Unfortunately, this works exactly as intended. Kai nods sagely, looking reassured and vaguely impressed. “I see.”
Aurelia leans forward in her chair, her excitement clear. “I’m sorry that we can’t give you more information, but it’s a confidential mission.”
I grind my teeth.Lying little witch.
Not that I can talk when I’m also lying through my teeth, but still.
Again, Kai nods, and I can tell that he’s enjoying this. His voice drops to a whisper, eyes darting to the tent entrance. “I understand, but I’m sure you know you’ll have a tough time getting there. The roads there were swallowed by the forest decades ago. Guards who patrol the perimeter come back with nightmares, if they come back at all.” He sets his drink down, a muscle working in his jaw. “No one’s glimpsed so much as the queen’s shadow since before your mate here disappeared.”
“Right…” She shoots me a furtive glance, then turns back to Kai. “The other soldier, Viktor, mentioned taking me to the queen…” she trails off.
“Don’t worry, we won’t,” he says, more to me than to Aurelia.
“No, you don’t understand,” Aurelia says. “I want to go see the queen, so if you could bring me to her…” again, she leaves her sentence hanging, a hopeful note in her voice.
Kai’s eyes narrow and his voice drops to a growl. “That’s not going to happen. When we bring Fae to the palace, they don’t come back. We’re not about to throw away the first mated pair in years. If anything, once everyone hears, they’ll want to talk to you. Maybe we can figure out how it happened.”
“Mmmm.” I make a noncommittal sound in the back of my throat.
Aurelia looks slightly put out, but determined. “How often do you bring Fae to the queen?”
“Not often. Most know not to risk magic around us anymore. Now, we usually just have to go there once a month to report on any magical activity. Every month, we approach those gates and the same hooded servants meet us at the perimeter. They take our reports and vanish.”
Aurelia furrows her brow. “They become invisible?”
“No.” Kai shakes his head fervently. “Theres a…mist, I suppose you could say, around the castle.”
I frown. “I don’t remember that.”
“It appeared ten years ago perhaps,” Kai’s right eye rolls up as if he’s trying to remember while the left one remains staring blindly ahead. “Around the same time magic became illegal in the Fae villages. Not that I mind that law so much.”
Aurelia nods, taking his causal hatred of magic in stride. “Just to be clear, you visit the palace every month, but you don’t go in?”
“Right. The queen’s invitation is the only reason we even get as far as the gates. Usually they shoot trespassers from within the mist.”
“Hmmm,” Aurelia mutters, clearly thinking hard. “When is the next time you’re reporting?”
“No,” I say flatly. “You’re not going in there, invitation or not.”
“I don’t believe I asked your permission,” she says lightly.
Kai grins, and speaks to me so Aurelia can’t hear.“I thought mating was supposed to make women more agreeable.”
“Shut the fuck up.”
He keeps grinning, but goes back to talking out loud. “I’ll leave that discussion between the two of you, but I’d have to agree with Fox. You do not want to go near the palace.”
“But I have to because of my mission from Vernallis,” she insists.
He grimaces. “That’s your decision, I suppose. To answer your other question, the next meeting is in several weeks. We always go on the last day of the month.
“That’s my birthday,” Aurelia says excitedly. “That would be when the lights will appear. It’s perfect.”
I grind my teeth, not sure how to talk to her about this in front of Kai.
Kai leans back in his chair, arms folded. “You can stay here until the next meeting, but there are conditions,” he says, eyes flicking between us. His voice drops lower. “No magic while you’re in my camp, and we keep what she is between us.”
“Viktor and his unit already know what she is,” I point out, “And we can’t exactly hide that she’s Fae.”
