She liked Ibin. But she couldn’t trust her.
She didn’t like Nos. And she certainly didn’t trust him.
And even if she did trust them, Serrik was watching. He had eyes everywhere—probably in the form of all the little spiders she was just noticing were in every freaking room. Webs were in every corner, and perched on them, tiny little creatures, watching. Observing.
“What’s on the agenda, then?” She turned the mug around between her fingers, watching it spin in idle curiosity. “Parademe through the halls of the Web? A grand tour de fae? Who knows, maybe I’ll fall madly in love with one and decide your whole race is worth sparing because of it.”
Ibin frowned as she returned to the counter to finish plating what looked like a collection of fruit pastries. “Well, when you put it that way, it sounds daft.”
She laughed quietly. “Sorry. I get hangry.”
“Hangry?” Nos arched an eyebrow at her.
“Hungry-angry. It’s the angry you get when you’re hungry.”
“Hm.” Nos provided nothing else than that.
“I’m glad they finally invented a word for your mood swings, dear Nos.” Ibin put the plate of pastries down in front of them before taking her seat. Some of them weren’t fruit, but meat. Those were the ones Nos went for.
“The Unseelie tend to avoid fruit or vegetables if they can help it,” Ibin explained. “We Seelie do not eat meat. It makes us ill.” She plucked a fruit tart from the plate.
Ava took one of each. “Yay for being an omnivore.”
“We Unseelie can eat both. We simply require meat to survive. Proof that we are the Morrigan’s favorites. For we are the predators.” He took a bite of his pastry.
“I disagree. We are the Morrigan’s favorites, for the Seelie needn’t send the souls of the living flesh to the afterlife to survive. You are barbarians and cannibals.” Ibin smiled cheerfully at Nos and took a bite of her own food.
“I take it your people don’t usually sit at the same table?” She took a bite of one of her pastries. The fruit one. It was really tasty. And she was starving.
“Not in the slightest,” Ibin said through a full mouth, crumbs raining down on the plate. Her demeanor really didn’t match the exterior. It made Ava smile. “We’ve been at war for centuries. Hasn’t always been that way, though.”
“Back in the time before Titania and Oberon, the Seelie rulers, when the Unseelie throne sat vacant, there were two brothers who ruled in unison. Then, our race knew peace.” Nos frowned down at his food. He had better manners than Ibin. “When King Bres and King Dagda sat upon the Silvered and Golden thrones.”
“Huh. But now the king and queen are…married? But still at war?” That sounded uncomfortable.
“A permanent but loving standoff. Abigail is always working to keep her husband Valroy from breaking the treaty or ending the truce or finding some way of shattering things and invading Earth.” Ibin shrugged. “So far, she’s been successful.”
“It has only been a few hundred years. In the span of time of our race, that is nothing, Ibin.” Nos finished his pastry and sat back. He could eat quick, for all his decorum. “The Seelie are forever…hopeful that peace can be maintained. They believe in the best of us all.”
More guilt trip. Great. Awesome. “Well, I for one, would like a tour of my new prison-home. Even if it is going to try to eat me. Because if I spend much more time cooped up in here with justyourhappy ass, I might go insane and try to stuff my own fist down my throat for a laugh.”
Ibin snorted. “I like her.”
Nos seemed far less amused.
Ava only smiled.
He pushed up from the table and headed for the door. “I only hope you know how to silence your attitude, Ava. For both our sakes.”
Picking up the book, she headed after him.
Fifty-fifty shot, historically speaking.
She opted not to tell him that.
CHAPTER TEN
Ava walked along beside Ibin as Nos led them through the Web. The moment they left their rooms, the Victorian chambers ceased and once more became the enormous overgrown Baroque archways of the Web. It would be beautiful, if it weren’t so terrifying.