No.
“Wait!” I cried, running after him. I stopped in the doorway, two feet away from the terrifying fae.
He turned and faced me.
“What.” The word was a question, but his voice was flat and hard.
And why was he so huge? I stepped backward without even thinking about it and bit my lip.
Bylur’s hands landed on my shoulders again. He wasrightbehind me. I would be safe. “The truth, Auria,” he said softly. “The truth might help.”
I nodded and met Dedalus’s dark, angry eyes.No fear.I took a deep breath. “I lied to you.”
His eyebrows popped up so high it looked painful.
“It’s a human thing,” I said, groaning at myself as the words came out. “Not that all humans lie, I’m just trying to explain, humanscanlie. And when I’m scared I tend to talk a lot and sometimes lie or say anything I can think of to make me less afraid.”
His brows lowered so he looked angry again. Bylur rubbed his thumb on my shoulder, a silent encouragement to keep going.
So I did. “In your case—” I waved at Dedalus. “I wanted you to go away, so I was trying to think of anything that would upset you more than Brielle and me, so you would ignore us and leave. Bylur had never spoken your name to me. I knew absolutely nothing of his feelings about you. But I did know he was concerned about someone trying to undermine his efforts here, so I said that he suspected you, even though I was completely making it up at the time.”
Dedalus stepped closer to us, looming over me, and I fell back against Bylur’s chest. A very sturdy, solidchest. He squeezed my shoulders and stood me back up on my own feet. Shadows surrounded us, swirling above our heads and to our sides, but Bylur kept his hands on me.
And Dedalus stepped back, glaring over my head at Bylur again. “Then why are you in my room?”
Bylur rubbed my shoulder with his thumbs again. Right. I waved a nervous hand at Dedalus, drawing his gaze back down to me. “That was me again.”
He folded his arms and stared at me, with only slightly less venom than before.
I blew out a quick breath. “You were absolutely horrible to me in the dress shop, and… and I’ve seen you a few times since, from a distance, and you always look so upset at everyone here. I didn’t know Bylur actually counted you as an ally until a few minutes ago when he explained it. I thought you were mad about being here, so you were probably trying to undermine Bylur, so I thought I would sneak in here and get some evidence, and tell him about you later tonight.”
“It turns out,” Bylur said evenly, “Dedalus has looked angry for the last hundred and forty years. It is no indicator of his loyalties.”
I hung my head and shrugged. “I’m sorry.” But this wasn’t about me. I lifted my gaze back up to Dedalus’s. “Please don’t let my mistakes ruin whatever sort of friendship you two had. I will figure things out. I just… haven’t yet.”
Dedalus still looked like he wanted to punch me, but he shifted his attention to Bylur. “That explains her. What wereyoudoing in my room with her?”
Bylur’s even tone was incredible, like a balancing point on a weird see-saw where my run-on mouth and Dedalus’s perma-anger were the far ends. “After our conversation, I came looking for her to ask what had happened that made you question my confidence in you. I found her here.”
A moment of silence passed before Dedalus answered. “Why would you bring a lying human into Kalshana?”
I clenched my teeth. Dedalus was horrible, but Bylur needed his support, and I’d threatened that. I did not expect Bylur to defend me, but his answer warmed my whole soul. “I do not owe you an explanation for why I married her. You might hate humans, but owning her mistakes just now took more bravery than I have seen in any fae in over a hundred years. It is the sort of thing you used to respect a person for.”
Dedalus faced me again as if I were a puzzle that had refused to solve itself for him. “That is true,” he finally said, “if a human qualifies as a person.” My jaw fell, but I didn’t say anything because he kept talking to Bylur. “Given the facts, I will continue to support your council. I haven’t been able to figure out your mole either, but people are getting tired of the process. If you don’t make it happen soon, claiming the throne might be the only way to avoid more chaos and death.”
He stepped to the side, and Bylur gently nudged me past him.
As soon as we were beyond Dedalus’s reach, I spun to look at him one last time. “Dedalus?”
He turned his narrowed eyes on me.
“You obviously don’t think much of humans, so this will probably mean nothing to you, but I want to say it anyway.” My heart started racing. Why did my mouth have so many opinions tonight? “Thank you for listening to me. I— I appreciate it.”
And then I turned and ran away.
Chapter 16: Bylur
Icaught Auria’s shoulders after she darted away from Dedalus. She froze in my hands, not fighting my grip. Her heart still pounded with so much ferocity I wondered how it didn’t collapse.
