I shook my head. “It can’t get any worse. And anyway, I don’t have a lot of choice at this point. Apart from the fact that the angels are psychopaths, Johnny is lying out here in the dirt somewhere. Still alive. He knows I’m a fae, that I’ve been lying the whole time. I shot him with a poison-tipped arrow. When he wakes up, he’s going to remember that I was the one who put him in the ground. If I don’t find a way to end his life for good, I won’t be drinking any wine or having any baths, because I’ll be dead, or possibly locked in a torture room for eternity. And you will be too. Understand?”
For the first time, she looked rattled. “Maybe he won’t wake up for years. Maybe he won’t remember.”
“That’s a risky dream to pin your hopes on.”
She sipped her coffee, her gaze never leaving mine. “Between now and then, we have time to charm the other angels. We’ll take care of this whole…shooting and burying situation you created.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m not sure charming people is in your skill set.”
She glowered at me. “What makes you say that?”
“You just met Elan a day ago and you already called him a starving, haunted egret.”
“He didn’t seem to mind. Anyway, the dragons liked being mildly insulted. I was their favorite.”
I definitely needed more whiskey in this coffee. “You’re telling me you charmed the dragons. After what they did…” I let the sentence trail off, didn’t want to give life to that particular horror with words.
Her jaw tightened. “Yeah, I got on their good side. How do you think I survived? How do you think I was able to control them? It doesn’t matter if I liked them, Ruby. What mattered was that they liked me. That meant they protected me, gave me food and a place to sleep. All I had to do was entertain them and keep them happy.”
I gritted my teeth. “Did they know you were fifteen?”
She glared at me. “Yes, and I didn’t entertain them like that. I told them jokes, told them stories, filled their drinks. I flirted.” She scowled. “Oh, don’t look so shocked. You and I are the same. I lived among the dragons, pretending to be someone else. You lived in a castle, pretending to be someone else. And it doesn’t matter if we liked it, or if other people would approve. Dragons and angels will do what they want. Our job was to survive.”
“We can do more than just survive. We can fight them.”
“We can’t. I remember, Ruby. I remember when dragons killed our parents. I remember when they ripped Marcus apart. He was trying to save us, and—”
I held up a hand, cutting her off. “Let’s not think about that, Hazel. You’re right that we need to survive, but it’s not going to happen by dwelling on all the terrible things that ever happened to us.”
Something dangerous sparked in her eyes. “And ignoring all the terrible things will get you killed. Don’t underestimate the forces working against you if you try to cross the angels. No one is looking after us, Ruby. We need to look after ourselves, and we can do that by pleasing the people in power.”
“I will look after you. We just need to return to our roots. If we can end the Great Nightmare, we’ll have a normal life. A cottage in the woods, with a fireplace, venison that I hunt, and…I don’t know… root vegetables. Just like our ancestors. We can even bring along the haunted egret if you like. In any case, we don’t belong among the angels or the dragons. We belong among our kind, and I’m going to do whatever I can to protect the only family I have left.”
Her jaw dropped. “Are you out of your mind? Root vegetables and fireplaces? How do you expect to achieve this domestic dream?”
I loosed a long breath. The answer sounded ridiculous, even to me. And yet, I was starting to have faith in something older than the angels themselves. “The Old Gods are helping us. They’ve always been here—we just never knew about them. They’re the reason why I was able to put Johnny in the ground in the first place.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Sounds like bullshit. And even if the Old Gods are real, everything has a price. You realize that, don’t you? Everyone has a price.”
“So cynical for sixteen.” As we walked, I fixed my gaze on hers intently. “Hazel. What I’m about to tell you is important, and you have to keep this to yourself, do you understand?”
She nodded. “I can keep a secret.”
“Not all the angels are on the same side,” I whispered. “Adonis says he’s working against the others. I don’t really understand why, and I don’t trust him, either, but there are fractures in their alliance. He is the only one here who knows what I really am. I don’t know what his motives are, but he let me live.”
Hazel ran her fingertips along the leaves of a nearby shrub. “Now that is interesting.”
My jaw tightened. I wasn’t sure she was getting the severity of the situation. “Hazel. If Johnny wakes up—when Johnny wakes up, I’m going to need to leave here, fast. In fact, a smart person would probably leave before he wakes up. And you’ll need to come with me, because he’ll blow your cover, too.”
She shot me a sharp look. “Maybe. Or maybe I stay here and use my own skills to keep Johnny and Kratos from coming after you. Then I can continue to eat Elan’s food, because let’s not overlook the fact that I just ate a pie for the first time in two years.”
“That’s wonderful. And your plan is to charm Johnny enough so that he won’t care that I’m a lying fae spy who wants to kill him.”
“Maybe charm isn’t the right word. I’m good at confusing people.”
“You don’t say.”
She grabbed my arm. “I’m not joking. I’m can persuade people, just by talking. Like, I confuse them, and then they forget what they were angry about, or they forget what they want me to do. How do you think I explained to the dragons why I was suddenly a succubus?”
“You confused them.” I narrowed my eyes, an idea sparking in my mind. “Little sister, you just might have inherited the ancient fae skill of befuddlement.”
Hazel smiled. “See? Our problem is solved. We can stay here with the pies and the fireplaces, and we won’t end up out on our asses trying to hunt rabbits in the woods. I’ll just befuddle them.”
I shook my head. “No, Hazel. This isn’t just about us. Look, we’re going to dinner tonight with the remaining angels. If you really do have these powers of befuddlement, I could use your help. Kratos has asked both of us to dinner tonight, but he wants to keep me as far as possible from Adonis. I’m not supposed to go into Adonis’s corridor, or leave my tower, or walk anywhere near the Dark Lord.”
“A gilded cage.”
“Pretty much. But we can see Kratos. Any chance you can persuade Kratos to invite Adonis to this dinner? And then find a way to get us alone?”
“Easy.” She studied me closely. “And of course you’d like to get him alone. I caught a glimpse of him in the courtyard. Looks like a god.”
“It’s not like that. I need him for information, but I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him. He hates the fae as much as he loves himself. Whatever his motives are, they’re not altruistic. If I had to guess, he’s angling for even more power than he already has.”
“So stick with him, then. In this world, when power dynamics shift, you’d better make sure you’re on the winning side.” She snatched my spiked coffee and took a sip.
I didn’t even try to stop her. Right now, I was pretty sure “little Hazel”—the one who’d once crawled into my bed to stave off nightmares about closet monsters—was well and truly gone.
In this world, maybe a loss of innocence wasn’t the worst thing.
Chapter 2