He might believe it. I heard that he believed it, though now I knew how well he lied to me.
He might even be right, and it still landed in me like a stone against a wall. I could not trust him.
“I hear you,” I said.
“Cara—”
“I hear you.” I pulled my strap tight on my sword harness. It hung awkwardly over my shoulder, unlike his that he summoned with his magic. “We should join Bismyth.”
I slid into the ranks besides Kiegan, which would make it difficult for Fear to reach me and continue the conversation. I needed to hide from him, so I grabbed my friend like a piece of driftwood when I was being swept downstream.
And was immediately punished for it.
“You look like a dried-out dog turd,” Kiegan told me.
“That’s unnecessarily descriptive.”
“But accurate.” He gave me a knowing look that made me feel instantly violent. “You look?—”
“Tired,” I said firmly.
His mouth pressed flat in a way that meant he didn’t believe me and had decided to let me have it anyway, which from Kiegan was practically an act of tenderness.
The dragon inside me was a roil of feelings, and none of them was making it easier for me to process this in a calm, logical way. I needed to stay away from Fieran.
I clapped Kiegan’s shoulder, trying to get control over my emotions—or at least pretend to. “Come with me. Since we have to partner.”
“We do?” He frowned. “I’ll partner with Anayla.”
“You like me better,” I told him, because he was my friend, and then a second later, felt a strange beat of hurt as he gave me a meaningful look. “Ah.”
“She’s nice.”
“And you are not,” I teased him. He wasn’t, but he was loyal and good. “So how is that going to work out?”
His eyes widened, and I knew it was Anayla even before she shouldered in on my other side, pushing some enormous shifter out of her way mercilessly. “Cara, are you all right?”
“She looks like dried-out dog turd, right?” Kiegan asked.
“No,” Anayla told him, scandalized, though the worried look she swept over me suggested that it was true.
Then Fieran was at my side, and I stiffened. I didn’t even have to look to identify his presence, the sense of authority and confidence he exuded.
Besides, he was so damned tall; the way he blotted out the sun was hard to miss.
Of course Fieran wouldn’t let me escape him.
When the queen raised one hand, the crowd settled instantly.
She spoke about the Last Hunt first. The pairs, the purpose, the monsters that had been prepared. “This is the final Hunt of our season. The Trials have served their purpose. New powers have risen. The kingdom is blessed for yet another year to beguarded by dragons.” A graceful pause, brimming with beatific wisdom as she smiled out at us. “To celebrate, tonight, I will raise three mortals to Fae. At the conclusion of the Hunt.”
Three.
The crowd rippled with the announcement. The mortals surged with wild exultation.
“Good guess,” Kiegan told me, and I glanced at him in confusion before I realized he was referencing the partners.
I shouldn’t try to partner with him anyway. I should go with Fear.
