I didn’t think he’d answer, especially when his gaze darted back to where Ryese and Lyell trudged along several steps behind us, but after a moment he whispered back, “No.”
I glanced at him, but he was staring at the queen’s back, and his features held both caution and concern. I didn’t really understand his relationship with the queen. He’d been her lover once, I knew that, but from what he’d said, that time was long past and he held no love for her now. There must be something between them though—his expression was too complex for him to care nothing about her. I hated that realizing that fact made my chest constrict, ever so slightly.
We turned a corner and reached the corridor with the carved ice pillar. The world fell from focus as we stepped between Faerie and the Bloom, and my steps became heavier, the world darkening slightly. It wasn’t bad though. Noticeable yes, but not even so bad as leaving the pocket in my father’s house.
Which was why I was completely unprepared for actually reentering mortal reality.
When I stepped through the door leaving the Bloom I stumbled, gasping under the weight of reality as it slammed down on me. The world spun, my knees locked, and I pitched forward. Falin caught one arm, the startled-looking bouncer—a green-skinned goblin—caught the other. They were the only reason I didn’t hit the wooden floorboards headfirst.
“What is wrong with her?” the queen snapped.
I couldn’t see her, my vision hadn’t cleared yet, but she sounded close.
“She’s fading.” Falin’s hand supported me physically, but his words were hard, unemotional.
My vision was clearing—at least to the point it ever did in mortal reality, I always missed the clarity of Faerie after leaving—so I had no trouble seeing the queen as she stormed over to Falin and grabbed a handful of his hair, pulling him down to her height.
“And this is the first I’m hearing about it? Why did I even bother sending you to watch her?”
Well, I guess that explained why the queen had gone from preventing Falin from speaking to me to ordering him to live with me. Not that it was any great surprise; I’d assumed he was there to spy for her.
I stepped out of the hands supporting me. I nodded to the goblin, but I didn’t thank him. You didn’t thank fae. Now that I’d gotten used to the achy exhaustion that had crashed on me upon reentering reality, it no longer seemed so crippling. I rolled my shoulders, already growing accustomed to the feeling.
“Are we going to do this thing?” I asked, moving for the door.
The queen hadn’t released Falin yet, so he stooped at what looked like an uncomfortable angle as she studied my face. Anger still flickered around the edges of her features, but there was concern there as well. I wasn’t foolish enough to think it was concern for me as a person, more concern for her potential asset. If I faded she couldn’t have her own pet planeweaver.
Her lips pursed, as if she was about to say something, but then her gaze slid to the short goblin who shuffled nervously in her presence. She released Falin and stepped back, smoothing her dress. “Yes. Knight, take us somewhere we will be undisturbed.”
Chapter 9
As we walked to the parking garage where Falin had left his car, I wondered if the queen or any of her council members owned a car and if it was parked in Nekros. Maybe she’ll just conjure a minivan from glamour. Because seven people and a body in a knapsack were not fitting in Falin’s car. I was almost disappointed to learn the FIB kept a small fleet of cars in the garage for instances when fae who didn’t spend much time in mortal reality decided to pass into Nekros for a visit. We split up with the queen, Ryese, and me riding with Falin, while Lyell, Blayne, and Maeve followed in a loaner. I tried to arrange for the skeleton to go with the councilors, but the queen wouldn’t let it or me out of her sight. Which meant I was stuck with it, and now that we were out of Faerie, I could feel the body, my grave magic having to be held in careful check to keep it from slipping into it.
The car ride was uncomfortable, in more ways than one. I hadn’t bothered trying to call shotgun, and wasn’t the least bit surprised when the queen slid into the front passenger seat. That left Ryese and me in what there was of a backseat. When I’d first met Falin, he’d driven a flashy red sports car that had gotten totaled during our first case together.
This car could have been that one’s twin.