Page 217 of Lady of Starfire

Mordecai turned to her. “You didn’t tell them?”

“Tell us what?” Cassius gritted out.

The seraph shook his head, shooting Nuri a look to which she smiled mockingly and made her way back to the table.

For the next twenty minutes, they listened to the seraph and Nuri try to convince them they had been working against Alaric as much as they could. Cyrus had so many questions, but he held them back, evaluating every word they said. It made sense when he really thought about it, but even so, he couldn’t risk trusting them based on their word alone.

When he said as much, Mordecai nodded. Nuri appeared bored out of her mind, head resting in her hand that was propped on the table and her eyes closed. Cyrus wasn’t even sure she was listening at this point. Maybe she had actually fallen asleep.

“How, exactly, do you plan to prove any of this to us?” Cassius asked. Neither of them had touched their ale.

“Because I know how to find what you are looking for,” Nuri said, eyes still closed.

“How could you possibly know that?” Cyrus asked.

“Because I already found it. Sort of.”

“Again, how could you possibly know what we are looking for?” Cyrus repeated.

Nuri finally opened her eyes, reaching over and pulling Mordecai’s half-empty mug of ale to herself. The seraph didn’t appear to care when she took a long drink from it.

“We were sent in to search the Fellowship,” Mordecai answered. “It took days for Scarlett’s flames to finally go out, but the moment they did, we spent nearly two weeks searching through the rubble.”

“If you found it, why doesn’t Alaric have it?” Cassius asked, his gaze also fixed on Nuri, who had shifted so she was angled towards Mordecai now.

“Because my orders were to search for it until I found it. Which I have not,” Nuri answered.

“I thought you said you already found it,” Cyrus said skeptically.

“No. I said I knowhowto find it.”

“You really have been working against him?” Cassius asked, eyeing her carefully.

And that thing Cyrus had glimpsed in her eyes shifted again, something haunted flickering across her features. She had them schooled again just as quickly. “I am many things. He has made me into many things. But that does not mean I wish to be those things,” she finally answered.

Mordecai’s wings rustled, one lifting and curving around her.

“So where is it?” Cassius asked.

“Better yet,whatis it?” Cyrus countered.

“About that…” Her eyes dragged to Cassius. “You’re going to need your mommy’s help.”

Cassius jerked back from the table. “What?”

“Her mother created them. Since it was her enchantment, your blood can find it. Relations and all that. But I don’t know how your magic tricks work, so you’re going to need her help,” she said, fingers beginning to drag up and down Mordecai’s forearm.

“I’m going to need you to cut the bullshit,” Cyrus said. He was tired, hungry, and if she had information to make this whole thing go faster, it was high time she spit it the fuck out, especially if she was on their side as she claimed.

“It is my understanding they are known as the Semiria rings,” Mordecai said, eyes flicking down to where Nuri had started dragging a nail along a vein.

“The rings that let the Fae access their gifts inside the mortal wards?” Cassius asked.

“There are only two Semiria rings,” Cyrus said. “Eliné and Henna each had one. Alaric never had one.”

“But at one time there werethreeFae Queens,” Nuri said. “Surely you’ve realized by now the third was a jealous thing and felt slighted for being given the mortal territories to rule over, while her sisters got the powerful Fae Courts.”

“The rings were nothing special when they first came here,” Mordecai said, hand coming up to still Nuri’s fingers. She scowled at him. “They were simple family crest rings, but they were created into something more when they were used to hide a portal key.”

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