I stared up at him, contemplating whether to hear him out or risk using magic. My chest rose and fell unbearably slow beneath him. He glanced down.
Suddenly, as if he realized too late what my reaction to such a gesture would be, he was closer, peering into my eyes as he whispered, “No. Do not tempt me by using your power.” He was so near I could see his pulse hammering, but I didn’t know whether it was fear or excitement. Sometimes with the fey they were one and the same.
He shook his head. “Revenge tastes sweeter with time, my Freya.” His gaze roamed my face, the dark strands of hair across my pillow, the bare flesh of my neck.
I narrowed my eyes at him, and felt the thickness in my throat giving. It wouldn’t be long before I was free of the dust. A few more minutes and I would strangle him. Veil could see the change in me and his mouth turned down in what I would have called a grimace on a less attractive man. His wings flicked once in frustration.
He knew he was out of time. I wondered who stood guard behind my closed door, unable to hear his words, no louder than a breath.
Veil’s warm eyes met mine, the color of honeyed tea in the morning light. But no, darker this near... more like maple sap over stone. I mentally shook myself, trying to work through the drug. It wasn’t the same as Ruby’s blend, but it wasn’t right, either. He waited for me to focus on him again, he wanted my attention.
“If you do this,” he warned, “you will leave me no choice.”
As far as warnings went, this one was pretty clear. I wondered briefly why he’d taken such an un-fey-like action. And then I wondered how he could possibly smell so good. And then I remembered I hated fairies and wondered if I could drive the spiked pendant on the table through his side without risking my magic. The last thought made me smile, which clued both of us in on the fact that I’d regained muscle control.
We reacted at the same time, my head snapping forward to slam into his chin just as he moved back and off the bed. I flipped myself up to land beside the bed, but I wasn’t fully recovered and my legs crumpled beneath me. From nowhere, Veil grabbed my upper arm to steady me. My right fist swung across to strike him in the side. The scuffle had lasted only a fraction of a second, but it was enough. Rhys burst through the door and Veil was gone.
“Find Ruby!” I yelled, my voice weak but anger propelling the command with sufficient force Rhys didn’t stop to question it.
I stared down, panting, body struggling to manage the effects of dust and adrenaline. It seemed like only seconds later when Chevelle showed up, but it must have been longer, because my breathing was steady and I could feel the tingle of my legs and the cold of the stone floor where I sat.
He surveyed the room, searching for any lingering threats, and I knew the instant his gaze found the glitter on the bed.
My head fell into my hands, a very unlordly gesture, and my shoulders shook with silent, frustrated hysteria.
Chevelle was staring down at me. “What did he want?”
“To warn me.” I took a deep breath before attempting to stand. “The fey don’t want us to take out council.”
“Since when do the fey care about elvin politics?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know, but if they know we’re coming, then council does.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Chevelle said. He stepped closer. “Tell me what he said.”
I took another deep breath.
He waited.
“If you do this,” I sighed, “you leave me no choice.”
Chevelle’s fist slammed into the bed post, splintering the wood to pieces.
“It has to mean they have always cared about our affairs,” I said. “But the power was shared before, split between the north and the villages.”
He didn’t respond, staring blankly across the room, through the empty space where the bedpost had been.
“So if we remove the remaining leaders of council,” I continued, “then I alone control the realm.”
Chevelle turned his gaze to me.
“And if I control the realm,” I paused to swallow, throat still thick from dust, “then they will call war. And Veil will take me. If I don’t find a way to manage this power, then I can’t fight him.”
I could see the anger building through Chevelle’s entire body, but I couldn’t prevent myself from finishing.
“I will avenge my mother. I will right the wrong done to all of the north. The fey will not cow me into submission. We will leave at dawn as planned.”
It felt a little like a speech and I should have been ashamed for making it. Chevelle knew exactly what council had done to the north. He knew every single person who’d been slaughtered in the massacre and he knew how it had affected the ones who lived. He didn’t need to be lectured on honor or principle.
His shoulders raised very slowly in an effort to remain steady with each breath. “Vengeance can wait.”