“He never outright stated so,” Josie says, raising her hand again.
Greta gasps with a shake of her hips. “Oooh, you’re right! He was quite evasive, wasn’t he? Oh, I so adore a man of mystery.”
I keep my lips pursed tight. So far, I’m the only one who knows the full truth about him, and I’m determined to share none of it. If I seem to have more information than the others, it could pin me as a suspect once my mission is done.
“It makes sense,” Briony says. “What better way to secure citizenship than a rushed wedding?”
Vanessa gapes. “How dare you speak of him with such scrutiny. None of you deserve him, and I hope he sees that.”
“What makes you thinkyoudeserve him?” Franny asks.
“I’mhis equal,” she says. “We share a love for the Almighty. I’m from the Church of Bretton.”
Franny gives her a hard look. “You aren’t the only one, you know.”
Vanessa wrinkles her nose. “Are you implying…”
“Yes, I too belong to the same church, you snobby fool. And you know what? I was hoping I’d be the first sent home from this stupid competition, but now I think I want to stay if only so I can last a day longer than you and laugh in your face.”
She rolls her eyes. “You are…not a nice person.”
“And you’re an asshole.”
“Swearing is a sin!”
“So is being an asshole.”
“It is not…and so is lying!”
Hands on my hips, I take a step forward and raise my voice almost to a shout. “Will everyone get out of my room?”
The bickering pair goes silent, but Vanessa turns her glower to me. I catch sight of her necklace again, which only reminds me of the tempting bracelet circling her wrist. Now I want to steal it out of spite. My nose twitches again, almost strong enough to feel like a sneeze, but I brush my comb with my fingertips and force my attention away.
Vanessa opens her mouth, but before she can speak, I do. “I don’t care what you think of me. I don’t care what you have to say or what you do and don’t believe. I don’t like you and you don’t like me, and if the rest of you don’t get out right now and let me get some sleep, then the same goes for you too.”
Agnes and Josie dart into the hall at once, followed by Vanessa with her nose in the air.
Briony gives me an approving nod, then she, Greta, and Franny leave too, closing the door behind them.
With a groan, I fall back on my bed and press my hands to my eyes. The blankets shift as Podaxis climbs up the bed and settles in next to my shoulder. “I’ve never been so grateful in all my life to have been raised with only brothers,” I say.
He pats my arm. “I can’t say I blame you.” Silence falls between us until he speaks again, this time with a note of trepidation. “Are you ready for tomorrow? Your first meeting alone with Dorian?”
His question brings my awareness to my ever-tingling lips. I open my eyes and stare up at the ceiling, going over everything I must do. Everything I’ll be rewarded with after it’s done. An end to the curse Nimue placed on me. Freedom from her and the Sisters of the Black Eel. Better yet…freedom from my deadly magic. “Yes,” I finally say. “My first date with Dorian. And my last.”
18
The next morning, I can do very little else but pace my room as I await my meeting with Dorian. Jeremy came first thing to deliver a note with the time I’m set to meet him. Noon. That’s pretty much all it said. I expected it to tell me which of the three locations it will be held at so I can come up with a clear plan. Not that the knowledge of locale would do much good, for I’ve only seen the garden myself, and from my bedroom window at that. Luckily, Podaxis investigated the other two locations—the parlor and the library—in secret and informed me of their layout. The library hosts several reading alcoves and bookshelves, meaning there should be plenty of hidden areas I can deliver my kiss unseen. And he says the parlor is small but provides close quarters. As for the garden…
I look out my window for probably the hundredth time that morning, studying the walking paths, the open sky above, and the walls of the church that surround the area.
“I already told you,” Podaxis says, climbing upon the windowsill and tapping the glass. “The other side of that tree provides the best coverage. There are no windows on the opposite wall and there are ample shrubs on either side.”
“What if there are gardeners out when we are?” I ask, nibbling my lip.
“Like I said. Shrubs. Honestly, the garden is probably the least suspicious area for your mission to occur. His untimely demise could be blamed on an outdoor allergy.”
I frown at him. “Are humans allergic to the outdoors the same way fae are sensitive to ash and iron?” I shudder at the thought. Despite both materials being illegal on the isle, all fae harbor a fear of them, for they can be lethal to us. During the first war, our weaknesses to ash and iron were discovered by the humans and they soon made weapons from them. I often wonder if my kind would have been obliterated had our two people not come to terms for peace and ended the fighting.
