Blatantly ignoring me, he strutted through the crowd, still belting a tune about a maiden fair or some shit. I tried to scurry off, but other fae were eating up Henri’s performance, and wouldn’t let me leave. My cheeks had heated to lava levels when Henri finally stopped in front of me, finished the song, and bowed before me.
The crowd burst into applause.
Oh my god, I’m going to kill him,I thought, hiding my face.
“Thank you! Thank you!” Henri faced the crowd and gave another bow. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, we must be getting on with business.” He grabbed my arm, which sent an annoying burst of tingles down my spine, and led me away from his fans.
“What was all that about?” I hissed, trying my best to ignore the warmth in my belly from his touch. “I thought I was supposed to be incognito?”
“You are, but I spotted a golden opportunity, and had to take it.” He gestured back to the group he’d performed for. They were all watching us leave and gossiping. “None of those fae are soldiers, so they’re relatively safe. For the next few days, they’ll be talking about the maiden I tried to woo in the street. Between that, and you being my supposed new client, I’ve ensured a perfect cover for my absence.”
Well, shit. I couldn’t really argue with that, now could I?
Still, I wrenched my arm away, and put space between us. “Fine.” I glared at him so he knew I meant business. “But don’t do that again. It was humiliating.”
Henri laughed. “Are you kidding? I thought you were going to gut me back there. I wouldn’t dare try that again.”
Someone called out to him, and Hatter gave me a casual wink before turning his attention to the fae.
I fell a pace behind and shook my head.
It blew my mind that everyone in the city seemed to want to speak with Henri. There was no way that most of them knew he was a rebellion leader. In fact, most probably didn’t know about the rebellion at all. Some were undoubtedly Red Queen supporters, whether through the enchantment or them just being shitty people.
And yet,everyonewe passed seemed to love Hatter.
What must that be like?
The thought had no sooner entered my mind than Hatter came to an abrupt stop, and I ran directly into his rock-hard backside.
“You okay?” he asked.
I stepped back. “Of course.” Although, from the way my heart was pounding from his nearness, I wasn’t sure.
“Good,” his face softened. “This is the stall I was telling you about.” He gestured to a table in front of him, on which a spread of cloth lay. “Which material would you like me to purchase for your fascinator?”
Fascinator? As in the hat that British royals wear?
My eyebrows knitted together, but Hatter gave me a look that said I should know what he was talking about, so I pulled myself together and played along, glancing down at the wares.
Crushed velvet and felts of every color imaginable presented themselves to me. I ran my hand over them one by one, enjoying the softness. I made a show of picking them up to determine the weights. To be positive I was playing it up enough, I even sniffed the bolts of fabric. And all that while, the vendor smiled and nodded and presented other options, until I revealed the one fabric I would’ve chosen all along. It was a deep teal velvet. A color I knew that would look perfect with my eyes.
“Your favorite color,” Hatter remarked.
The chair in my room flashed in my mind, almost the same color as the fabric, and only slightly darker than the wallpaper.
My chest tightened. Had Hatter decorated that room for me?
“We’ll take this much, please,” Hatter said, holding up his hands to indicate over a yard of fabric. The vendor clapped his hands and packaged it up.
Once our cover was complete, we continued on, occasionally stopping at other booths to speak to vendors. Nearly everyone focused on Hatter, although one woman, a brownie if I wasn’t mistaken, zeroed in on me.
When after some time she didn’t break her stare, unease began to trickle through me like ink in water.
“Henri,” I whispered, and gestured to the brownie’s stall some twenty feet away. “That person over there is staring at me.”
Hatter’s lips lifted. “It’s okay. She’s on our team. She just hasn’t been able to stop by headquarters yet to meet you. Let’s go say hi.”
Feeling silly for making something out of what was apparently nothing, I followed him to the brownie’s table. Once there, Hatter hugged the woman and then gestured to me.
