The resigned looks on the others faces told me all I needed to know.
“He’s established a court here through his couriers. The first of its kind. It’s likely she’ll have control over any Fae who swore fealty to him. We’re not sure about the rest,” Niall said reluctantly.
Damn it, that was not good.
“Good thing you were fired,” Inara said.
Yeah, except it didn’t feel like that right now. I wasn’t super-close with any of the other couriers, our schedules kept us too busy, but I’d had a few friends among them—work friends I said hey to every now and then. I couldn’t just leave them in that woman’s control.
“Who else did she bring with her?” Inara asked.
“The twins, Breandan and Baran,” Cadell responded.
Inara let out a filthy curse, the word surprising originating from such a small creature. “Those two are hunters. They’ll be dangerous.”
“You seem to know a lot about these people,” I observed. Understandable, if Niamh had really killed the rest of their court.
Inara lifted her chin. “One of the reasons they chose this place is probably because of me.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Oh?”
It seemed like a lot of trouble to go to murder one small pixie, queen or not. My roommate was annoying, tediously so, and she could be more prickly than a mama porcupine, but I couldn’t see holding an entire city hostage just to kill her.
“We have a history. I stole something of hers,” Inara said, her chin lifted, and her voice proud.
I waited.
“What did you steal?” I asked, when it became clear she’d said all she was going to say.
“You don’t need to know that yet,” she said, her chin lifted in challenge.
I stared at her for a long moment. I didn’t need to know? This crazy Fae was going around the city and enslaving people to her will, including my friends. She’d already tried to kill me once—which did not make sense—and I’d upset her plans earlier that night. But I didn’t need to know Inara’s secret.
“What she means to say is that we can’t tell you quite yet,” Niall said, stepping into the breach, his tone placating.
“Why did you pull me down here?” I asked abruptly.
Niall’s forehead wrinkled, his expression a perfect impression of confusion. I wasn’t buying it.
“We thought you deserved a warning,” he said.
“No.” I shook my head. That’s not what this was about. “You wanted me to keep your presence here a secret. I’m willing to bet your ‘friend’ doesn’t know you’ve been here longer than a couple of nights.”
There was a slight flinch from Niall. Cadell went stiff, his body tensed and poised as if he was expecting an attack.
I was right. This wasn’t about helping me. It was about covering their own asses.
Fine, I could play that game too.
“We need you to make sure Cadell and Niall aren’t chosen to be prey,” Inara said, not letting my anger affect her. She met my gaze with a steely resolve.
“How do you expect me to do that when I can’t even figure out how to keep myself from being chosen?” I hissed.
None of them answered me.
We sat in angry silence for several long moments.
“I’ll return you to your apartment,” Inara said, lifting off the shelf.
