“They would appear to your eye as normal human children,” Cress said patiently. “From between four to seven mortal years old.”
“Are you kidding me? They look like kids?”
“They have very sharp teeth,” Eryk added helpfully. “They bite. And they swarm. They run in a weird way, like they’re not sure what to do with their arms.”
“You’re literally just describing human children, Eryk.”
Nate raised his hand. “Their iris will flash ultraviolet when you shine a light in their eyes.”
I huffed out a breath. “Now we’re getting somewhere. Thank you, Nate. And I was starting to worry.”
Cress looked confused. “Why would you worry?”
“I don’t want to go around stabbing little kids by accident, Cress.”
She frowned. “Why not? You cannot do too much damage with the tourmaline blade, Chosen. It is better to stab a few human children by accident than get overwhelmed by banwyn.” She whipped another small, shining black blade out of nowhere and handed it to me. “Put that between your breasts, just in case.”
I opened my mouth and closed it again. “Okay.”
“We must go,” Donovan said gruffly, looking at his watch again. “Come.”
Over at the bar, Cecil poured himself another cocktail. “Doesn’t the Chosen look lovely, your Highness?” There was a bitchy note in his tone.
Donovan raised his head and met my eye. Apart from a few quick glances, it was the first time this evening he’d properly looked at me. I caught a hot spark deep in the depths of his gaze, then, his expression hardened.
No, not just hardened. His face iced over. He looked like a man who was staring at something hehated.
He hated me. I was messing up his company’s mission,and he hated it. He was forced to deal with a dried-up old bag of a woman with no knowledge, no experience, no skills, and no idea what the hell she was doing.
I couldn’t blame him. I was doing a fantastic version of failing up—somehow managing to secure spark stones against his brother without any understanding ofanything.
A long moment passed.
“Her appearance is satisfactory,” he muttered. “Let’s go.”
Chapter
Sixteen
My skin broke into goosebumps as soon as I walked out of my building thanks to the icy wind chill coming off the water. Autumn had settled on the city—the days were still sunny, but the nights had turned cold.
Cress, Nate, and Eryk melted into the darkness immediately—apparently, they were going to be shadowing us, watching for signs of Connor and his creepy banwyn army in case they decided to ambush us en route.
“Where is your carriage?” Donovan asked.
“I don’t have a carriage.”
“Your mount, then. Where is your stable?”
“No mounts either,” I said, thumbing my phone. “And sorry, we’re all out of stables.” I had just enough money left on my credit card to grab an Uber, but it was going to have to be the cheapest ride. Idly, I wondered if Professor Owen would give me some leftovers to take to work for lunch tomorrow.
“Susan!” Audrina, my lovely teenage songbird neighbor, loped towards me from across the street, long limbsswinging awkwardly. Those long arms were handy when they were wrapped around her guitar, but she still hadn’t figured out how to walk with them without looking like a neanderthal dragging her knuckles behind her. She stopped a few feet away, eyes round with wonder. “Wow. You look… wow!”
I smiled. “Thanks, Audrina.”
Her eyes swung towards Donovan and widened further. “Wow.”
“Yes. Audrina, this is my friend Donovan. Donovan, this is my neighbor, Audrina.”
