Looking a little windblown—and maybe even a little ill—Skye nodded. “Yes, Queen Leila.”
I pointed Solstice in the direction I thought we’d be least likely to meet someone, and nudged him forward.
“Where did you learn to shoot like that?” Skye asked.
“The Drakes.”
She briefly held her stomach, but she said nothing more as she reined her reluctant horse closer, and we walked off.
I uncomfortably shifted in the saddle. “Remind me to give you, Chase, and Indigo an increase in your salary,” I said.
Skye rubbed her stomach one last time, then straightened up. “Whatever for?”
“Call it hazard pay,” I said.
Skye knitted her eyebrows together and still managed to look elegant and professional in her confusion. “We were aware of the risk when we accepted our positions.”
I answered with a shrug.
I liked Skye and Indigo, but I didn’t want to spell out my actions to her.
With fae it’s important to make sure you aren’t indebted—youneverwant to owe them a favor, because it can get pricy fast.
Increasing their pay was the easiest way I had to make sure we were balanced—but I couldn’t eventellthem that because there was a possibility they might be able to use that knowledge to claim I owed them somehow.
I hate the way I have to second guess everyone just to survive in this cesspool. Fae culture is the worst.
Chapter Fifteen
Rigel
“Sheshotat Lady Chrysanthe! With agun!” Dion pulled on his hair, then draped himself over his horse’s neck to complete his dramatics. “The Paragon wants me to marry the equivalent of a wild animal.”
I loosened my reins—since Dion seemed mostly interested in dramatics at the moment, there was no point in riding off. He was annoyingly persistent enough that he’d just ride after me, wailing at the top of his lungs.
“Are you opposed to the Paragon’s plan?” I asked.
Dion peeled himself off his horse. “Not really. She doesn’t seem unpleasant—and I’d be marrying her for the sake of securing the Night Court’s future. It’s just when she does stuff like shooting at people, I don’t know that I can handle it.”
“I suspect you should be more worried about surviving our Court than your potential wife turning on you,” I said.
“Probably. It’s just…she’swild.” Dion sighed, then peered in my direction. “What do you think of her?”
I thought for a moment of our previous meetings.
In the never-ending struggle we fae engaged in for power, Queen Leila upset the status quo by ignoring traditions, speaking bluntly, and reacting openly rather than veiling her actions like a real fae would.
She was sending ripples through the whole game—something I hadn’t seen before, and something I wasn’t sure was good.
The fae’s thirst for power was unavoidable. Given her conduct, Queen Leila would never win it. The question was, how many would she take down with her when she fell?
“She’s unpredictable,” I finally said. “Which can make her dangerous.”
“That is the understatement of the century.” Dion smoothed his hair, already returning to his façade of handsome, smiling courtier. “I’ll just have to teach her. She seems reasonable.”
“On the one occasion you spoke to her.”
“What, and you’ve seen her so many more times than me?” Dion shot me a look.
