There was somethingelsethere—and whatever it was, it drove me to protect her without thinking. I wasn’t sure how I liked that. I had lived my life with rigid control. It would be dangerous to lose that.
“So, is it just me, or can you teleport?” Leila asked, apparently having decided to nudge the conversation along.
Indigo looked like she was about to march off to order that coffee, but she stopped at that question. “What?”
Leila took a step closer to me, and we almost brushed arms when I fixed one of my bracers. “Yeah, Rigel can teleport—or something like that. I thought it was just my slow human eyes, but today Isawhim disappear in the shadows and pop out behind the snakes.”
“Teleporting is impossible magic,” Indigo said. “It can only be done by creatures—like your night mares.”
“Then what is it that you do, Rigel?” Leila and Indigo looked expectantly at me.
I shrugged. Everyone who hired me knew what I was capable of. There was no harm in telling them as I wasn’t trying to hide my abilities.
“Shadow jumping,” I said. “It’s my natural magic.”
Leila’s purple eyes widened in interest. “You can jump from shadow to shadow?”
“For short distances, yes,” I said. “It has to be a shadow in my immediate surroundings.”
“No jumping to a mountain shadow that’s miles away—got it,” Leila said.
Not knowing any better, Leila accepted my magic. Indigo—being raised in the Night Court—had a better idea just how rare and deadly that particular strain of magic could be.
She stared at me, her eyes slightly magnified by the lenses of her glasses.
I met her gaze, and she hurriedly looked away.
She cleared her throat, then did her best to cheerfully smile at Leila. “I better go rustle up a coffee for you.”
“Thanks, Indigo,” Leila said. “Oh—and—”
“Ahem.”
Indigo and Leila turned to Lady Chrysanthe.
She had positioned herself between the pair—notably as far away as she could get from me while still being part of the circle—and held her folded hands at her waist.
“Good afternoon, Queen Leila. Companion Indigo,” she said.
I had noticed Lady Chrysanthe approaching us from the corner of my eye, but I didn’t think she’d actually speak up—that wasn’t the style of most fae nobles. They were too important to make the first move.
“Hello…Lady Chrysanthe,” Leila slowly said.
“You appear to be uninjured,” Lady Chrysanthe said.
“Yes. Everyone moved so fast, no one was hurt. Though I don’t know if the theater is ever going to let us rent from them again.” Leila laughed, trailing off when no one joined her.
“I see.” Lady Chrysanthe nodded slightly. Eventually she peered in the direction of the concession stands, but she didn’t move on.
Leila looked first to Indigo—who discreetly shrugged—then me.
I blinked back at her.Cutting off political maneuvers and nonsense is your domain. You’re alone on this one.
“Are you okay, Lady Chrysanthe?” Leila finally asked.
“Of course.” Lady Chrysanthe frowned at her. “As a daughter of a noble house I could never be injured in such a distasteful scramble.”
Lelia opened her mouth and flicked up a finger, her expression alone showing she was going to remind Lady Chrysanthe of the plot her “friend,” Lord Myron, had cooked up against her that nearly resulted in her being killed. She must have thought better of it, though, because she tilted her head, then dropped her hand.
