“What sort of offer?” Romulus asked as the fae spread out, some heading down to the bedrooms, some peering out the windows as Emery was doing. They were getting their bearings in case of attack.
He pulled back from the window, his eyes shadowed. He was worried.
“I don’t know. I was never given one.” He smiled humorlessly. “I’ve just heard that’s their way of doing things. It won’t look good to the rest of the Realm if they kill you. Of course, they can’t let you police them either, even if they’re the ones who made the rules you’re trying to follow. It’ll look like you had to come out of retirement because of how bad things have gotten, which is true, and everyone will know it. They’ll want to pass it off like you came, you told them about Charity, delivered me and Reagan, and you left. Amicable. That’ll look best for them. They can use your attack on the foot soldiers as a reason to work you around.”
Romulus stood with his hands behind his back for a moment, staring out at nothing. “In our position, my mother would certainly leave. And I might have once been tempted, simply to save our people. But seeing the shifters carry out their duty has inspired me to do the same.”
“Your people do not wish to be saved, sir,” Halvor said, and bowed. “We wish to fight. It is what we were born to do. It is in our blood. In our heritage.”
“Yes, yes, I realize that.” Romulus stepped away from the window. “And we cannot just hand over two innocent lives. Because no matter how grievous they thought your offense, you merely played a practical joke, Emery. What an absurd overreaction. I cannot believe they are so up in arms about it. What a lack of humor this place currently possesses.”
He took a deep breath and sighed it out slowly. I wondered if it would help him more than it had me.
“Well,” he said, looking Charity over and crinkling his eyes. “Here we are. They will likely give us tomorrow to rest after our long journey. After that, we will introduce you, and see about the others. From there…we will play it by ear. We have no choice.”
“Sounds perfect to me.” I peered down the hall at the rooms. “That’s my preferred method of handling things. Which room is mine?”
But they didn’t give us a day to rest. Not even the next morning to recover after a single night’s sleep.
A knock sounded at the heavy door. Romulus stood from his seat, his steaming cup of tea in hand. Charity walked in from the hall leading to the bedrooms, fiddling with one of the strange bands on her tunic as if she’d only just finished getting dressed.
“This is highly unusual,” Halvor said, the first to the door.
“Yes. Highly,” Romulus said, his tone dry. He set his tea on the table beside him.
“I can stop them from getting in.” I tucked my feet into my boots and started doing up the laces.
“No.” Romulus glanced behind him at his people, who’d sped up the getting-ready process. “Let them come. We will play by their rules.”
…for now…
His thought curled through the air, and a grin stretched across my face. Adrenaline rushed in to fuel my body. I’d never cared for sneaking around and taking stock of a situation before making a move. That was Darius’s department, which was one of the reasons I’d been so loath to lose him for this.
But the elves had just tipped things into my comfort zone. If they planned to throw unpleasant surprises at us, I was happy to lob the unpleasantness right back.
The heavy metal bar slid back before the door shuddered open. An elf stood in the doorway, long blond hair flowing down its back, rippling as if it were out in a breezy meadow. Its heavily embroidered blue tunic stopped just below its waist, and the forest-green satin garment it had on beneath flowed to its ankles.
“Slippers, huh?” I stood and adjusted my pouch, spells inside at the ready in case Penny or Emery needed a magical hand. “We going to a pajama party?”
“First Arcana,” the elf said, sparing a glance my way. “The king and queen request your audience. You are to bring the Second Arcana, Emery Westbrook, his dual-mage partner, and the girl with whom you travel.”
I pointed at the center of my chest, walking out from within the fae and stopping beside Romulus. “I’m the girl, right?”
The elf, with light eyes so pale they almost looked white, glanced at me. “Yes.”
“All this time at your disposal and you couldn’t figure out my name?” I whistled and adjusted the sword at my back. “You mustn’t be as powerful as you think. That, or you don’t have many friends.”