As I approached, Artton looked in my direction which halted their conversation as they turned their focus to me.
“I’d like to speak with you,” I said to Caius, foregoing any pleasantries before my bravado slipped away. I had a plan for this conversation, and I couldn’t let my nerves get the better of me.
“Of course,” Caius said and signaled to the empty chair.
“No.” I ignored Artton’s instant scowl. “Just you and Endymion.” My eyes flashed to autumn’s questioning gaze before I forced my focus back to the High Lord.
Sidrick began pushing his chair back to oblige, but Artton kicked his foot out, stopping its retreat. The two exchanged a glance before Artton crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “Anything you want to say can be said to all of us.”
While I was no fae expert, I was fluent in male ego.
I wasn’t inclined to trust Caius or Endymion outside of necessity, let alone two more fae I’d scarcely seen, had never conversed with, and found scant research on. I wasn’t even sure I’d heard Sidrick utter a single word.
Determined to show that I wasn’t playing around, I took the two measured steps toward the table, positioning myself between Caius and Sidrick. Placing my palms on the morning-chilled stone top, I leaned over with deliberate intent toward Artton on the opposite side. “Tell you what, Artton.” I flashed him a saccharine smile. “The second you possess the spark is the second you can call the shots.”
No one moved as we stared each other down. His powers caressed the side of my face as if reminding me that he could kill me with a mere wisp of his will, and the magic that pulsed from it left noquestion as to why he was Caius’ second. Calling his bluff, I ignored it. There was no world in which he’d be allowed to harm me, nor where I’d back down on the first request I’d made that wasn’t an easyyesfor them—never again.
Caius didn’t say a word, but the second Artton’s focus flicked to his High Lord to my left, I knew I’d won. Without a word, he stood up with enough force that his screeching chair tilted back on the precipice of falling over before sluggishly righting itself, the metal feet clanking against the stone surface before settling.
Holding my position until he was just about to pass, I stood up and took a small step toward his abandoned chair.
“Good to know some things aren’t different between humans and fae,” I shot over my shoulder at him as I took his seat.
The glass doors shattered as he slammed them shut, and I didn’t bother hiding my smirk. Step one, accomplished.
“You know, Nyleeria,” Caius said, his voice low but not threatening. “I trust those two with my life.”
To his right, Endymion nodded in agreement. I knew as much and was prepared for the sentiment. My only surprise was that Caius hadn’t played that card the instant I’d all but dismissed his second and third.
While there were gaps in the texts I’d scoured well into the night, how much the fae respected power was not one of them. Realms were willing to kill for the untold power that lived within me, and while I couldn’t temper it yet, it still meant I was the most powerful one in the room—and it was about damned time we all started acting like it.
“But I don’t,” I said, popping a piece of fruit into my mouth before leaning back in my newly acquired chair, crossing my legs.
Caius looked at me as if reassessing who sat before him, but it was Endymion’s gaze that my pulse quickened from, his approval stoking the kindling of confidence I was projecting while silently praying it’d take flame so I wouldn’t have towork so hard on this facade. Just because I was the most powerful being, didn’t mean I felt like it—especially when it’d failed to protect me.
Autumn’s Second eased back a fraction in his seat, mirroring my nonchalance before glancing at the High Lord as if waiting to see what he’d decide. Unflinching, I held Caius’ gaze, and with each second that ticked by, I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d played my hand wrong.
Finally, he leaned back and crossed his ankle over his knee, and I had to stop my relief from showing.
“You know I’ll share the details of this conversation with them,” Caius said.
“I assumed as much.”
“All right then, Nyleeria, the floor is yours.”
Suddenly nervous, my eyes darted to Endymion’s and something about how deeply he regarded me refortified my confidence.
Dragging my gaze from his, I refocused on the task at hand. “Do either of you know how I came to be in Thaddeus’ company?”
“If what you told us before was untrue, then no, we don’t.” There was an unmistakable edge of accusation in Caius’ voice.
I ignored the jab, unwilling to apologize for doing what was needed to survive at the time. “So, you know that I’m the spark and that I’m fae, but you have no idea what’s happening in the human realm?”
“We know about the deal Thaddeus struck with Wymond. Not the full extent of the terms, or why you left,” Endymion said, his voice going lethally calm with the last three words, and I couldn’t help replaying the question he’d asked yesterday as if some part of him already knew and wanted—needed—for me to confirm.
I narrowed my eyes slightly, reminding him to tread carefully, and was met with an equally stubborn response. Stepping over the question he verbalized and the one he didn’t, I continued. “Endymion said something to me yesterday about how wars are the byproduct of half-truths and too many assumptions, and I have to agree.” Caius didn’t look to Endymion which made me believe he’deither heard the sentiment before, agreed with it, or both. “I want to be perfectly clear here.” I leaned forward slightly. “What I’m about to share with you in regard to Thaddeus is not out of a sense of allegiance to you and your kind, nor does it mean I trust you—either of you.” I shot a cutting glance at Endymion. “It’s to elucidate his past so none of us can claim ignorance moving forward.”
Caius’ muscles rippled on his bronzed forearm as he wrapped a large hand around his ankle, pulling it closer as he slid back a fraction in his chair, back now upright. Despite knowing the shift wasn’t meant as a threat, I swallowed, suddenly aware that even without powers he could snap me like a twig.
