There is no worse pastime than waiting to be saved.
Yes, fine,Daisy thought in annoyance. She had to help herself. She knew that. But still, Lexi and the others weren’t the types to rest when one of their own was in danger. They’d come for her. If nothing else, there was that to look forward to.
What was likely the leader of this crew stood on the other side of the fire, and when she took him in, her breath escaped her in a slow whoosh. Very strange. Definitely not human.
He stood with his chest bared, his skin the color of seafoam and with the subtle markings of scales running along his breastplate, over his shoulders, and down his arms. What looked like kelp mixed with branches and twigs twisted in a rope and encircled his neck and left upper arm, just above the lanky muscle. His long hair was partially tied up, disappearing within a headdress of twigs and leaves lined with shimmering green metallic kelp and silver-tipped feathers. The hair flowing down around his shoulders was stringy and gray-black, with plant matter that looked like ribbons flowing within or sticking out.
Those gathered around had a similar tint to their skin. A water-type fae, ruled over by the queen of the Sapphire Throne, one of seven minor kingdoms inFaerie. Or so the books said. What the hell did they want with her?
The crystal chalice.
The answer came to her before she’d consciously thought about it. Whatever she’d done had drawn their notice. That wave of magic had sealed her fate.
“Tell us…knowing, and we hurt none,” the leader said in an accent that sounded like he had a mouth full of water. He was trying to speak English.
Had he somehow missed all her babbling that he could almost definitely understand, given her Demigod’s gift cast it in his language? Obviously she spoke his language. Thanks to the Demigod’s blood gift, she could understand and speak any language within any land. It clearly worked for fae, because she’d understood the creature who’d dragged her out of the wagon.
The fae in charge had sent idiots. Which was great—it would be much easier to escape—but also…how tedious.
The tears from a moment ago still ran down her face, and she added a quiver to her lips. She shook her head, brow furrowed.
“What?” she said in their language, nice and slow so they couldn’t help but understand.
A crease formed on the leader’s brow, where she realized no eyebrows existed, before he looked at the others. Back to her.
“How do you know this tongue?” he demanded aggressively. Suspiciously.
“Hu-human magic,” she supplied, and tilted her head to show him the side of her neck. There was nothing there, but he wouldn’t know that unless he could read her mind. Given he seemed clueless about her weakness charade so far, he couldn’t.
His eyes flicked to her neck before he jerked his head. Her handler bent to her. He grabbed and twisted her toward the fire so he could see. They obviously didn’t have night vision. With his other hand, he scratched at her skin, peeling away flesh.
The pain vibrated through her, and she cried out, gently struggling away from him. She had a ruse to keep up, but she really didn’t want a kick in the face. The hand holding her let go, and she tumbled into the dirt. Her clothes would befilthy.
“Leave it,” the leader barked, annoyance plain. “It’s not important right now. Bring the trove.”
Definitely couldn’t read minds. Great news. Now she just had to figure out what kind of magic they had, and she was halfway out of here already.
The leader paused as her handler stepped away. Two other males rose from crouching and disappeared into the quickly falling darkness.
“Human female,” the leader said, “stop crawling away like pond scum. If you tell us what we want to know, we won’t hurt you.”
Apparently pond scum traveled where they were from…
“I don’t know anything. I swear,” she bleated. “They don’t tell me anything. I’m just a ward. They aren’t even my parents. I’m just?—”
“Silence!”
She whimpered and did as he said.
The two males returned carrying what looked like a stretcher. Upon it lay the stones and crystals and other objects her crew had taken from the sergeant’s house. They were after the same things as the dark fae. Clearly it was a race to obtain the power and flood over the Faegate. The Celestials weren’t as popular as the overall ruling throne, it seemed.
“Which one of these is it?” the leader asked as the stretcher was placed beside her.
She let her very real confusion show. Wouldn’theknow what he was looking for? The other fae had seemed very knowledgeable about the whole thing. She’d just stumbled into this mess.
She again spoke slowly so he got her meaning. “Which one is what?”
Her gaze slid over the clustered items. A few were missing. Those had been the ones the guys had grabbed. They must’ve hung on to them, and this crowd didn’t know that.
