Mauro grunted in agreement. Frisk snickered and ducked his head.
“You’re not helping, Kendra,” Eira snapped. She dropped her hands with an angry huff, but her face was still crimson. “It’s not Denton. It’s Stella.”
I frowned. “Which one was Stella?” Then, just to irritate her further, I added, “It’s hard to tell you humans apart.”
“That is such a snobbishly fae thing to say. Besides, I’m only half human.”
I shrugged as if this didn’t matter, mimicking her motion from earlier.
Eira sighed. “Stella is the one who’s good with knives. She threatened to chop off your balls.”
“She has blonde hair,” Frisk added. “Her eyes look just like Snow’s. She’s the human noble of the Bloxham Province.”
Thehuman noble? So, Eira wasn’t just rallying ordinaryhumans to her side, but human nobility.I had to admit, I was impressed.
“Frisk!” Eira chided, aiming a kick at the fox, who easily dodged it.
“What? Was that a secret?” Frisk chuckled again.
I vaguely remembered the petite human with the impeccably good aim back in Knockspur. “I don’t think I’ll be very well received by a human.”
“For good reason,” Eira said, shooting me a sharp look. “Just how many humans have you killed, anyway?”
“None,” I said, lifting my chin. “We don’t often trouble ourselves with the affairs of humans.”
“Bywe, do you meanCalista and I?” Eira said, her voice full of venom.
My mouth opened, then shut again.Damn, did I really say that?I mentally ran through the words I’d just spoken. Shame trickled down my chest, making my heart sink like a stone.
Not only had I belittled humans, but I’d spoken as if the queen and I were affiliated. As if our decisions were collective.
The thought repulsed me.
“I’m sorry,” I murmured. “I don’t know why I said that.”
It was, in fact,snobbishof me. Eira was right.
She glared at me, her jaw ticking back and forth. Clearly, my apology wasn’t sufficient.
“Look.” I spread my hands apologetically. “I was raised to believe humans were no better than slaves. In my youth, I knew that was wrong, but I didn’t do anything about it. Then, with my position with the queen, I was too bitter about my own problems to bother with the humans.” I paused, realizing I was rambling. But with my admission came a moment of clarity.
I was a hypocrite.
I’d spent my adult life resenting my father for enslaving himself to the queen, and, by association, enslaving me as well. But how many humans endured the same treatment? My father had believed in exterminating all creatures who weren’t full-blooded seelie fae.
And I’d done nothing.
A hard lump formed in my throat, and I swallowed. I no longer saw the princess and the fae beasts before me. Instead, I saw generations of humans, tormented and enslaved, cast out of their homes, spit upon and persecuted all because of their bloodlines.
It had never bothered me before now. Why would I concern myself with the woes of humans?
But now, in my mind’s eye, I saw Eira enslaved. Eira beaten. Eira imprisoned. That beautifully stubborn spark of light in her eyes completely snuffed out.
I couldn’t stand it.
For so long, my life had never been my own. I never had the freedom to choose my own path. I was only a blade for the queen to wield.
But now that Calista was hunting me, I started to wonder—with the barest glimmer of hope—if there was another path for me. Another way out.
