“Oh, right, you mentioned Aria was performing somewhere. Carron, was it?” I glance at Harrow.
“You told her? That was my surprise,” Aria hisses. Then, quickly collects herself. “It’s a high honor.”
“Congratulations.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.” She acts as though I just awarded a medal to her, bowing with a dramatic flourish of her hands. “I will be going on tour soon with them. But don’t you worry, we will be back for the coronation night. I’m sure it’ll be a performance worth remembering.”
“I can’t wait to see it,” I lie. Even if I wasn’t trying to leave before the coronation, I have no interest in anything to do with Aria.
“Good.” She smiles thinly. “Let’s be off; we don’t want to keep the queen from…whatever it is she does.”
Rinni takes a step forward but I don’t move, still blocking the entrance to the salon. “I do a lot of reading, actually.” I meet Aria’s eyes.
“Good for you.” Her smile is quickly becoming a sneer.
“Carron is not far from Westwatch, isn’t it? Right along the wall that borders the fae wilds?”
“Your grasp of Midscape geography is astounding,” Aria drawls.
“Will you be seeing any family there?”
Aria narrows her eyes as her whole body goes tense. It’s a subtle shift that she quickly corrects with the poise of an actress. But that was a glimpse of something real.
I’ve gotten too good at catching when people’s guards are down, in large part thanks to Eldas.
“All the family I associate regularly with is here in Quinnar, Your Majesty. If you’ll excuse me, I’d like to be respectful of the seamstress’s time.” She seems too eager to dismiss the whole topic of conversation. “The hour is late already and we have a soiree tonight.”
“A soiree?” I glance to Harrow.
“Here, in the castle,” he says, giving me a knowing nod. Then, his voice reverts to the more careless and somewhat cruel tones I first heard from him. “I doubt you’d be interested.”
“Yes, nothing you have to worry yourself with. We already know that you humans don’t find the same sorts of things amusing as us elves,” Aria says somewhat snidely. I can’t help but wonder if she means glimmer.
“I have other, more important matters to attend to, in any case.” I grit out a smile and step aside. “Enjoy yourselves.”
The four go into the salon, closing the door behind them. I promptly reach out a hand and Hook is at my side. I scratch behind his ears, staring at the door.
“Rinni, take me to Eldas.”
“But he—”
“Now,” I say firmly. Then add, softer, “Please. There’s something I need to urgently discuss with him.”
“Very well.” Rinni nods and starts down the hall. She doesn’t seem cross with me, and yet a brief sensation of discomfort passes over me.
For the first time, I gave someone in Midscape an order, like a queen would.
And they listened.