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“We will make the most of your visit to Neveserin, and when you leave it will be alongside a horde of my staff. Now I no longer have a human to host, my rooms are rather full of wasted bodies. I am certain you could find use for them in Haxton more than I can.”
“That will not be required.”
“It certainly will be,” Myrinn replied quickly, rising from her seat. The conversation was done, for now. “Arlo, let me see you.”
She winked at me as though recognising the seething elven prince behind. It made me grin, which seemed to calm him quicker.“It is beautiful, is it not?” Her eyes trailed me from head to toe.
I looked down, admiring the clothes the tailors had pinned, strapped and sewed together whilst I had stood for what felt like a millennium. The jacket was a deep shade of navy. It looked almost wet from the way the velvet material caught the spilling daylight that flooded into the room through the glass-domed ceiling above us. The stitching thread was silver. It matched the formfitting trousers, and the unbuttoned jacket revealed the open necked tunic of cream with buttons made from black shell.
“Don’t I look stupid?” I asked, running my hands down the arms of the jacket and feeling the small, seven lined stars that they had stitched upon the material. It was as though I wore the surface of the Styx, dark blue with the reflection of burning stars glinting across it.
“No,” Faenir said softly. “Far from it.”
Myrinn chuckled into her fingers, one brow raised above pleased eyes. “Faenir seems to like it which is the most important thing.” She leaned forward quickly and added in a whisper, “So do I. Do not feelstupid, but brilliant. If you are to stir the politics of my family, then you may as well do it in style.”
“In doing so it will only anger powerful people.”
Myrinn took my hand in hers and squeezed. “We are all powerful people. Some—” her eyes flickered, gesturing towards where Faenir lurked. “—more than others.”
“It would be best that you do not fill Arlo’s head with such ideas.” Faenir paced towards us. His closeness made Myrinn flinch slightly, although I could see the regret in her face the moment she did; the reaction did not go unnoticed by Faenir either. “Arlo has a tendency to steal knives. He doesn’t need to concern himself with our family.”
“He certainly does.” Myrinn spun as fast as a viper. “If you are both to complete your own Joining then Arlo will be thrust deep into the heart of our family and its secrets. Hiding from it will only encourage failure.”
“Remind me why you care all of a sudden?” Faenir asked, eyes narrowed. “How many years have you all forgotten to reach out to me? The estranged killer of the family. Poisoned fruit, is that not what Grandmother refers to me as during the many dinners, parties and events I have been left out of?”
Myrinn swallowed hard, eyes widening.
“Please,” I said quickly. Last time they had come to blows the room almost crumpled beneath the presence of their magic.
“I wish to hear your answer…” Faenir pressed on, ignoring my plea.
“Faenir, enough.” I put myself between them both. “I wish to have some time alone with Myrinn.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Faenir.” I glowered. “It was not a request.”
His face softened in outward concern. “Itis not safe to leave you.”
“You can disrespect many things, but not my promise to look after your mate, cousin.” Myrinn was not pleased at his blatant disregard of her ability to keep me from harm.
Before he could reply I stepped before him, reached up and cupped his cheek. He practically melted into my touch. “I will be fine. Please.”
Faenir bit down on his lip as I removed my touch and let the real world and its worries return to him. Then he nodded, one quick tilt of his head as though he could not utter the words it took to agree.
“Take him beyond the boundaries of your home and I will destroy it,” Faenir snapped, frantic and rushed as he took steps towards the door. “And everyone unlucky enough to dwell in it.”
Myrinn pouted, wrapping one hand around my waist and waggling her spare hand in a farewell gesture. “He will be returned in one piece. I promise.”
* * *
My head felt foggy, my arms and legs were heavy and slow. Yet I still drank the wine as though it was water from a never-ending source. At one point I had gone from sober to drunk in what seemed like a blink, most noticeable when I closed my eyes only to reopen them to a room spinning before me. It was not a pleasant feeling, but that did not stop me from knocking back each glass until my teeth felt rough with fermented grape.No matter how many glasses I consumed, I could not get rid of the strangling discomfort that gripped my heart.
“Faenir can hurt with his words, his actions, but you understand now why I cannot begrudge him?” Myrinn did not clear the jewelled tear that rolled down her cheek. “He has been punished… punished from the moment he was born for something he cannot control.”
It had been easy manipulating the conversation to get answers that I had longed to uncover. Myrinn was an open book, willing for me to flick through the pages to find out about Faenir and his past.
“How did it happen?”
