“You were told not to hurt her. She’s damaged now.”
I woke to my cheek pressed against soft grass, the smell of fertile Earth beneath.
“She was being a pain in the ass. I did what I had to.”
Nyx.
I didn’t know the pixie well, but that high-pitched annoying voice had to be hers.
“Aileen is always a pain in the ass. It’s part of her charm,” Inara snarled.
“That sounds like affection. Did you actually develop feelings for the fanger?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. She’s a means to an end.”
There was a noncommittal hmm from the other pixie. “I hope so. Otherwise, our king might have to punish you again. It would be a shame if you lost the last member of your court because of a vampire.”
“Don’t you threaten him,” Inara snarled with a viciousness that couldn’t quite conceal the undertone of fear.
Whoever Nyx was, she wasn’t the gofer or spy she’d been pretending to be when I’d caught her lurking around the mansion.
And I’d missed it entirely.
How did she manage to escape Nathan? Did he like me underestimate her? Or did she take advantage of the confusion when the mansion was hit to escape?
I didn’t have time to consider for long, as the madness lurking in the edges of Inara’s voice made me aware of how perilous the situation currently was.
I knew my roommate. She was close to cracking. Pushed a little further and she might release all that chaos inside with no regards for consequences.
She might regret it after, but it’d be too late by then.
Needing to see just how close Inara was to losing it, I risked discovery, shifting little by little until I was on my side, my face aimed in the direction of the pixies’ voices.
Inara looked a lot worse than she had the last time I’d seen her. Her wings hung tattered behind her. The tip of one was missing. The bottom of the other was half shredded. There were holes in the membrane in places. Blood leaked out of a few of the broken veins along their surface.
Despite the bruises riddling her features, and the obvious signs of trauma to her body, Inara’s posture was regal as she faced the other pixie. A little tragic looking but with a grace and nobility that refused to be broken despite what had been done to her.
In comparison, Nyx’s presence was lackluster. No matter how much she postured, she still seemed like a supplicant in front of her queen.
“I’ll do as I please, sister dearest,” Nyx sneered.
Sister?
I took a closer look at the two, trying to see the resemblance.
Nope. I got nothing.
The two looked about as much like siblings as me and Connor. Didn’t mean that they weren’t. Just that there were few points of commonality in their features.
Sibling was a rather broad term that could be applied in situations where you weren’t actually related by blood.
I didn’t get that sense here though. There was too much antagonism for them to be siblings by choice—as me and Connor were. This read like resentment. The kind that built over decades until it boiled over and there was no salvaging the relationship.
That was the road Jenna and I had been heading down before we’d decided to change the narrative.
Nyx’s wings fluttered, bringing her closer to Inara. “Maybe instead of being here talking to you, I should have a visit with your consort again. As I recall, he was quite the energetic companion last time.”
“I’m warning you—”
