I put my hands on my hips. “I thought you said you couldn’t lie.”
His eyes sparkle with mischief. “I told you no direct lie. Deception, on the other hand, is what we fae excel at.”
I bristle. He just admitted to being able to deceive me without lying. A dangerous confession. But even more dangerous is the truth—that all those times I was drawn to Aspen, pulled by his strange beauty, powerless before it, I had no glamour to blame. It leaves me with a confession of my own. There is a very strong part of me that wants him.
Chapter Thirty-Two
That night I meet Melusine on the shore. She stands near the edge of water, waves lapping over the end of her tail. The sun is setting in brilliant shades of pink and gold, and a gentle breeze catches my hair, sending stray tendrils blowing behind me. With slow, confident steps, feet bare in the cool sand, I close the distance between us and stand before her.
“Your Majesty,” I say with a curtsy.
She gives me a deep nod. “Come, Evelyn, let us stroll.” She turns and slithers down the shore, away from the palace.
I follow, silence falling between us. The only sound is the crashing of waves and the occasional splash of something breaking the surface of the water. I catch sight of a whale’s tail in the distance, then the leaping of a fish. Then another. Moving closer and closer to the shore.
Melusine smiles upon each visitor, each crab that scuttles from behind its rock to watch its queen.
I catch movement up ahead; seals leap upon the large rocks at the far end of the shore, then beautiful women with long, opalescent tails climb upon the higher rocks. Are they naturally drawn to their queen and simply want to see her? Or is she trying to demonstrate her power? I swallow my unease, wishing I hadn’t left Aspen’s guards at the other end of the shore.
“How gracious of you to meet with me tonight,” she says in her melodious voice, waving a greeting at a siren with emerald green hair.
“Yes,” I say, “and so gracious of you to want to get to know me better.”
“That I do. You are my eldest son’s mate. Soon-to-be queen of the palace that once was mine.”
“I…am determined to take great care of the palace,” I say, careful to avoid words likevowandpromise. “And to serve the interests of human and fae alike.”
“Yes, but your interests will always lie more with humans, will they not?”
I think about everything Aspen said about balance. About freedom and choice. “I’m certain I can learn to hold both my kind and yours in equal affection.”
“Even the unseelie?”
I swallow hard and don a pleasant smile. “You mean like you?”
She tenses, lips peeling back from her sharp teeth.
I pretend it doesn’t frighten me. “If I can walk peacefully at your side, I’m sure I can advocate for others. My mate, as I’m sure you know, often shifts his alliance to unseelie. I will have to learn to appreciate both parties.”
“Spoken like an ambassador.”
“Like a queen,” I correct her, before I realize the boldness of my words.
“You aren’t quite what I expected. Not after everything I heard about you. And your sister.”
The blood leaves my face. It’s a struggle to keep my voice neutral as I ask, “What exactlyhaveyou heard about my sister?”
“Oh, that a terrible tragedy took place here. Word has it the poor girl died. Yet, my son has said nothing of this to the humans. Could it be he fears their wrath?”
We’ve stopped, coming to the end of the shore where a large cliff extends over the water, giving way to the enormous rocks the selkies and sirens are so fond of. I face her, searching her eyes for truth. “You wouldn’t have anything to do with my sister’s disappearance, would you?”
She laughs. “What use would I have for a filthy human girl?”
“You didn’t answer the question.”
“I didn’t take her, nor did I kill her, if that’s what you’re asking.”
I study her words, seeking every crack she’s left unfilled, every hole she’s left unburied. There’s a lot of room for deception.
