Page 4 of Faerie Hunted

We’d come to an understanding.

“Will you walk with us?” Laina extended her other elbow to me and I swallowed an exhausted groan.

The last thing I wanted to do was walk. What choice did I have? It wasn’t like I was in a position to say no to the queen herself.

I bowed my head in deference before I moved to her side and slid my arm through hers.

The moment we lurched into motion, Mike shifted to stand on my other side, and Laina bent her head to mine and spoke in an undertone too low for anyone passing to catch.

“There have been a few updates, mostly concerning my recent conversation with King Tywin,” she whispered.

I jerked at the name. “What did he say?”

“I went to bat for you.” She scrunched her pretty face, her mouth a hard line and her desire for me to shut my damn mouth evident. “And in the course of our discussion, I managed to get you reinstated in the kitchens. Your job is safe.”

I inwardly cringed at the mention of my old job working for Raelynn, the busty fae in desperate need of an attitude adjustment. Not so exciting news.

“I’m also convinced that the king has a completely warped view of you, Tavi. As far as I know, in speaking to Mike regarding everything happening over the course of the last year, this has all been a misunderstanding or a mere coincidence,” Laina continued.

“It’s true,” Mike insisted hotly.

His trust meant the world to me. And under different circumstances I’d have a lot more to say and a better outlook for the future.

But the tight skin and hot flashes made thinking almost impossible.

For whatever miracle I’d received that earned me Mike’s trust, I’d be forever grateful. There was a point in our near past where I thought we’d never be on the same page again. Sometimes I wait to wake up from this nightmare and be right back at square one.

Plus the queen appeared to have genuine affection for me, which certainly helped. Laina was the reason I’d been cleared of all suspicion regarding the pure-blood fae murders and the tarot reader Madam Muerte’s untimely death.

“Darlings, compose yourselves. We’re being watched.” Laina straightened, her gaze fixed on something in the distance that grew larger with each passing breath.

I tried to focus on the figures and failed miserably when everything went blurry.

“What is it, Mom?” Mike’s voice hardened.

“We’ve been expecting a delegation of several leaders from distant regions. We were unsure of their arrival but it seems to me they have recently crested the borders of our city.”

I glanced up in time to see her face twist into a beatific smile, the apples of her cheeks pink and her eyes kind.

A mask. A different kind of magic.

“You two be careful and watch out for each other. I need to take my leave. Michael, my love, I’ll see you in a few days.”

Laina raised on the tips of her toes to kiss her much taller son on his cheek before gliding away from us back toward the castle. Faster than I’d seen her move in the past with her feet hardly touching the ground.

The moment the queen was out of earshot, I cast a concerned look at Mike. “Distant leaders? Why are they coming here?”

And why was his mother practically running back to the safety of the castle,awayfrom them?

A hard pit in my stomach grew into a chasm, and sensing the change in my mood, Noren whined and pressed against my leg.

Mike hardly spared a glance for the direwolf now. He’d gotten used to the addition and, I halfway suspected, was curious how this would play out.

“When other diplomats come to visit, Mom…”

Mike dropped his voice and at the same time lifted a wall of silence around us. A full one would be much too noticeable, but this spell dampened our conversation enough to avoid suspicion or eavesdropping.

“Mom remains in seclusion so no one can discover her status as a half-blood witch. It would cause a huge scandal, and some of the more bigoted leaders of the realm might use it as a ploy to try and unseat my father. It’s always been this way.”

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