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But as I watched, one of the guards who was crouching next to one of the bodies stood. I watched him as he stared at Cosette. The hunch of his shoulders, the grimace on his face, his scowl all added up to one thing. Hatred. He hated the person he had to protect.
His long black hair was pulled into a low ponytail, and he looked almost like an exact copy of two of her other guards. But they weren’t acting shifty.
The guard put his hand behind his back, reaching for something. The other guards all had blades—each one with a different size or style—but they all had them strapped to their hips, but this guard was obviously reaching for a blade that wasn’t exposed.
He was close to Cosette. Too close. I could be wrong, but I didn’t think I was. The way he was moving—slowly, carefully. His hand was moving to something he had tucked against his back. And that look on his face?
No. I couldn’t risk letting him live. If I was wrong and he hurt her…
The knife I’d pulled from the sour meat was weighted wrong. I flipped it a couple of times—quickly—just enough to get a feel for it—before I hurled it with everything I had across the room.
The knife turned—flipping over and over and over—as it flew across the room and thwack!
It hit the guard in the right eye. For a second, he stayed upright, and then the life went out of him and he fell to the floor.
Shit. Shit. Just shit.
I hoped it was the right call, but for a second, I had the worst kind of crushing regret.
Everyone in the room was silent, like the room took a breath before turning to me. And that made what I was feeling so much worse.
“Nex?” Cosette’s gaze sifted from her dead fey guard to me, and her mouth dropped open.
She was always so cool, calm, and calculating when she was in public, but for a second, I saw pure fear on her face before the facade snapped into place.
Fear of what? She couldn’t be afraid of me now. Could she?
She sent a quick look to her other guards. The other two that looked like Nex both shook their heads. She gave one last look to Van, before she spun to the man she’d been sitting with and gave him an exaggerated eye roll with a shoulder shrug.
I wanted to know what the deal was with her guards, but that would have to wait. I couldn’t ask here in front of all these fey.
“Ziriel!” Cosette yelled his name. “Really? Assassins from your own court? This is poor hospitality.”
I wanted to cheer her on for her faked outrage when I knew it was fear that she was feeling. The woman was an amazing actress.
Ziriel appeared in front of Cosette in a puff of smoke. “Don’t go killing anyone else!” Ziriel held up both hands in surrender. “That one wasn’t my fault.” He pointed to the guard I’d killed.
The room was still so quiet, listening in, but there was a soft clinking of coins as they passed hands.
She nodded. “No. That one is all on us.”
Ziriel looked at me from across the room. “Do you want to speak to the wolf?”
“No. He did me a favor.” Cosette bent to the body and picked up something. “This is a royal killer.”
Royal killer? What did that even mean? But it was definitely a weapon. I knew at least that much, which meant that I was justified in killing her guard. It was a huge relief to know at least I’d been justified.
Ziriel stepped back. “Watch where you point that.”
Van stepped forward, grabbing the three-inch blade. The handle was made of glowing crystal and the blade glittered with magic. With one wave of his hand, Van vanished it from sight.
Good. At least it was gone.
Cosette looked at me for a second before glancing at Ziriel and I knew I couldn’t stand there anymore. I sat at the nearest table with an opening, while I waited for things to settle down. I didn’t feel like I could leave Cosette quite yet, and I wanted to hear what they were saying. From my very limited time at Gales, I knew they were nothing if not noisy.
“How about a drink, Ziriel?”
“Are you sure that’s all you want? Something to drink?” Ziriel’s condescending tone made me wish I could forget he was the king here. If anyone else talked to Cosette like that, I’d destroy them.
