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I turned to look at Cavan. If only because Ryze was playing innocent, I thought maybe he wouldn't.
He sighed and shrugged one shoulder. "That knife was already there, I'm sure."
I looked at Harel and smiled. Asshole.
He glared back. If we were alone, he'd slap me. I saw all of that and more on his face. Disgust and hatred were present too, in equal measures.
"We've wasted enough time here. Show me your melted building." His gaze slid away from me.
I had the distinct impression Cavan wanted to tell him to get the fuck out of his court. If there wasn't so much at stake, maybe he would.
Instead, he nodded graciously and stepped over to an empty section of the room to make a portal. He turned to me, but Ryze got there first.
"Stay here in the palace until I return. All three of you." The order would only settle on Tavian and I, but that was enough. We both gave him a look but nodded as if we had a choice.
Tavian muttered something that sounded like, "Fucking alphas," but he slipped his hand into mine. "We'll take care of her for you." He even went as far as to smile at Cavan as well as Ryze.
If it was his job to stir up trouble, he was doing it well. If he wasn't careful, someone might use his knife on him.
"I'm sure Vayne will take care of both of you," Ryze said. "Won't you, Vayne?"
Vayne looked us up and down. "Pretty sure they can take care of themselves. And cause me less trouble than you do."
Cavan grinned.
Ryze rolled his eyes. "Do your people give you as much trouble as mine do?"
"No. Insolence like that is usually reserved for a special kind of pain in the ass," Cavan told him.
"Ohhh." Ryze drew the word out. "Yours give youmoretrouble than mine do, then."
"Hurry up," Harel snapped. He stepped through the portal first.
"Anyone else wish the other end of that was the bottom of the ocean?" Tavian said softly.
I raised my hand.
I'd been called all sorts of things throughout my life: trouble, stubborn, difficult. Never filth. Even Hycanthe hadn't gone far enough to call me a whore.
It wasn't just the names, it was the derision on his face. Like I belonged in some isolated cave somewhere no one could look at my face. He made me feel uncomfortable in my own skin. As if I wasn't struggling with who I'd become as it was.
Tavian grinned. "That's my girl."
Both remaining High Lords gave him a look before they followed Wornar and Harel through the portal to the barracks.
Cavan gave me a longer glance, and a smile before he closed the portal behind them.
"Don't worry about Harel." Tavian led me back over to the sofa and we sat back down. "He's the worst of them. He's bitter because no one likes him, but no one likes him because he's bitter. As far as I can tell, he's always been like that."
"He certainly seems aggravated and aggravating," I said. "And determined not to believe anything Cavan or Ryze said. I get the distinct impression it doesn't matter what they say or show him. It'll only be when strange Fae from previously missing courts turn up on his door that he's going to believe any of it."
Vayne sat in the chair opposite us. "The worst thing is, he'd probably join them to spite the rest of us. Same reason he's here to begin with. An alliance with the Summer Court just to piss off Ryze and Thiron. There's probably some other agenda in there too. That's a bonus of being an irritating piece of shit."
"He makes you look like you come from the Court of Rainbows," Tavian said.
"There's a Court of Rainbows?" I asked.
"No, but there should be. What in the world could be more amazing than rainbows? Imagine the magic. We could make rainbows appear everywhere. Or make everything more colourful."
