Lilywhite glanced at Zephyr. “No. Just ask them to come here,” she said. “Kam and Vi were only a few minutes behind me.”
Zephyr said nothing. He wanted to tell her that there were five pictures of her. Two he’d had expunged the same day they’d been released. The only remaining copies were in his possession. He didn’t tell her that though; it made him seem . . . creepy instead of protective. He’d have done the same for any of the cell. He had done the same when a picture of Will dancing with another boy was snapped one night at what was supposed to be a paparazzi-free party. That time, he’d used fists rather than bribes. Will’s mother was very much a conservative. Will, obviously, would have no protection in the human world if she shared the secret of his heritage, and Zephyr suspected she would share it if it got her votes. It would be a tidy way to explain away his other orientations if she needed to do so. Zephyr wasn’t going to allow the crisis to reach that point. He’d beaten the photographer until Alkamy had stepped in.
“Anything for you,” Creed said mildly, before he nodded at Zephyr, and then was gone in as quick a moment as he’d arrived.
Once he’d left to go drag Will and Roan back to the suite with him, Zephyr watched Lilywhite. She’d sent Creed on a mission specifically so that he’d be out of the room. He knew it, and he suspected Creed did too.
“I thought we were going to be fight-free,” she started.
He closed his eyes for a moment, willing himself the strength he usually had. Zephyr opened his eyes and looked at her. “Endellion met with me in person, Lilywhite. She asked about you by name. You say that your mother wrote about the queen, about the war. Do you not realize yet that you are not simply someone with a dash of fae blood? Even if you don’t want to believe me about your heritage, you have to accept that the queen of the joint throne doesn’t know just anyone’s name.”
Lilywhite sighed. “Fine. Tell me what she said.”
“She wants me to bring you to her.”
“I see.”
Zephyr stayed silent, waiting for something, anything, to tell him that she understood. He didn’t cross the room, didn’t go any nearer to her, but he couldn’t help adding, “For three years, I’ve protected them alone.”
“And if I don’t go to her, she’ll take it out on all of you, right?” Lilywhite’s voice was soft, but he’d have to be thoroughly daft not to hear the threads of anger and reluctance twining into her words.
“It’s not like you’re the only one in this position.” He paused, weighing the decision to tell her the truth. He’d not told anyone, not even Alkamy. Lilywhite had no loyalty to them, not now, possibly not ever. But she was the one selected to help guide and protect the cell. She was the last of the queen’s seven Black Diamonds.
“What I say goes no further.”
“Of course,” she said without hesitation.
“I understand better than any of them realize. I obey her, no matter what, because if I don’t she’ll kill all seven of us. We do as we’re told, as the queen demands, or we die. That’s what it means to lead the cell, Lilywhite: you do what you have to so they don’t die, and you never let them know because some of them are too stubborn to follow orders no matter the stakes.”
“There has to be another way.” She paced away from him, hand dropping to the pocket where he knew she carried one of her concealed knives. He had been trained; they all had. None of them touched a blade like it was a talisman. Only Lilywhite did that.
“You can’t fight her.” Zephyr followed Lilywhite until they reached the window overlooking a small copse of trees. If she were Alkamy or Violet, he’d know how to handle her. She was still a mystery to him. In a mild tone, he remarked, “I suspect you’re capable with the various weapons you wear.”
“I am my father’s daughter,” Lilywhite said softly, not looking back at him.
Zephyr shook his head, even though she couldn’t see him, and said, “You sound very much like the queen herself. She’s devoted to her family. She started this war for our people, Lilywhite. We were chosen, and whether we like it or not, that’s the reality we have to face.”
Lilywhite turned to look at him over her shoulder. “This is not my war. I won’t kill for her.”
“And I won’t risk the people I love because you want to prove a point. Our queen has ordered me to bring you to the Hidden Lands, so you can either cooperate, or I will find another way.” Zephyr hated that he had to admit these things, but she needed to understand how their world worked. “I’ll not let any of them die because Creed has a crush and you think you’re above the rest of us. She’ll kill him if she thinks he’s in the way of her plans. She’ll kill your father if you don’t comply. She’ll kill Alkamy if I step out of line. Maybe Roan, or Vi first, but if she thinks I need more motivation, she’ll slit Alkamy’s throat. . . . It’s her word that controls what blades are made wet.”
Outside the room, he could hear Creed laughing at something Violet had said. He couldn’t make out the words, but he knew the voices of those in the cell better than any others in this world or the other.
“If this proof of Creed’s turns up and I decide that you’re all telling me the truth—”
“Fae don’t lie.”
“I can lie. Creed can lie. I’m sure you can too.”
“We aren’t like that, Lilywhite. We keep our word, our vows. If humans did too, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
They stared at each other in silence. There were things that were impossible, even for them. In this world, they lived lives of indulgence. In the Hidden Lands, they were special in a different way. They were tools, weapons fashioned by the queen’s will. Weapons don’t summon queens. That wasn’t the way it worked.
“Do you understand?” he finally prompted.
“She’s a monster.”
“Maybe,” Zephyr admitted. “That doesn’t mean we can slay her like a storybook dragon . . . or even dream of it. The best we can do is protect those we love.”
“There has to be more—”
“No,” he interrupted firmly. “There isn’t. Let Creed down easily or be harsh. Either way, do it. Only then do we go to see the queen—or you risk all of our lives.”
“Fine. I’ll come to meet her, but it won’t change a thing between you and me and I won’t go until I meet Creed’s ‘proof.’” Lily walked to the door and pulled it open, a smile once more on her lips as if everything was fine. Zephyr wasn’t sure if anyone else heard the forced gaiety in her voice or if he noticed it because of what they had just discussed. Either way, he thought she sounded brittle as she told them, “Come on already, people! I want to go dancing.”
And they were all coming into the room in a breathtaking blur. These few souls were his family, the people for whom he’d do anything. He served the queen, but he did it for them above all else. Fortunately, Lilywhite cared about them enough that she’d agreed to go to the Hidden Lands without his having to resort to force. It was fair progress.
twenty-three