Meeting my gaze, she says, “I think so. They were terrifying. Do you know who they—” She doesn’t finish that thought. Instead, she draws back, eyes bugging out of her head like she’d seen a ghost. But it isn’t a ghost she’s looking at. It’s me. “Aemon, your ears?”
Oh no. I grab both ears, feeling for the point that should be there, but they’re both round. “Dammit.” I quickly stretch them into points and Katya gasps. I grab her by the shoulders and duck my head so I’m filling her field of vision. “Listen to me. You cannot tell anyone about this. This is very important. If they find out—”
She shrugs my hands off, and I let her, backing up a little to give her space. “Katya—”
“What are you?”
It’s a fair question, if not one I really want to have to answer at the moment. “I’ll explain it all to you later, I promise, but—”
“No,” she says, cutting me off. “You’ll explain it to me now. I think I deserve that, at least.”
I glance over my shoulder at the bars. There’s no one in the cell across from us, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t people in that hallway or in other cells. Index finger pressed to my lips, I wave for her to lean closer, then cup her ear and whisper, “I am a human shifter. I disguise myself as fae when I’m at court.”
“Why?”
I sigh. “There’s too much to explain, and this is not a good place to do it. Just promise me you won’t tell them.”
“Who?”
“The blood fae.”
If I thought her eyes were big before, that’s nothing compared to the way they are now. “We’ve been imprisoned by the blood fae?”
“Yeah.” I rub the soreness from my eyes and watch as phantom spots of light burst beneath my lids before dropping my hand back into my lap. “Hopefully, they weren’t paying too close of attention when they captured us.”
“But I thought—” She stretches her neck to peek over my shoulder, then scoots close enough for our knees to touch and lowers her voice. “I thought shifters turned into animals.”
“Most do.” I take her hand in mine, relief washing over me when she doesn’t pull them away. “My ability is unusual. I can change my appearance to pretty much any human or fae form. That’s why the late king brought me to court when I was a boy.”
She slips her hand free and my stomach drops. “So, youarea spy.”
“Sometimes.”Among other things.“I can usually hold my form even in sleep, but being knocked out...” I trail off, kneading the back of my neck to stem off the ever-increasing ache in my skull. “Just don’t tell anyone.”
“Why?”
Startled, I drop my hand and meet her eyes. She’s got her nose up and chin jutted out the way she does when she’s being stupidly defiant. “What?” I ask, hoping I heard her wrong.
“Why should I help you? You were bringing me back to the palace to be killed.”
I take a deep breath and unclench my jaw. This is not helping my head. “I told you I wouldn’t let that happen.”
“Why should I trust you? You have to know my stepfather didn’t kill the queen. He is a spineless, overindulged male who I doubt has ever used a knife to cook for himself, let alone stab someone, yet you accused him of murder.”
“You really want to get into this now?” I rub circles on my temples. Fuck my head. “We found the murder weapon in his room, Katya.”
“Oh, and evidence can’t be planted,” she says, rolling her eyes. “Your men beat him half to death without so much as questioning him. They arrest me for no good reason, then try to torture me for information I undoubtedly do not have. And now we’ve been captured by the blood fae.”
“Hey, that’s not my fault.”
“It’s entirely your fault,” she says, too loudly. “I’d be home by now if it weren’t for you.”
“You’d be dead if it weren’t for me.”
She scoffs. “Riiight. My hero.” She holds out her hands and claps them in my face. “Bravo. And who exactly is going to save you now? Hmmm? ’Cause I’ve got to say, from my vantage point, this isn’t looking too good.”
My blood is boiling, the pain in my head sharpening with every second that passes. Damn woman. Can’t she see that everything I’ve done has been for her? I went against my king’s orders, for gods’ sakes. I’ll be lucky if Troi doesn’t hang me when I return, and this is the thanks I get. “You know what, you’re right. I should have kept my ass at the palace and let Troi send Fredrick and his minions after you, likehewanted. Then, when they captured you,because it doesn’t take a genius to figure out you were going home—they would take turns raping and torturing you. Then they’d rape you some more because it’s not like you need fingers or toes or even a tongue to fuck.” She blinks at me and swallows. I’m scaring the shit out of her, and I know it, but I can’t seem to stop myself. “I’m sure Fredrick would take great pleasure in making you scream after the way you humiliated him. Maybe, if you’re lucky, he’ll kill you by accident because, gods know, he won’t stop.”
She crosses her arms. “How altruistic of you.”
