Page 93 of Fractured
I put it down, fisted it, hid it behind my back—holy shit, Raja is here!
Her cloak covered her to her ankles. She had the hood down, her eyes as sharp as ever, her lips pressed into a thin line. She hadn’t changed a bit since the last time I saw her—when she basically served me to the Seelie soldiers in her own damn home.
Every instinct in my body came alive again, and my hand turned cooler still behind my back, but…
Rune had told her to give me to the soldiers, hadn’t he? He said he told Raja to deliver me to them because it was safer that way—and it had worked, hadn't it?
It hadworked.
“What the hell are you doing here, Raja?” The words barely left my lips, my voice bone-dry.
Slowly, I brought my hand to my side again—and the other began to cool in the center of my palm, too. The magic was right there, and it had my back. No matter what it made me that I had it—it was there for me to use, and Iwoulduse it, even against Raja.
“You didn’t answer my question.” She pushed back her cloak all dramatically, and the fabric was so light it basicallyflewto the side to reveal her dress—lace and leather and black, like always—and the sheath of her sword as she put it back in place. Without looking.
Show-off.
“Who were you telling to get behind you, mortal? There’s nobody here.”
She said this while Vair was standing there between us, looking at her and growling, showing her his teeth.
Well, fuck.
“Vair?” I said because I didn’t know what the hell to even think at this point.
Raja raised a brow.
Vair looked back at me. “Friend or foe?” he asked, and it was a damn difficult question.
“Friend of Rune,” I said because that’s what Raja was to me. She was a friend of Rune—his family, and she did care about him, so…
A gasp.
Raja moved back a step with both hands to her chest—because she’d looked down between us. She’d seen Vair.
How much stranger could this night even get?
“It’s okay, it’s okay—it’s just Vair,” I said, and the magic had retreated, faded away, because now I was afraid of what Raja might do. Scream for guards, attack him, or worse—run.
And I couldn’t let that happen, could I? Because that she was here meant that I could send a message to Rune. They were connected, basically family, and they could communicate through shadows the way Rune could communicate with me once—before Maera scratched me.
But Raja didn’t scream. She didn’t run, either, and when Vair sat down on his back legs and looked up at her calmly, she finally turned her eyes to me.
“Where did you get this?” she asked me, her voice carrying the same urgency as before when I went to her glowing with moon magic.
“Hefound me, actually. This is Vair. Vair, meet Raja.” And now I was feeling awkward in my own skin.
Raja shook her head at me. Vair looked up in question, like he expected me to know what the hell to do.
“It reeks of sorcery,” the woman said. “Did you make him?”
I could have laughed. “No, of course not. I told you—hefoundme.Just don’t scream, okay? I will explain?—”
“Explainwhatexactly? Are you sure she can be trusted?” Vair cut me off.
I widened my eyes at him—she was right there. Not that I cared if her feelings were hurt, but still. “Like I said, she’s Rune’s friend. I thought she betrayed me once, but Rune said she didn’t, so…”
“And you trust Rune,” the asshole said.
