Page 70 of The King’s Queen

Yes, Noctus had deadly magic—I’d seen him with his heirloom weapons. He could be terrifying.

But the elf portals, barriers, charms, and similar magic I’d seen, all of it had been sharp and strong, certainly, but notdeadly.

Well…except that outlawed magic those elf teenagers tested out that Noctus nearly smited them for.

The front counter creaked when Joy leaned against it, reminding me that my sister—who didn’t know about my visit to Noctus in honor of the Paragon’s wishes—was present. I needed to be careful in our conversation.

“Isn’t all magic like that?” I asked. “Wizards and their control over elements, werewolves with their insane strength—all magic has the potential to be deadly.”

“I don’t know. I’ve seen shadow creatures capable of…” She glanced at Joy and trailed off. Leila tugged on her coat, and I recognized the same, unsettled energy in her that I occasionally saw in upset cats. “The power scale is different,” she concluded.

I mashed my lips together as I gazed up at Leila’s face.

The Paragon said she’s been attacked by elf magic…she’s strong, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t scare her. I get it, I’m terrified of the tracker. But it’s not fair. It’s elves like the tracker and whoever he’s working with that do so much damage, when Noctus works secretly to help Magiford and is treated with suspicion.

This was why Noctus would never risk coming forward.

Because there was no guarantee supernaturals would even give them a chance before they’d judge the elves of Calor Villa.

“Unfortunately,” Leila continued in a lowered tone, “it seems like it’s also behind many of the troubles in Magiford these days.”

I glanced at Joy, who had pulled out her cellphone. “Surely it’s not behindeverything,” I said.

Leila looked back to make sure the baristas hadn’t surfaced. “I imagine your brother hasn’t told you because it hasn’t been cleared for public knowledge just yet, but you of all people deserve to know, Chloe. The incident last week? That was elf magic.”

By this point I was considering going and finding Landon myself because I wanted this conversation to beover—Leila might be thinking Joy wasn’t listening, but I knew better, and I didn’t want this conversation putting any ideas in her head.

“I thought the elves were gone,” Joy said, proving my point.

Leila hesitated, but she must have concluded that Joy would find out from Pat eventually, because she continued, “It seems like some of their magic has survived—which isn’t that surprising. Enough time has passed that those whoknewbetter than to dabble with danger like that are gone, and our generation is naïve enough to think they can handle it.” Leila flashed us a smile. “But, I wouldn’t take it to heart, Chloe. You’re safe here. I promise.”

Joy’s shoulders relaxed marginally, and I forced myself to smile, feeling like a horrible traitor.

“Thanks,” I lamely said.

French Fry seemed to pick up on my mood, because he suddenly thrust one of his bird feet up, mashing it against my mouth. It took me a moment to realize he was pressing a French fry to my lips.

I cranked my head back to avoid the who-knew-how-old fry. “No thanks, but that’s very kind of you…wait.” I frowned down at my feathery and furry friend. “Where did you evengetthat? You didn’t have any when we got in here!”

French Fry waved his treasure at me some more, still offering it out.

“That’s very interesting behavior,” Leila said.

“Pardon?” I had to lower French Fry so he was propped against my stomach instead of my chest—he kept swiping his probably germ-infested fry too close to my mouth for comfort.

“I’ve never seen a trash griffin act so nurturing,” Leila said. “He really does care for you.”

“I’m sure he cares for you since you’re his queen,” I said, feeling obligated to attempt to get French Fry in his monarch’s good graces, even if French Fry himself was too oblivious to.

Leila laughed. “You don’t have to worry about him hurting my feelings. I love my Court animals—all of them—but as I said earlier, they have their own wills. I want them to be happy in their own style, and I couldn’t possibly house them all if they all wanted to live with a person, anyway.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say he’s living with me—”

French Fry took advantage of my open mouth and thrust his stale, cardboard textured French fry in my mouth, earning a yelp from me.

Mindful of Landon’s complaining, I rushed to a garbage can and spat the fry out while the very proud trash griffin crawled onto my shoulder and Joy chuckled.

Leila was kind enough to pour me a glass of water from the plastic pitcher and cups the café had set up by their napkins, silverware, and busing station, breaking café rules in the process as she dropped Muffin’s leash to juggle everything.

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