“Where is he now?” she asks.
“In my suite. In the living room. On the floor.” My voice sounds hollow and distant. “I need to get to Aerix.”
“Wait here.” She gives me an encouraging nod, then disappears into one of the bedrooms.
I exhale shakily, every passing second a reminder that Henry’s body is lying on the carpet in my suite, bleeding into the rug. If Aerix can’t—or won’t—help me, I’m screwed.
But he’ll help me. Helovesme.
Hushed voices sound from the room Aurora disappeared into, and she returns with Isla.
Isla’s wearing a silken robe, her long, dark hair loose around her shoulders.
“Leave us,” she says to Aurora, sounding different than I’ve ever heard her. Harder. Stronger.
Aurora hesitates. “Shouldn’t we?—“
“If you know what’s good for you,” Isla cuts in, “you’ll stay quiet about this. Unless you want the king’s infatuation with you to come to a sudden end?”
Aurora’s face pales. She nods once, then retreats to her bedroom, closing the door behind her.
Isla turns to me, her gaze sharp and assessing. Then, she takes my bloodstained hands in hers, turning them over and studying them, as if admiring my handiwork.
“You’re a natural,” she says, her thumb brushing over the sticky, crimson mess. “And I’m pleased you realized that in the human wing, I’m the queen on the chessboard.”
“What does that mean?” I ask, my heart racing so fast that I swear it’s about to explode.
It’s too much, too fast, and I’m drowning in it.
“It means,” she says, dropping my hands and pulling a slim silver key out from the chain around her neck, “that like the queen in chess, I can go anywhere.”
My breath catches. “That key can get us out of the human wing?”
“Yes.” Her intelligent eyes gleam with satisfaction.
“Buthow?”
“I was born here. Raised here,” she says, echoing Henry’s dying words. “By the king and queen.”
I stare at her, the pieces clicking into place. “You’re a spy in the human wing.”
“The king and queen placed me amongst the human pets as a decoy, to be their eyes and ears,” she confirms, studying my face. “Do you know why I’m helping you, Zoey?”
I shake my head.
“Because the royals raised me. I view Aerix as a brother. And I see the way he looks at you.” She reaches out, tucking a strand of blood-matted hair behind my ear. “If he loves you, then I accept you as family, too.”
My mind reels with this new information.
Isla was raised by the king and queen? She’s a spy among the humans? And now she’s decided I’m an honorary member of the royal family?
“We need to cover you up,” she continues, hurrying into her room, opening the wardrobe, and pulling out a dark cloak. “Put this on.”
She drapes it around my shoulders, hiding the blood-soaked nightgown beneath. The soft fabric against my sticky skin makes me shudder, but I welcome the coverage. Anything to conceal what I just did.
“The night fae in the halls will smell the blood,” she warns, “but they know better than to question me. They also know better than to lose control and attack you. They’ll keep their fangs to themselves, since the ones incapable of self-control don’t survive the Night Court’s test that accompanies the change.”
She leads me to the door, key in hand, and I follow her in shock. But before she opens it, she turns to me one last time.
