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Oh. That. “Yes. It’s absolutely true.”
She squatted down on the stage in front of me, which I didn’t find a very queenly gesture, but what did I know of it. Her gaze was now even with mine and I shivered. “And do you believe that the fey queens caused this?” Cold power backed her words, demanding I answer honestly, but I wasn’t about to cast blame around, even if the argument could be made that the fey queens had been at least partly to blame when they went into hiding.
But I had a pretty strong feeling that telling a queen that she’d been wrong in her own kingdom in front of her some of her people was going to go totally shitty for me.
Could the fey scent lies? I wasn’t sure, which meant I had to at least tell a partial truth. After another second of thinking, I settled on something I thought would be safe enough to say. “It certainly didn’t help matters.” I stayed still, chin tilted up just a little, holding her gaze while I waited for her reaction. There was no way I could wipe my sweaty palms off right now, no matter how tense I was.
The queen grinned and I felt like I’d given her the right answer. “Well maneuvered.” She rose slowly, keeping my gaze the whole time.
I gave her a smile. “So, can Cosette and her friends come out to play?”
“Are all Cosette’s friends so funny?”
I didn’t consider myself funny, but I was glad she’d found me amusing. That was far better than considering me a threat. I wasn’t sure how to answer that, so I just shrugged.
“Your request is granted. I’ll be meeting with the queens to pass along the information. It might be that this period in hiding is short-lived.” She turned to her throne, but stopped suddenly. “Oh, and Eli?”
“Yes, Helen.”
“Don’t pop in unannounced again.”
Eli always seemed casual. He was easy to smile and laugh, but in that instant, the mask fell. He stood tall and started to glow. It wasn’t the same golden glow that Cosette and her mother had. It was silver and pure white. Over the course of a few breaths, I could see his wings. They stretched, reaching at least sixteen feet wide. The feathers were beautiful, pure white tipped with gray. As they appeared, it was as if he grew bigger. More fearsome. More beautiful.
A staff appeared in his hand as he floated a foot above the ground.
Now I knew why he didn’t wear shoes.
He might not be an angel, but he was the closest thing I’d ever seen, and he scared the shit out of me.
“You best don’t forget where the fey live in the hierarchy.”
Cosette’s mother raised her hands, palms out as if she was surrendering. “Apologies for the insult. I—”
He flashed so bright I had to close my eyes, and when I opened them again, he was gone.
“Mother fucker.” I muttered before I could stop myself. “He was my ride.”
My cheeks heated as Cosette’s mom started laughing. “I’m sure we can get you where you need to go.”
Cosette cleared her throat. “Yes. We can. I’m going to show Tessa to my room and grab the others. We’ll be leaving within the hour.”
“Of course. You’ll keep me updated.”
Cosette gave her mom an over the top smile. “Don’t I always,” she said, sugar dripping from her tone.
The queen grinned. “No. As a matter of fact, you don’t.”
They laughed together and the Queen pressed her forehead against Cosette’s. She said something I couldn’t understand, and then stepped back.
Cosette jumped down from the stage. “Let’s go,” she muttered as she walked past, and I had to jog to keep up with her.
The guards parted as we walked through the doorway, leaving only Van to follow us.
Now that we were away from the queen, I had so many questions. I tried to hold them in, I really did. But it was impossible. “Soooo, you and Eli are related?” I asked as I turned to walk forward again.
She snorted. “Not really. Archons see things so oddly.”
He might have been odd, but he was also impressive. “I can see the odd, but he’s freaking hot, and those wings? Where the hell did those come from?”
