d thought they were triplets growing up, especially since they were always together, but they weren’t. They weren’t as old as Van, but close. Pretty damned close. And I was pretty certain they were loyal. Out of any of my guards—aside from Van—I’d spent the most holidays with them.
Which left Pratis. He was quiet—not just now, but always—and even if Van thought he was a suspect, I wasn’t sure. He had white hair and even whiter skin, but he somehow always managed to fade into the shadows. I’d known the man for over a hundred years, and I still felt like I knew nothing about him. And yet, I trusted him.
But Van said he was bringing four traitors and three loyals with us. If Nex, Taslin, and Cyros were Van’s choice for loyal guards, then that meant that he didn’t trust Pratis. Which said a lot to me.
The men had all gotten very still. They knew they were being tested, but none of us would acknowledge it. That was part of the fey game. As a princess of the Lunar Court, if I couldn’t survive my own corrupt guards, then I wasn’t worthy of living.
I hated court for so many reasons, but I really truly hated the way that it had turned my guards—who I’d treated as family for so long—into possible enemies for no good reason.
“What did my mother say?” I asked Van. I didn’t want anything too personal said in front of guards we didn’t trust, but if we didn’t discuss what we were doing, then they’d get suspicious.
“She said not to come back until you’ve found your match.”
Huh. That was giving me a little too much freedom. With that single sentence, I could leave the courts entirely for years—centuries—and as long as I didn’t marry anyone, I didn’t have to come back.
No. That was way too good. There had to be a catch. “Did she say anything else?”
“You officially have a fortnight before she’ll pick someone for you.” Van’s apology flickered across his face before his cold facade snapped back into place.
Damn it. This was worse than I’d thought. So much worse.
I knew deep down that my mother loved me, but she’d pick someone who was a powerful, smart match. Whether or not I could stomach sleeping with him wouldn’t even cross her mind.
Power. She’d want someone with power and she must already have someone in mind. But who did she—
“Oh, God. Again?” I met Van’s gaze. “She’ll make me marry you. She won’t care that we—” I snapped my mouth shut before I said too much.
“Yes. She didn’t say it, but it was implied. Thoroughly. So let’s go and be decisive. You don’t like a man, you say so. We move on to the next. Immediately.”
I swallowed down any fear or hesitation. I couldn’t trust these guards with my true feelings, and I’d already said too much. “Then I guess we’d better go.”
Pratis and Wilken stepped out of the room in front of me, then me and Van, with the rest following after. Their footsteps were silent on the floor, barely noticeable if not for the way the floor lit with every step. The magical floors helped the court guards to keep track of who was walking around in our underhill. For some it looked like the night sky or a shooting star following their path or a planet depending on station, court, and status. It was a beautiful bit of spellwork. I watched the floor under my feet brighten with a crescent moon surrounded by stars as we moved through the hallways, and with every step, I wanted to tell Van to take me away from this path.
It should’ve only been a five-minute walk to the gateway room, but the halls of the Lunar Court were always filled with fey wanting some sort of acknowledgment. They moved around our group—maids and guards stopping along the walls to bow as I passed—and I gave them a nod. I hated the bowing, but it was part of life here. One of my guards intervened when any nobles we passed motioned for me to wait or gossip, with a polite, “She’s needed at another court presently,” and a small bow.
Even though we kept the exchanges quick, the short walk seemed to stretch on endlessly. I wished Van could just grab my hand and pop us into Gales. That we could be there already and get on with it, but that wasn’t allowed. Van could move in and out of our court whenever, wherever, however he wanted, but using his abilities to get into another court was different.
If Van popped into any other court or traveled within one that wasn’t ours, they would see it as an attack. And while starting a war would be a wonderful distraction from husband-hunting, it would also be a terrible pain. So, we would enter Gales using the proper gateway protocol. Boring but safe.
