Page 108 of What Fools These Immortals Be
“I’m getting you out of here.”
“What? I—You’ll get the Hunt killed.”
“I won’t,” Maurice says patiently, eyes trained on the stairs, “because you will tell them what I’ve done. You’ll get them tocome here and free whoever’s left. You’ll stop Augustine and prevent a war. Won’t you?”
My temper flares at the sheer arrogance of him, again, like the first night we met, but I can’t hold onto it for long. He’s going to—
“You’ll die.”
“Yes. I think so.”
He won’t look at me. “Maurice, you’ll—you won’t…” I shake my head. “I can’t leave you here.”
His gaze snaps from the stairs to me. “You can, and youwill. We have our responsibilities, don’t we? We have our duty.”
“And yours is to serve the Hunt!”
The door creaks open above. Footsteps sound at the top of the stairs.
“It’s to serveyou,” Maurice murmurs. “That’s what I lost my magic for, after all.”
He says nothing else. The fae are already here, four of them, none of whom I’ve seen before. Maurice gets warily to his feet, but then one of them, big and burly, waves a hand in my direction.
“Him, too.”
Maurice growls. “I saidIwanted to speak to Meilyr.”
“And Meilyr wants to speak with him,” the fae replies, unimpressed and not at all intimidated. “Get him up. Now.”
Two of the fae move towards me, but Maurice growls and turns his back on them, helping me to my feet. My arm is still broken, the ache pulsing whenever I move, but it healed a little while I slept.
I’m glad they’re taking me up with him, even if he’s clearly furious about it, coiled anger making his shoulders tense. One fae takes hold of my left side, but when another moves in towards where I’m injured, Maurice growls again.
“No,” he snarls, and the fae casts a doubtful look at the largest one who spoke before.
“Just get them both upstairs,” he says.
Maurice stays close to me as we move, and the fae surround us on the way up the stairs and into the kitchen. As we reach the top step, Maurice trips, falling into the largest fae up front.
“Keep hold of him,” the fae snaps.
Maurice growls quietly, and he’s directly ahead of me, so I can’t see the look on his face.
It doesn’t matter. We’re led into the living room, and the fae pushes Maurice into the same chair he sat in last night. I stand by his side. Meilyr is already waiting, eyes glittering in the low light. His lips curve up when he takes in the way I’m holding my arm, still wrapped as it is.
The fae move back once we’re in position, lining the walls. The big one is in front of the door, so the only way out now would be through the bay window, which Meilyr is sitting directly in front of.
“I trust you are not in too much pain,” Meilyr says to me, his voice mild. He reminds me of a snake or something like it, curled up and vigilant and waiting to strike.
Maurice stiffens in the chair even as I shake my head. “It will heal.”
“Given time, of course,” Meilyr replies. His gaze moves lazily over to Maurice. “But that time is limited, unless your hunter friend has something to tell me.”
Maurice stares at him for the length of three heartbeats. “I have conditions.”
Meilyr’s eyebrows rise. I think Maurice has genuinely surprised him. “You believe you are in a position to bargain?”
“Yes.” His voice is cold and steady in a way I’ve never heard from him, and I know why. Thisisa gamble, and we both know who will pay for it first. I find I don’t mind that so much, beyondthe obvious—I’d rather not die, and I’d rather not leave Maurice alone to face this.
