Caius turned his gaze toward me, not trying to hide his stare. It didn’t help my breathing issues, but I pretended not to notice. Eyes glued to the door where Oriel had disappeared, I clutched my skirts.
“You really don’t seem Unseelie.” His voice broke the quiet like a cell phone ringing during class: shocking, uncomfortable, unwanted.
I tried not to wince, but my acting hadn’t improved in the last hour, and Caius noticed right away.
“No, no, it’s a compliment,” he assured me. “Why would you want to be like them?”
I’d heard this sentiment twice now in a single night, though Caius’s delivery landed differently.
Footsteps sounded behind the door before I had to come up with an answer.
I leaned forward on the desk.
The owl girl swept through the door and stepped aside to reveal... a strange old man.
He looked nothing like my dad, not that I’d really given her much to go on, but I knew for a fact that I’d said around forty-five, and this gentleman could’ve easily been eighty years old. Shuffling forward, he had a vacant expression and barely seemed to notice me or the prince at all as he stared into space.
“There you go,” Oriel said, never sparing me a glance as she smiled at the prince.
Caius turned to me with raised brows. “Did I deliver?” he asked with a hopeful grin.
“No. That’snothim,” I told the girl once I found my voice. It sounded harsh. I tried to think of a way to soften my reaction but came up completely blank. “He’s not what I described to you at all.”
“Oh, sorry. They all look the same to me.” Oriel blinked those strange eyes at the old man as if he might somehow morph into the person I wanted, then sighed. “Let me try again.” She disappeared before I could point out the age difference or that he didn’t even have glasses on. The elderly gentleman shuffled after her.
This whole thing felt off somehow. I thought of the deal my dad had signed. I’d blamed Soren and his friends. But what if Caius was part of it too?
“How many... humans are here?” I asked him as the door swung shut, trying—and failing—to fully hide my suspicions.
“My apologies, Brynn. I hate to disappoint such a lovely female, but I can’t reveal the inner workings of our court to a member of another. I hope you can understand.” He smiled. “Icansay, however, that they’re under our protection, of course. Some of them had nowhere else to go. We give them shelter and food.”
I nodded, staring at my hands so I wouldn’t give away the swirling, conflicting emotions.
Caius can’t lie, right?
Soren had accidentally confirmed that. So, if the prince said these people were here by choice, I could trust that information.
It didn’tsoundlike a bad deal. Whatever this was, it seemed different from the fae who’d taken my family. Maybe the elderly man’s behavior was just old age.
Behind us, the hallway door opened. A small, rotund man with vivid red hair came through. I swallowed hard, averting my eyes. A toddy wobble. I hadn’t lied recently—had I? I had to resist the urge to wave a hand through the air to get rid of any potential stink. That’d probably be just as much of a giveaway as a lingering odor, though, so I settled for pretending not to notice him.
“Your Highness.” The toddy strode toward us, out of breath. “I have an urgent matter to discuss with you.” He tipped his head in a nod to me but didn’t have any visible reactions as he motioned Caius away.
I’d never asked Soren for details. How long did the “smell” linger? Was it attached to a specific lie? They could probably track it like a bloodhound. Why else would it be here?
“Of course. I’ll return momentarily,” Caius told me, already halfway to the door.
Heart pumping, I waited for them to burst back in after the toddy revealed I was a liar.
But they didn’t.
Glancing over my shoulder at the other closed door, I took the opportunity to pull out my phone. Still no signal. I tucked it back into the waistband of the dress.
Oriel burst through the door, startling me, followed by a teenage boy.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
He wore all black and had greasy long hair that looked as unwashed as his clothes. When Caius had mentioned some had nowhere else to go, he’d probably meant people like him. The kid looked high.
