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I’d been trying to give them as much privacy as I could manage. At times, I would even block out the bond so that I didn’t intrude on a moment of transparency between them; that technically broke our little promise from before, but I felt like these were extenuating circumstances.
Jae was mid-explanation of something as I approached.
“It’s protocol,” she said in that stilted accent. “If you do not pass, you are removed.”
Reese frowned, her eyes narrowing. “What does ‘removed’ mean in this sentence? Deported? Left to our own devices or…” she trailed off, gulping. “Killed?”
Jae didn’t answer immediately, which paradoxically answered enough.
“Why didn’t you tell us that before we landed? Before we got on the plane? Before we agreed to this whole fucking thing?!” Marilyn’s tone bordered on hostility.
Neo answered before Jae could defend herself. “Because the fae cannot lie directly,” he mused. “but they can lie by omission. If you answer questions regarding the bullshit story you gave us about the application process, you wouldn’t technically be lying, because we wouldn’t know there was information missing from the story.”
Jae gulped just as the brothers stopped near us.
“What the fuck is going on?” Sariel asked. “You’re drawing the attention of security.”
“Jae didn’t bother telling us we all had to go through the lie detector shit Michaelson went through,” Reese answered meekly. “She says if we don’t pass, we’ll be ‘removed,’ AKA killed since we’re on their land now. To fail a test that determines whether we want to cause them harm is akin to treason, which, in most places where the supernatural are concerned, is punishable by death.”
By the time she’d finished rambling, Sariel was glaring at Jae. “Come again?”
“I-I cannot help it,” she answered meekly, backing away from him. I almost warned her that backing away from a predator was a terrible idea, but I figured that she should know based on her own species.
“So, let me get this straight,” Sariel started, his eyes beginning to glow. “You already forced me to endanger my mate, brother, and the people I care about, yet we might die if we don’t pass your stupid Truth-Saying test?”
Jae nodded frantically.
“I want to talk to the person in charge of recruiting—”
“That would be me,” a deep voice announced behind us. Reese jumped, and Marilyn’s magic flared. “I’m not here to harm you, but there seem to be some discrepancies that need ironing out?”
The fae behind us was tiny, with a head of thick long brown hair hung down to his back in a single braid, huge green eyes, and delicate features. I was stunned that a voicethatresonant had come from that tiny body.
“Who the hell are you?” Sariel immediately stepped in front of me, and Michaelson stepped up next to his brother. They shared a look for a brief moment before returning their focus to the little fae man.
“Forgive me; you can call me Malachi,” he bowed at Sariel and Michaelson. “I am in charge of recruitment from the Americas.”
I sized him up. He looked kind of ridiculous in those puffy pants, the elastic in their legs reaching the knee, and a button-up shirt tucked into the waist. He was also frighteningly pale in a way that reminded me of a porcelain doll. I wanted to reach out and feel his skin to see what it was made of.
“They aren’t happy about the Truth-Saying,” Jae told him as she skirted around us to stand at his side.
“No one ever is,” Malachi answered. It unnerved me how deep his voice was; the bass rattled me. “I’m afraid it’s the only way you’ll gain an audience with the King and Queen.”
There was awhooshingsound, and then we were suddenly surrounded by fae who were a complete contrast to Malachi, towering over us in their chest plates and helmets. They even held spears in their hands with a symbol etched into them that was highly reminiscent of the yin-yang-like symbol on the back of the card the Director had given us. How were the people outside the airport not seeing this shit?
I felt Sariel’s angel surge to the surface just as Malachi snapped his fingers.
“Let us begin,” he said, and I felt my entire body go slack.
My consciousness receded until I was inside that mental space where my wolf dwelled. She was not pleased by these circumstances, and as she nosed at me, I couldn’t help but begin to pace with her.
I could sense my mouth moving, my limbs being intact, and everything physically happening to me, yet could not hear, see, or interact with my environment. I wanted to know what was being said, if I was answering correctly, and if the others were answering correctly.
A shudder wracked through me.
As quick as my senses had left me, they returned. I gasped, stumbling into Sariel.
“Well, that was terrifying,” Reese mumbled.
