“I’m trying to spar like we normally do, but every time I go for a hit, it’s as though my muscles don’t want to cooperate. Instead of looking for ways to push you or beat you, I’m trying to help you beat me,” he explains with exasperation.
“But why?” I drop the end of my staff to the mat and lean on it as I study him.
“I think it’s the Blood Bond. It won’t let me hurt you because it goes against every instinct I have to protect you and keep you safe.”
My face scrunches up with distaste. “Can we fix it?”
Riall takes one look at me and laughs. “I’m not broken,” he defends.
“Tell that to my need to work off some aggression,” I counter.
“I’d be happy to find some other way to help you, Beasty.” He wags his eyebrows suggestively and offers me his half-cocked sex smirk.
“Not until yourbloodlets you fight me as hard as you fuck me,” I contend, and Riall groans his dissatisfaction and stomps over to Tarek’s bench.
“Curio? Tarek?”
Tarek waves my invitation away, his eyes never leaving his notes.
Curio’s eyes dip down my body and languidly rake back up. “You going to let me fuck you as hard as I fight you, Moonling?”
I snort. “Only if you win.”
“Mmmm,” he hums, but he doesn’t rise from his bench.
“We know the Igeeyin weren’t interested in killing Hatus. His rantings about ghosts and what they did fell in line with Verus’s confessions about the murders being a lesson and sending some kind of message. However, the Igeeyinwerekeen to discover who Hatus was talking to. They wanted to know who was listening to his story. Hence the tail that followed Hatus and the Vulpi back to the Dawn Court and then spied on our conversation.
“I should send a missive to Enay, letting her know to be cautious of any possible attempts to bring them in on some kind of anegotiation. I have no idea what the fuck these fae would want to talk about or why they think we’d negotiate? We’d just slaughter them,” Tarek frustratedly murmurs as he crosses something off on one of the sheets of parchment.
“Do you think these Igeeyin are trying to become an Order and this is some stupid way to secure a supportive vote?” Curio asks Tarek.
“I suppose it’s possible, although it’s an asinine plan. But something about the way he spoke to Auset about The Cause, makes me think that there’s more to it than appealing to the Orders for a seat at the table.”
Curio nods his head contemplatively, and Riall points at something that’s written on Tarek’s parchment.
“It could be a nickname,” Riall offers as he continues to read over Tarek’s shoulder. “Princess, I mean. We’re all taking it literally, but that might not be the case.”
Tarek looks up and considers him, his features contemplative. “That’s worth considering. I’ve looked up the bloodlines, but there are no females born to any of the high courts. Everything we’ve learned is pointing to the Night Court, but King Korven never married after he lost Queen Akiruh. They didn’t produce any children before she died, which probably has to do with the infertile rumors that surround him, hence the reason he’s sired no bastards.”
“Could she be from somewhere outside of the four realms?” Riall counters.
“There are only two outliers that are monarchies,” Tarek explains. “One is ruled by a high priestess with no heirs. And the other a queen with several daughters and sons. If one had gone missing, they would have looked for her. It wouldn’t have been something they kept quiet.”
“Maybe she wasn’t missing though. Verus said she was dead. Isn’t it likely that’s what her family thought too?” Curio points out.
I take a deep breath and shake out the nerves now tingling in my limbs. I can’t wrap my mind around any of this; it’s like we’re talking about someone else’s life. I hoped that maybe something Verus said or some clue that we gathered would trigger a memory or a connection, but I’m still just as lost, just as blank as I was before. All this talk of royals and princesses and high courts is getting under my skin, because each option sounds more illogical than the next. Or maybe I just want them to sound wrong, because there’s zero chance that who I am now could ever fit into any of those worlds.
I havesomeanswers, or maybe they’re more clues than actual answers. I just never anticipated how much more confusing all of this could get. I thought a blank black wall of nothing was hard enough, but I have more questions and confusion now than I did before, a feat which seemed impossible, and yet here I am boiling over with frustration.
I stretch my neck to one side and then the other, twirling my staff around me with anxious energy.
“But where’s the order to hunt the perpetrator down? If a high value fae had been murdered—even if it was kept quiet publicly—the royal houses would still be working behind the scenes to punish whoever did it. If for no other reason than to ensure it never happened again, they’d hunt, and it would be vicious,” Tarek argues. “If that kind of pursuit was occurring, even outside of the four courts, the Orders would know about it. One of us would have been hired to assist.”
“Maybe it has something to do with the clans? These Igeeyin are playing by a different set of rules. Maybe their hierarchy has these stupid titles,” I offer.
The room grows quiet as each of us considers too many questions and not enough answers. I think through my list of questions that I was saving for later.
“Is hawx claw common?” I ask, feeling suddenly tense.
