Page 41 of The Heir the Fae Forgot
“He’s acting like this new glamour that’s come back, or whatever, like it’s going to destroy the courts,” I said, carefully. “He’s trying to find ways to control it before anyone else does.”
Not carefully enough, it seemed.
“And what does that have to do with you?”
I cringed, inwardly. This wasexactlywhat I didn’t want to happen. I looked first at Shiel, and then Finch, and then even over at Zev, who’s face I caught peeking over at me from just beyond the edge of the screen.
I wracked my brain, trying to remember exactly what Icarus had said about the glamour, and how his was different from the other courts, even before this new one swept in. Did they know how this new glamour worked at all? Did Icarus, even…or was his grand scheme based entirely off a fairy tale he’d constructed in his own mind?
The fae before me didn’t seem close to guessing Icarus’ true intentions with me, that he thought I would be able to channel this new glamour in a way that other fae could not—not because of my heritage, but simply because I’d yet to form my own bond to the old glamour, first. It was in my best interest to keep that information a secret for as long as I could, even from them.Especiallyfrom them.
So, I couldn’t tell them the truth, not the whole truth, but I could tell them some semblance of it.
I swallowed, hard. “I don’t know,” I lied, my eyes dropping to the hands clasped together in my lap. “But I think it has something to do with how the magic is divided between the courts. He thinks some of the fae might be able to use it better than others.”
“Well,” Finch said, brightening again. “I hope I’m one of them, because I’m already liking these new changes.”
As soon as he’d finished saying it, he leapt into the air and transformed. One second, there was a slightly goofy, broad-smiled fae standing before me, the next there was a glittering yellow hummingbird. It zipped across the room to hover in front of my face, the eyes surprisingly intelligent as they looked into mine. He hovered there just long enough to make sure I was caught off guard when he swooped in closer for a hummingbird kiss on the cheek before he zipped off again—this time to attack Zev in the bathtub so violently that he had no choice but the crawl out of it fully nude and start stumbling about the bedroom while swatting at his two-inch attacker.
I screamed out a laugh and tried to cover my eyes, but not before I got more than a generous look at Zev. His body was a work of art, that I already knew, but I’d almost forgotten just how…impressivecertain parts of that body were. A brief memory flashed into my mind of the night we shared in the tavern, of how his body had reacted to the feel of me tattooing my own name across his ribs. I saw that tattoo again now, and my cheeks burned even hotter.
I was grateful when Shiel slid closer to me, his eyes on me while his two fae companions darted back and forth across the room in the closest thing to a fae dance that I’d seen yet. I needed something more than my own fickle hand to keep me from staring at Zev in a way that was very, very indecent of me.
“You should know, Aurra, if youarethe…” he trailed off, eyes searching the outer corners of the room for ravens that might signify Icarus’ listening ear, “princess, then there’s something you should know about your powers.”
All at once, the world stilled. Everything else disappeared. The court, the bedroom, even Zev and Finch’s raucous display.
I leaned in closer to Shiel, so close that our knees brushed and I had to hold in the slight sigh that tried to escape me.
“Your court is different from mine,” Shiel said, quietly. “The fae don’t like to talk about it, even amongst ourselves, even under the best of circumstances.”
I knew there was a good chance that this was another tactic Shiel was using to try and gain my undeserved trust, but no matter how hard I searched his face for any sign of deceit, I couldn’t find any. It would be best to let him continue, to not risk causing him to back down and change his mind about telling me, but I couldn’t help myself.
“Why are you telling me this now?” I asked, my voice low, even though there was no sign of eavesdroppers. “After all the time you’ve spent keeping this from me?”
Shiel’s brow furrowed a little as he admitted, “Because something happened with Icarus that you’re not telling me,” he said, his words causing a pit of guilt to form in my stomach. “I promised to protect you, Aurra, and for a while that meant keeping this truth from you. What do you know of the powers of the Eastern Court?”
I shook my head. Shiel’s words were loaded with potential, the energy of possibility so strong that it was all I could do to keep my breaths coming one after the next.
“No one’s told me anything. Not about the Eastern Court. Not about any of them.”
Shiel nodded again, his hand edging closer to mine.
“The Eastern Court…it’s always been different,” he said, carefully. “The fae of that court don’t all possess the glamour as the fae of other courts do.”
The answer surprised me, but it didn’t shock me. It didn’t warrant the way Shiel reached out to take my hand, though I did nothing to stop him. I relished the touch, the warmth, the unusual sign of tenderness from the lord I’d grown to associate with coldness.
“Only one fae in that court holds their glamour. And that one fae possesses a great glamour indeed, the power of an entire court wrapped up in one, single fae.”
A chill began to build at the base of my spine, the tingling sensation spreading as Shiel’s admission grew.
“There’s something we didn’t tell you, Aurra, in the very beginning. The real reason it took us so long to come get you.”
“It wasn’t the ribbon?” I cocked my head as I looked at him. “I thought you said you could sense my mother’s glamour on it…that it was how you knew.”
“It started with the ribbon,” Shiel said, “but the real reason it took so long was because when I felt the power on that token, I began to suspect something. Do you know how this kingdom is ruled?”
I could practically stab him, the tension was so thick. I wanted to demand he stopped leading me on so slowly, that he stopped asking me stupid questions and would just get on with telling me the one thing I so desperately needed to know.
