“Not if I can help it.”
The possibility twisted through me with surprising sadness. I may not have known Mora well, but she’d done nothing but helpmy friends. She’d fought by their side in the final battle against Kakias and in the catacombs.
Sure, she had orders from her queen to obey, but Mora presented such a genuine front, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she helped us all on her own.
Celissia’s eyes were on Mora as she said with a curious air, “There’s more to them than we know. I can tell.”
“Why do you think that?” I asked.
“Because there’s more to me, as well.”
I wasn’t sure what she meant, but she had an interesting background, from studying in the citadel to her father’s house. There had to be secrets to her. “It’s been good for Santorina to have someone besides our incompetent asses around.”
Celissia laughed. “You’re all very skilled in other areas. It’s been interesting watching your unit function as a group these weeks.”
“How so?” I asked, as the chatter behind us picked up.
“You’re all strong fighters and intelligent minds, but you excel in very different areas. Or perhaps you prefer slightly different subjects.” She shook her head, waving off the distinction. “You balance each other. Much in the way ether winds through the world to ensure the balance of power, your group instills harmony.”
I swallowed past a thick throat. “We do.”
And if one person was removed from that carefully-crafted machine, the balance was lost. I watched the gates again.
“What in the name of Bant’s golden cock are you on about now?” Barrett blurted with a laugh.
Brystin groaned. Somehow, the prince had turned the fae into the exasperated one. “You cannot truly believe your magic isthatdefensive?”
Celissia and I faced the pair. Dax, Lancaster, and Mora all observed at a safe distance, equally amused. Except Lancaster. His face remained as impassive as ever.
“You’ve exposed the cyphers as being a path to harming the fae.” Barrett waved a hand at the injury in the male’s shoulder, still bleeding slowly. “The land of Gallantia isagainstyou.”
“But you do not know how to use it. In our culture, words are the sharpest weapons.”
I stiffened. “What are you saying?”
Brystin flashed me another of those infuriating smirks. One that had the hair on the back of my neck standing and said,I’m glad you finally caught on. This was getting so boring. “You truly think a simple bargain is keeping my queen off your land? Imagine the facade…”
Mora’s head snapped up, worry widening her eyes.
Facade?
“What kind of facade?” I snapped, grabbing Brystin by the collar. He smiled cruelly at Mora, and her face drained of color.
Facade…Glamour.
Shoving Brystin back against a tree, I snarled. “What the fuck did your queen do?”
Dax and Barrett jumped on the fae, interrogating him to pick through his half-truths and evasions.
“Ophelia,” I growled, whirling back toward the gates as a storm rumbled through my chest, “hurry the fuck up with that emblem.”
Because it seemed we had much more immediate problems brewing.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Tolek
The Angelsclearly don’t want me to participate in their trivial hunt for emblems.
