Page 24 of What Fools These Immortals Be
“I don’t know. Just, if they start to panic…”
“I’ve got it.” His laugh is faint. “I take it you have it all under control?”
My eyes flick briefly up to Njáll. He has to have heard that, but there’s no evidence of it in his expression. “Yes. I’ll see you soon.”
“Bye.”
“You told one of the donors,” Njáll says, voice flat. “Not a vampire?”
“I find most vampires to be, at best, entirely insufferable, and you are not exactly helping to improve that opinion. Bel has been helpful during my time with your clan.”
“I’m sure.”
He doesn’t want to talk about it, but at least he knows better than to run. I sigh. “Why did you come here, Njáll?”
“Why does it matter?”
“Because you almost made a deal with two fae! Do you not understand how dangerous that is?”
“I was never in danger.”
He scoffs as he says it, and my eyes narrow. “Why did you follow me out of the pub?”
“What? I—”
“You didn’t want to. You don’t want to be here. You don’t want to answer to anyone but yourself, at least when it comes to whatever the fuck this is. So why are you here?”
“I-I don’t—” His eyes go wild, and it’s a few seconds before realisation dawns on his face. “You… What did you do?”
“Magic,” I say and revel for a second in the utter astonishment that overtakes him. “Fae magic. Like those fae were doing to you in the bar. Did you feel well? As you usually do?”
Njáll gapes at me, then snaps his mouth shut. His blue eyes go steely and cold. “You bespelled me?”
“Enough to get you out of there before those vampires—who weredefinitelylistening, by the way—decided that they’d heard enough to blackmail you.”
“They wouldn’t—”
“How would you know? How?”
“You don’t know either!” Njáll cries. He’s breathing hard now, truly angry, and I like the way it looks on him. This is the most alive I’ve seen him. “You don’t know anything about me or anything about the clan—You don’t know anything that isn’t outside of your fucking Hunt!”
I’m suddenly alight with fury, and I know the truth; it’s not because he’s wrong. I jump to my feet, and Njáll takes a step back in surprise, although he must know I do not intend to hurt him at all.
“Do you think I’ve noticed nothing in the weeks I’ve been here?” I say, and now my voice is pitched low, danger in it. “You hardly eat. I doubt you sleep. You’re taking on work that your chieftains have told you, repeatedly, they will handle in your stead. You avoid speaking with your ex-crai, even though he could help you, too, because, what? You’re afraid you won’t live up to the legacy he left behind?”
Njáll stares at me and swallows hard. Ah. I’ve hit a nerve, then.
I’m nothing if not observant.
Nothing if not troublesome.
“Well?” I say when he doesn’t answer.
Njáll breathes in deeply. Holds it. Lets it out.
“I’m going back to the clan house.”
“Wait.”
