“I feel better,” I giggled, and the queen raised one eyebrow.
“Are you ready to talk about last night?” she asked me.
Her magic made me feel like what Sorrel described as being drunk.
I looked at her. “I was ready before you touched me.”
Her nostrils flared at that, and Clarke covered his mouth behind her, fighting a grin.
Ariyon kept his magic flooding into me as my skin continued to burn and my body jerked every once in a while, but it was nothing compared to what it would have been without him.
“Did you, Fallon Bane, have any part in planning last night’s Nightling attack?”
“My name isn’t Fallon Bane,” I corrected her. “It’s Fallon Brookshire. And no, I did not.”
Whatever she had done to me made me loose-tongued, but I couldnotlie. That was not my name no matter how many times they called me by it.
“Did you signal to the Nightlings that you were going to be at the party?” she asked.
“No.”
Her lips pursed in frustration.
“Did you know Nightlings would be at the party and chose not to tell anyone?”
“No.”
“Did you know your mother was still alive in Nightling form?”
“She’s not my mother!” I shouted, more forcefully than I intended.
Queen Solana looked at Master Clarke for help, but he simply shrugged.
“Did you know Marissa Bane was still alive in Nightling form?” she asked the question a different way.
“No.”
She frowned. “What did you think when you saw her?”
I swallowed hard, wanting to keep that to myself but unable to.
“Shock. Fear. Horror.”
“What scared you?” she asked, her brows knitting together as if she was trying to figure me out.
I didn’t like these open-ended questions, I would much rather the yes or no.
“That I would end up like her,” I admitted and flicked my gaze up to look at Ariyon. I was surprised to see pity in his eyes.
“Well, you might, so it’s good you are aware of that,” she answered curtly, and I frowned.
“Ariyon said that she spoke to you. What did Marissa say?” she asked me next.
I swallowed hard, not wanting to share this with the room.
“That I belonged with her.”
Master Clarke visibly recoiled at that, but the queen nodded. “Well, she and I agree there. Fallon, do you wish anyone in The Gilded City harm?” Queen Solana asked next, seemingly reaching for anything she could hold against me.
