Niniane said, “What are you doing in Chicago?”
“Rune and I are here to investigate those fuckers who attacked you and Tiago,” Aryal told her. “Tiago called us just after you got back to the hotel and saw the doctor. We blew in a bit ago. We were barred from coming up through the hotel to see you. Then we heard from a Chicago PD chick that you and Tiago had separated. Rune went to find Tiago. I took the alternative route to see you.” The harpy tilted her head. “Now it’s your turn. Why isn’t Tiago still with you, and why are you having a rotten day?”
“Oh gods, where to start.” Niniane put her elbows on the table and hid her face in her hands.
“Wait a minute, you were awfully spry just now when you jumped at me,” Aryal said suddenly. “What happened to your knife wound?”
“Carling,” Niniane said. Speaking between her hands, she told Aryal everything that had occurred since she and Tiago had returned to the hotel. Well, minus the blisteringly personal stuff. She hugged that to herself, to be examined in private later when she had the chance. “I went into shock when I found out that it had been Wyr and not Dark Fae in the attack. I’ve been dealing with old bad memories anyway, and to hear about it in the meeting—well, that wasn’t a good way to find out.”
“I bet,” Aryal said. The harpy sat forward to put her elbows on the table as well. “Tiago should have told you.”
Niniane sighed. “He tried to tell me he got busy and forgot. I just wasn’t able to hear it at the time, so I sent him away. Now I can’t get ahold of him to apologize.”
“He’s used to giving orders. He’s not used to sharing.” Aryal narrowed her eyes on the plate of cheese, crackers and fruit. She raised her eyebrows at Niniane who gestured for her to help herself. Aryal popped a piece of cheese into her mouth.
“It didn’t make any sense,” Niniane said. “Why would you attack me?”
“We wouldn’t,” Aryal said. “That’s ridiculous. We love you.”
There was the reality she knew. Niniane whispered, “Yeah.”
The harpy patted her back. “And forgive me for being brutally practical in saying this, but setting aside personal feelings, it’s to our advantage to have you safely on the throne. That would give the Wyr an alliance with the Dark Fae for the first time since your father was alive.”
Niniane nodded. “Of course. It was one of the reasons why the Wyr attack came as such a shock.”
“I’ll tell you what’s even more ridiculous,” Aryal said. “Those Wyr attacked when Tiago was with you.”
Niniane looked up quickly. “I hadn’t gotten that far in my thinking,” she said. “They wouldn’t have if they had known who he was, because it was a death sentence for them.”
“Exactly. Do you know any Wyr in his right mind who would go up against Dr. Death?” Aryal said. “And nobody but Dragos and the sentinels—well, and of course Pia—knew that Tiago had come out to look for you.”
Niniane said, “So those Wyr were either working on their own, or they were working for someone else. Carling brought up the possibility that there might be a schism in the Wyr we didn’t know about.”
“Okay,” said Aryal. The harpy hooked the heel of one boot on a rung of her chair. “Maybe there’s a supersecret anti-faerie Wyr faction out there that we haven’t heard of before. Maybe they don’t want us in an alliance with the Dark Fae.”
Niniane watched the harpy’s face. Aryal was in charge of Wyr investigations. “It doesn’t make sense that you would know nothing about a faction like that,” Niniane said. “Factions tend to grumble, write manifestos, protest, maybe blow things up. They often claim responsibility for things too.”
Aryal ate a grape.
“So what makes the most sense?” said Niniane. “Somebody wants me dead, and if they succeed in killing me, great. But if they fail, the next best thing is to drive a wedge between me and my strongest allies, because that would leave me vulnerable for when they try again. And they do want me dead, because if they just wanted to drive a wedge between me and the Wyr, there are lots of ways to try to achieve that that are much less potentially dangerous than an assassination attempt.”
“Ding ding ding. Give the girl a gold star.” Aryal grinned and popped another piece of cheese into her mouth.
Niniane told the harpy about Geril’s flirtation on the flight to Chicago and at dinner out at the Greek restaurant.
“I was wondering what happened to you for those couple of hours before the alley attack,” Aryal said.