“To meet Zeon. He’s also in the Order of Sight. Maybe he’ll have some ideas about how to solve this.”
“I’m going with you.”
“No, you are not.” He sounded like his father issuing a command. “You’re going to my mother.”
“That’s a good idea,” she said cheerfully. “I’ll get that gray wolf to give me a ride to Zeon. I hope nothing bad happens to me since I’ll bealone. With no protection from anyone.”
“You cannot—” He broke off. “You willnot—” Again, he stopped. His eyes were pleading. “Please. I want to know that you’re safe.”
She looked out at the water. There were tall reeds around them and she could see what looked to be a nest. “I hope you know thatyouare being blamed for all of this. My father said that if something goes wrong and both a man and woman are involved, it isalwaysthe man’s fault. I guess you should have known better than to kill an evil woman who was murdering pretty girls to make them into face cream. Shame on you!”
He gave her a sad look, but there was a tiny bit of a smile under it. “It was you who did the stabbing.”
“Men would probably say my nail file slipped.”
He did smile and with it came a break in his stoicism. “How am I supposed to fix this?” Frustration filled his voice. “I have ruined lives! I should have asked Papá—”
She cut him off. “Let’s do what you said and go to Zeon. He’s number two in the Order of Sight, so maybe if he helps repair the damage of this huge problem, he could be pushed up to number one. Is he ambitious?”
“I have no idea.”
She went to tiptoe and kissed him. “We’re in this together so let’s go find out. Can you call Perus?”
“Yes.” He groaned. “Arit. She’ll follow us then return and tell Papá where we are.”
Aradella thought for a moment. “Jobi gave me a book about fairies. That’s what earthlings call Nevers. It will occupy her.”
“I can’t see Arit reading a book that’s bigger than she is.”
“The book says fairies lay eggs and make dresses out of flower petals.” She paused for drama. “It says that fairies can’t really talk, that they just make squeaky little sounds.”
Mekos gave a snort of disbelief. “That will outrage Arit so much that she’ll go to Earth to set people straight. Yes, a book like that might keep her busy.” He pulled Aradella into his arms and held her. “Thank you. You’ve made me feel better.”
She held on to him. She wasn’t going to tell him thatshedidn’t feel any better. But her mother had said that building a man’s sense of self was part of a woman’s job.
“Maybe Zeon has a magic spell that can send us away.”
Aradella didn’t smile at that. She didn’t want him to have to leave his family because of her. “I should have—”
He kissed her. “Don’t finish that. Are you ready to go?”
She blinked a few times in surprise.Now?She nodded. Yes, she was ready.
Mekos gave a low whistle.
“Your father will hear that!”
“He has human ears. He’ll hear nothing.” In the next second, big beautiful Perus landed beside the reeds. One of the swans almost made a sound, but Mekos said, “Quiet!” and the bird silenced.
“I wish I had some magical power,” she said as he got into the saddle.
“What would you like?” He pulled her up to sit behind him.
She was feeling too much fear to dare say anything serious. “Great beauty. Like my cousins. Then I could command anyone to do anything and they’d say, ‘Oh yes, please may I do that for the beautiful, stunning, gorgeous lady that you are?’”
Smiling, Mekos nudged the dragon forward and they left the ground.
When Kaley turned over, she saw that Tanek was awake and staring at the moonlit sky.
