“Rigel?” Dion called from farther down the hallway. “Are you coming?”
Lord Rigel stared at me for a few heartbeats, then glided off with all the grace a fae should possess.
Indigo waited until the assassin left the hall before she dared to speak. “Has heeverbowed to you?”
“Nope,” I said.
“Queen Leila.” Skye sounded strangled and at the last tether of her nerves. “Did Lord Rigel truly try to kill you?”
All the fae had left, and it was just us and Lord Linus and Chase who were speaking together—or really Lord Linus was speaking, Chase was babysitting him to make sure he didn’t run off to find someone to play dice with as he had tried to when the fae first started arriving for the ceremony.
I turned around to face my companion and steward. “Rigel tried to off me right before Lady Demetria and the others found me and informed me I was queen. Unfortunately, he was about five minutes too late—Nebula had already shown up and bound me to the Court, so he couldn’t hurt me.”
“And you didn’t think totellus this?” Skye asked.
I tapped my chin. “Well, since he can’t outright hurt me it didn’t seem to matter as much as some of the other lords and ladies. I told Chase about him, though.”
Skye pulled her tin out of a pocket—this close I could see it was pink and emblazoned with a few silver stars. She flipped it open, revealing an assortment of tablets.
“Are those antacids?” I asked.
Skye selected the chalky, chewable pill she’d eaten when I first revealed my artifact, and popped three of them. “Unfortunately.”
I winced. “Sorry, Skye. I don’t mean to drive you to acid reflux.”
“Your food getting bespelled, or the Wraith attempting to kill you, are not your fault,” she said.
“No, but I’m betting me shooting at Lady Chrysanthe was the nail in the coffin that made you decide to start carrying antacids around.”
Skye look startled for a moment, then smiled a little, relaxing.
“But really, everything is fine with Rigel. He’s not trying to kill me—and he’s had plenty of chances to.”
Skye crunched her pills. “It’s never fine where the Wraith is concerned.”
“Probably,” Indigo agreed.
“But he can’t kill me anyway,” I pointed out.
“No, but the attempt resulted in something nearly as bad,” Skye grimly said.
“And what would that be?”
“He’snoticedyou.”
* * *
“In conclusion,do you have any questions about the first American King of the Night Court?” Skye asked.
I was surrounded by three books—the children’s textbook with pictures, a recreation of a diary kept by a fae lady during the original king’s time, and a book of sonnets and songs written about her.
“Nope. You had me read over him pretty thoroughly before today’s lecture.” I tried to sit up straighter in my chair.
“That’s because he’s a hero to our people—and widely adored!” Lord Linus briefly puffed up his chest. “Although he’s not popular with the Day Court, given all the restrictions he adopted naturally affect them.”
“Due to our shared nature as night and day, right?” I asked.
“Correct.” Skye stacked a few books and put them back on the shelves.
