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Surprisingly, I slept well, but breakfast was loud. As usual, the Summer Court sat at the table decorated with flowers while the Winter Court sat at the icy table closest to the door. Unlike yesterday, only about half of each group appeared at each table.
Each person seemed joyful after the night of dancing, but I couldn’t help but focus on the ten missing people. They’d died so horrifically and needlessly. I understood that this group needed to prove their worth, but why was death the price? With these fae, failing would be a worse punishment than death—oh, maybe that was the point.
I was surprised that both groups had lost an equal number, but had I saved Ginevra as intended, the Winter side would’ve had one more competitor on their end.
Curry sat next to me, his eye still black but not as bad as it had been last night.
Moire asked him what happened, but he refused to answer, choosing to glare at me instead.
From his reaction, I figured Dallas was involved. He was being protective of me, which was still hard for me to wrap my head around. He’d kidnapped me, after all.
I focused on eating the bread, honey, and jam, wanting to fill up since I hoped to burn a ton of calories in training.
I also couldn’t help glancing at Kieran’s back every few minutes.
Even the back of his head was sexy. How was that possible? It took every ounce of control I had not to jump up and run to him. Rowan and a woman who could pass as a young Cameron Diaz flanked him. I’d never wanted to harm those two people like I did at this moment.
“So … how much pain medicine did you take?” Moire asked then took a huge bite of her grape jam and bread. “Because with how easily you’re moving, you might have overdosed.”
Shit. I’d forgotten to take the pain medicine last night and this morning … but nothing ached. I felt completely normal.
Maybe it would be best if no one knew.
I could feel Curry waiting for my answer, his focus locked on his flute of water.
Maybe it’d be better if they thought I was still injured. I opened my mouth to lie, but no words came out despite my trying.
Something was wrong with me.
“Are you okay?” Moire dropped her piece of toast on the wooden plate. “Is something wrong?”
“I’m fine.” When those words left me, I sighed in relief. I could still speak. “Just couldn’t speak for some reason.”
Curry chuckled bitterly. “That means you were trying to lie. You aren’t human anymore, so you can’t tell lies.”
My face burned. I hated being called out. “I’m not sure of the dose.”
“Oh, I can help you with that,” Moire offered, patting my hand while glaring at Curry. “No one must have thought to share with you how much one dose is. It’s just common knowledge for us.”
That wasn’t the only thing they hadn’t shared.
Kieran glanced over his shoulder at me, a deep frown on his face.
Butterflies took flight in my stomach. Had he been listening to our conversation the entire time? I noticed he wasn’t engaged in the conversations at his table, which was probably the only reason I hadn’t gotten up and yanked his neighbors’ hair out.
“I’ll be fine.” I took the last bite of food on my plate and stood, eager to get away. I hated the way Curry was focused on me, listening to everything I said. “Thanks for your concern. I’m going to get some air.”
Rushing to the door, I hoped to get away before someone chased me down. The last thing I wanted was for Kieran to come find me while we had an audience. That would raise more questions than I wanted to answer, especially if I couldn’t lie.
I could feel eyes on me as I marched to the door. I added a little limp to give the perception I was still injured.
When I strode into the entrance hall, Kaley and Quinley were walking toward the door to enter the room.
Kaley curtseyed. “Princess Alina.”
Quinley remained upright with a smirk on her face.
She probably thought she would get a rise out of me, but I didn’t even want Kaley to bow. I preferred them to address me like anyone else.
