Now…about the poison in my system. Funny how I cared more about my apartment than I did about my own health at this point. Having encountered this poison a handful of times already, I knew the antidote like the back of my hand.
Rhoan
Every attemptI made to help seemed to blow up in my face. I looked from Cerri, who kept her back to me, over to the pale-haired man grilling Delphine. At first, I thought it silly that Cerri would ask this man that Delphine never met to talk to her.
It seemed to be working though. Delphine was talking down to the poor guy, but he was eating up everything she said. He stepped into a role and made her comfortable. Once she thought he was an idiot, she started to spill everything. She didn’t think he would understand, but he’d played her like she was a fiddle, and he was a master musician.
I had to give him credit where credit was due. Delphine spilled that she would earn absolute immunity on Beryl’s territory, meaning that Delphine would never have to ask for permission to hunt on Beryl’s court grounds. The bounty hunter could do as she pleased here. Once she killed Cerri, no one would be safe.
The thing was, Delphine wasn’t a monster. She wasn’t out to hurt people for the fun of it like the Unseelie Court liked to do. The elf that I knew wanted nothing more than to keep the fae world clean and safe. She hunted bounties not only for the money, but to get justice.
“Del,” I said, trying to appeal to my old friend.
Immediately, Cerri stopped moving. Her head tilted. What had she heard in my voice that I hadn’t? I needed to watch my tone before I gave Cerri the wrong idea. There was only one woman in my life that deserved my attention right now, and it was her.
Delphine only took up my time because she was a risk to my future queen. This wasn’t something I wanted to do. It was only something I had to do.
“Is immunity worth more than a place in a court?” I asked with my attention on Delphine.
“You keep offering me something that doesn’t exist,” she said with a laugh. “I don’t want to fight for you and your court. It means nothing to me when it doesn’t even exist right now. Why should I fight foryourdream? It seems foolish in my opinion.”
She had a point. I sucked my teeth while I tried to find the right words. Before I could say anything, Cerri stood and turned her gaze upon Delphine.
“If you don’t stand with us, I will make sure that you end up beneath us. You have no right to hunt me and make every waking moment of my life a nightmare. Beryl already does that.” The hard edge of Cerri’s tone took everyone by surprise.
The pale haired detective and I shared a look. I understood the warning in his eyes. There was a police badge at this guy’s hip. He didn’t want to hear Cerri talk about killing people.
Before I could say anything, she turned her dark glare on him, too.
“Don’t act like you haven’t killed to keep others safe,” she snarled.
His jaw clenched. My beast reacted, nearly slamming into the surface the moment it saw this man as a potential threat. The man didn’t like what Cerri had to say. He wanted to stop her. My beast would throw itself in the path of that man’s wrath without a second thought.
While I wanted to think that it was in service of a good queen, I knew better. I just took those feelings and pushed them back. The beast could take them and sit in the corner while it thought about the consequences of such thoughts.
Breathing through my nose, I prepared myself for a fight.
“I like you, girlie,” Delphine said, cutting through the tension with her wit. “You’ve seen some shit. Trading blows with you was fun while it lasted.”
Cerri slowly tilted her head in question, like she wouldn’t waste energy asking the question out loud. Delphine didn’t deserve that much effort.
I was going to get an earful from Delphine later. I almost put a hand on Cerri’s shoulder to ask her to back off. This was the first time she’d acted like a queen, though. I couldn’t interrupt her now.
“Do you know what happens to those who refuse Beryl’s offer?” Delphine asked. “I would help you, but I don’t want to end up like Taliesin.”
She had a point. There was no way I could argue with self-preservation. I ran both hands over my face and tried to push back the feeling of impending doom.
If Cerri had run into some Seelie fae, then that meant they were beginning to stir. They were coming out of hibernation. The Seelie still in the mortal realm were waking now that Cerri had come into her power. And Beryl knew it. She would stop at nothing until Cerri was dead and gone so that the Seelie court would stay under the curse she wrought so long ago.
“What can I give you to make you abandon this mission?” I asked. “You and I go back. We’ve known each other for a long time, Del.”
I could feel Cerri’s gaze on the back of my neck. I had no time to explain. What would it matter even if I did? My relationship with Delphine was of no consequence to my duty. The two would only ever cross paths in instances like this.
Cerri had to understand that my vow was to her and her family by now.
Delphine’s shoulders dropped. “You could have killed me the other day.”
I knew exactly what she was talking about. Del had landed a blow on me and opened herself to a lethal attack in the process. I could have carved through her with my blade, but I’d chosen to spare her. Cerri had been my priority that day.