AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Great. No chance to get any help or answers.
The little beast shoved me onto the pillowed seat. “You stay here. Here! Better if you don’t leave. Dangerous fey live in Gales. Stay.”
I nodded. “Okay.” That wasn’t a problem. Especially if the little beast was leaving.
It clapped its hands and food appeared. “Safe food for werewolf.” Without another word, the little beast disappeared, and I was glad. It would be a while before the memory of its voice in my head would fade.
I leaned forward to check out the platters of food it had left. Eggs—thankfully—but still no meat.
Damn it. My wolf was going to starve here. I needed meat. Clean meat that didn’t smell sour.
But food—any food—meant calories. I piled my plate high with eggs, bread, and cheese hoping to get enough calories in to limit how much muscle I lost while I was here. My thighs and arms were already noticeably smaller.
I was on my second plate when Rayvien sat down beside me. “How are you?”
“Good.” I was exhausted and still hungry despite the food I’d already eaten, but I wouldn’t admit any of that to her. “How are you?”
“Fine.” She’d swapped the white fitted shirt and loose pants for patterned leggings and a rich green flowing top. I wasn’t sure if that meant that she wasn’t on guard today, but it didn’t matter what she was wearing. The way she was staring me down told me that she was still lethal.
“You look well rested,” she said after a minute.
“I slept.” I couldn’t say I slept well, but I did sleep. “But I’ve got a ton of questions. Do you think you could answer them?” She was Ziriel’s wife after all. She had to have some answers.
“Maybe. Maybe not.” She put her elbow on the table and leaned toward me. “But you should ask them anyway.”
She’d given me a flirty smile—and I was about to say something flirty back—but all my thoughts fled from my mind when smoke filled the whites of her eyes. It swirled around, getting darker in some spots.
She blinked and the smoke was gone, but it had been enough to remind me exactly what I was dealing with.
I was about to ask a fey queen questions, and I had to use my words carefully. Yet still sound casual.
So, I faked it. Faking wasn’t anything new to me. I’d used it plenty in my ex-pack.
I gave her a smile. “All right.” I leaned toward her. “What’s that little beast’s name? The one who brought me from my room.”
She doubled over with laughter and slapped a hand on the table. The table clanged from the sparkling rings that covered each of her fingers. “Oh, shit. Little beast.” She laughed for a while longer and I couldn’t help but join in.
I was winning her over. This was good. “What’s wrong with calling it a little beast?”
She wiped under her eyes. “Nothing. Nothing at all. It’s honestly the most accurate name, but it’s also insulting and to insult—”
The little beast popped in. “No! No! We have a game! No cheating! No telling!” And just like that, he was gone.
Rayvien’s face lost all signs of laughter or humor. “You didn’t enter into any kind of bargain with him, did you?”
I wasn’t loving how qu
ickly Rayvien had gone from flirty to serious. I blew out a breath as I tried to think back to its exact wording. “No. I don’t think so.”
“Then what was that about?”
I gave her the rundown of the exchange.
“You’re fine. Just don’t guess any more.” She wrinkled her nose a little. “Better to live in ignorance on this one.”
“That’s my plan.”
“Good.” She leaned toward me again with the flirty grin back in place.
