Page 27 of Quiver of Cobras
She sighed. ‘He wants to own you. He probablybelieveshe owns you. A lion keeper in a zoo probably thinks the same about his lion. But that doesn’t mean the keeper would fully trust a wild animal.’
I preferred the straightforward lion analogy to the wild animal one. ‘I certainly feel like I’m caged up,’ I admitted. ‘Even if Rubus is no longer locking me in my room.’
Artemesia grimaced. ‘Locking you up?’
I smirked. ‘I’m the Queen of the Jungle. He’s scared of me.’
‘Except he’s the emperor,’ she pointed out grimly. ‘Don’t mistake fear for wariness. Or cunning. Look, this is only the second time I’ve met you so I’m going on hearsay rather than solid fact.’
I nodded and waved a hand at her. ‘Idle gossip goes further than most people realise. I understand its usefulness. Go on.’
‘Everyone was surprised when you ran to Rubus. We all knew about his rivalry with Morgan. Most Fey put it down to typical sibling rivalry – that kind of behaviour is hardly unique. We also all knew that Rubus had been angling after you for years. You were known for being quite vocal in your refusals.’
I clasped my chest with both hands. ‘Me? Vocal? I can’t believe it.’
Artemesia smiled. ‘Anyway, one minute you were all googly-eyed with Morgan and there was talk of a wedding.’
I blinked. ‘Really?’
‘It was a big deal. Everyone wanted to know who was special enough to get an invitation. It’s not easy for us being here, you know. Anything that can take our minds off Mag Mell and home is a good thing.’
‘Like pixie dust,’ I agreed.
She tutted. ‘Notlike pixie dust. That’s different. It’s an addictive drug that you use to get people to do whatever you want. A wedding is happy and fun.’
‘Drugs are happy and fun.’ I paused. ‘Until they’re soul-destroying and family-wrecking and mind-eating and body-killing. Then again, I’ve heard that about marriage too.’
‘Indeed.’ Artemesia raised her eyebrows and watched me for a moment without speaking. No wonder she was an apothecary-scientist type of faery; I felt like a bug under a microscope every time she looked at me. ‘Word is that you popped the question. You got down on one knee and Morgan agreed.’
My mouth felt suddenly dry. ‘Oh.’
‘The next minute you’d abandoned him and were shacking up with Rubus.’ She narrowed her eyes. ‘It all happened very quickly.’
I couldn’t fathom it. In certain lights, it could be argued that Rubus was the better looking of the two. Plus, while Morgan was no timid mouse, Rubus did appear more self-assured. Ostensibly, he also had greater power because more Fey seemed to trail round after him – and not all of them were dust addicts. But Morgan was kind. He had a way of looking at you as if you were the only person in the world. Every faery had green eyes but Morgan’s contained flecks of warmth. He would risk his life for a stranger for no other reason than because it was right thing to do. He would kiss me in a hard and possessive way, thrusting my body up against a wall, one hand in my hair while the other slid down my body, ripping off my clothes, cupping my breasts, his skin hot against mine, his cock pressing…
‘You’re turning red,’ Artemesia commented.
I coughed. ‘Everything you’ve said suggests to me that Rubus would bemoreinclined to trust me. If I abandoned his brother for him, surely I’d deserve to be in the inner circle.’
She shrugged. ‘All I’m saying is what I heard. Rubus apparently kept you on a very short leash. He frequently had people checking up on you. You were his best pixie-dust dealer but he still shut you out of meetings and still turned up at odd moments to make sure you were doing what you were supposed to be doing.’
I scratched my head. Hmmm. ‘This has to be because I was a spy infiltrating Rubus’s ranks for the well-being of the world and he already had suspicions about my true nature.’
‘So what’s different now?’
I grinned at her. ‘Now I’m asuperspy.’
Artemesia rolled her eyes. ‘Whatever. It didn’t look like you were doing a great job of spying when I saw you out on the street. You were flapping your arms and running after an old man.’
‘An old man with unbelievable sprinting prowess who’d been crawling around the Manchester rooftops in order to follow me.’
‘See? He’s probably another one of Rubus’s lot.’
‘No.’ I shook my head. ‘Something about this guy was different.’
‘Green eyes?’
‘I didn’t get close enough to see.’ I gnawed my bottom lip. ‘Keep looking for that amnesia cure,’ I told her. ‘I’ll keep working on Rubus. He’s planning something, I can tell.’
