He looked up, his smile still dancing in the corner of his mouth. No, not that, then.
I touched my collar. “This is for you as well as me, right?” He didn’t want to make it easy for himself. The collar stopped him from turning me into a mindless human puppet, so he wanted me coherent. He wanted me to fight. I had seen evidence of that already. “You’re curious.” Yes, his eyes focused, unblinking. “Your queen adored me. Your people adored me. They cheered my name. Wraithmaker.” I drew out my name, giving it dramatic emphasis. “But you weren’t there. You don’t understand, but you want to. You’ve missed so much by being here, sacrificed so much.” Yes, his smile faded, and a new intensity settled on his face. “What did they see in me? What did Mab see in me—”
“Why did you do it?” he asked.
I knew what he meant. They all wanted to know why I’d killed their queen. “Because I am saru, and no matter how high up you lift me, I will always be saru. Because you taught me to slaughter, because it’s all I’m good at, because I was so close to her that it was almost too easy.”
“No.” He came forward and stopped a stride away from the bed. “Lies. But I will find out the truth.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Give me my whip. Unchain me. And I’ll tell you the truth.”
He dismissed my request with a dry laugh and headed for the door. “I will unchain you, saru, when I am ready.” He shut the door behind him.
I tugged on the chain, knowing it was useless. I got my fingers under the collar and pulled, but it didn’t give. All right. So, this wasn’t necessarily bad.
As the chain only allowed me a few steps from the bed, I sat on the edge and diligently studied my surroundings. There had to be something here that would tell me more about Larsen.
Books sat snugly on wooden shelves. The last time I had seen a book with paper pages, it had been on Faerie. Only the fae had access to enough wood to be so frivolous as to paint paper pages with words. The spines of Larsen’s books were all marked with swirling fae text. He must have either smuggled them into Halow or bought them at an underground auction. The sale of fae goods had been outlawed centuries ago, but someone like Larsen would have connections. Unusual pieces were scattered around the room. A lamp that looked as though it had been grown, not made, and even the rug had a suspiciously natural appearance, like living grass.
If anyone ever had any doubt about Larsen’s identity, it was all here, in this room. All I had to do was find a key piece of evidence that would reveal his true identity.
He left me long enough for the wound beneath the bandage to start itching and my bladder to ache. I was dozing when he strode in. His human illusion rippled carelessly off him before the door swung closed. He crossed the room, heading straight for his desk. Pressing his palms to the desktop, he bowed his head and sighed. His shoulders trembled.
I’d been about to demand that he release me so I could at least relieve myself, but now I stayed silent and watched his struggle. After a few moments, he lifted his head, breathed in and held that breath.
Something had shaken him. If I knew what that thing was, I might have a weapon to use.
He moved around his desk and melted into the chair behind it. His glare flicked up and widened at the sight of me. He’d forgotten he wasn’t alone. A shadow crossed his face, and then with a flick of his fingers, the chain attached to my collar vanished.
I reached through the air where it had been, expecting to find the cool metal. When I looked back, he was smiling. Had the chain been an illusion all along?
Channeling the anger down deep, I visited his bathroom. The luxurious suite was double the size of my container home and furnished with the fae’s typical elegance. A panoramic window revealed Calicto’s domes from hundreds of feet high. I wouldn’t be leaping from this one.
I stripped off the bandage, finding the wound healed but for a jagged, raw red line. After dry-showering, I rummaged around his cupboards and found a silken robe. It hung off my shoulders and licked around my ankles. The smell of lemons scented the air. A shudder ran through me as the cool silk slid across my skin. Damn him. He wasn’t even with me and his touch still manipulated me.
All I had to do was find something unique to him. Something Kellee could use. Once we had a name, I would know for certain what I needed to do.
My hand lingered on the door handle. There was a way… In his current state he was vulnerable and alone. He had already revealed an attraction to the forbidden fruit that was me.
Fighting, I could do. But seducing? That had never been in my skill set. All fae were masters of desire. Humans were, and always would be, their pets. The way I was around him? It wasn’t something I could consciously control. Something in human DNA sought the attention of the fae. Master. Slave. It was written into our programming from the time they first seeded humanity on Earth. And I was saru. Born into their service. I’d fought for their appraisal, killed for their adoration, and risen in their ranks, but all that meant was I’d worn all the right clothes, opened all the right veins, and said all the right things while I bowed low.
I wasn’t sure I had it in me to manipulate Larsen sexually. But he sure had it in him to manipulate me. I was a fly pretending to be the spider, and all I had to capture him with was his own web of lies.
I breathed in, steeled my iron-like saru heart and soul, and opened the door.
He hadn’t moved from the chair. With his head resting back and his eyes closed, I wondered if he was sleeping, but he couldn’t be. He would never let his guard down around me.
“Tell me about her,” he said, his voice sudden and clear. Not sleeping, just resting his eyes. He kept them closed, dark lashes resting against his smooth skin.
He meant the queen. If I told him, if we found some common ground, he might open up.
“She was kind.” His lips tightened, and I added, “Until she wasn’t.”
His chest slowly rose and fell, the leather straps breathing with him. Tantalizing glimpses of his warfae marks peeked out from under his collar. It was too easy, too enticing to imagine sliding those buckles open. But if I uncovered the extent of his markings, I’d know how high in the ranks he had risen, and I’d know the kind of fae I was dealing with. Were his marks from the wars, from killing humans or from slaughtering the likes of Kellee’s people. I wanted—needed to know.
“Most believed her fair.” I ran my finger along the edge of his desk, marveling at its warm, glossy polish. So very different from the metal and glass found in the rest of Calicto and most of Halow. “She was, according to fae law.”
“She was the law,” he said, his tone mild and unreadable.
I looked up. His eyes were still closed. Had he known Mab?
He opened his eyes and blinked, but a glassy sheen remained. Dark pupils expanded, soaking up the colors of his irises. I had only ever seen him utterly focused. Now he looked at me as though he didn’t quite see me.
“When was the last time you saw her?” I skimmed my fingers along the desktop as I moved around to his side. He watched with the lazy appreciation of someone lost in thought.