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“Can I see your arm?” Ada asks.
“You see with your eyes,” Madi snarks.
Ada rolls her eyes and drags her index finger over Madigan’s forearm.
“Ouch,” the new Shade queen says, though she’s clearly not hurt. “Warn me first.”
“What did you do?” Pyris asks.
“I cut her open with my element, used it like a knife…” Ada claims. “Like Nesta just did to us.”
The Shade doctor leans closer to Madigan’s arm, and we all watch as her skin knits itself back together.
“This is part of being a goddess,” Ada declares.
Madi huffs. “Or just the next queen. You keep saying goddess like that’s suddenly going to change my mind.”
Isolde chuckles and shakes her head at Madigan. “Back to our topic. How close did she get?”
“Nesta didn’t pass the third circle,” Talodus replies. “But she didn’t try to go around me.”
“If she hadn’t allied with the darkness, she could have walked right into the palace.” Isolde plucks at her bottom lip as she stares at her bookshelf. “She was looking for weak spots.”
“Well, she’ll find them,” Ecaeris mutters. “If she picks off the guards, we won’t have a patrol.”
“That’s too much work for her,” Lyell comments. “She’ll look for an easier way.”
The Shade prince may know his mother better than most of us, but I doubt he knows her as well as Isolde does. The queens have been ruling their tribes for a thousand years. It’s difficult to overlook the Mongrel queen’s knowledge.
“She left in a state of panic,” Talodus mentions.
“Nesta?” Madigan asks. “What the fuck did you do?”
“Ah. Language,” Isolde scolds.
I can’t recall one single time we’ve cursed in front of Isolde and not gotten in trouble. Madi still hasn’t learned that lesson.
“I threatened what she knows,” Ada replies. “Nesta has never fought a goddess. Not even a green one.”
“Green?” Faldron inquires. “What do you mean?”
“New.” Madigan wobbles her head. “It’s an Earth term.”
Imryll scratches at his jaw. “What move will you make next?”
Isolde motions for Ada and Madigan to speak up. The girls glance at each other, then turn to the corner of the room where Rinya suddenly stands.
“When did you get here?” I ask, deeply concerned with how quiet she’s become.
Rin being a silent guard doesn’t bode well for us while she’s still staying in the room on the other side of Ada.
“I’ve been here the entire time,” she replies, bored.
“I didn’t even see you,” Thinik, the Shade hunter, argues with her, though it won’t do him any good.
We gave up arguing with Rinya years ago.
“I know. It’s my job.” Rin weighs her next words before speaking to Ada and Madi. “There are options, but the two of you can’t go after Nesta alone.”
