Page 19 of Fae Champion

“Are you … inviting me to sit beside you?” she eventually whispered, glancing all around the tiny chamber as if searching for hidden eavesdroppers. The ear hovered by the door; she skimmed right over it without a hitch.

“Obviously,” I answered. “I’d love to offer you a chair, but as you can see, I’m a bit limited in my choices.”

She shuffled forward, dragging those big, floppy dragon feet of hers, gaping some more at the vacant spot.

I chuckled at the spectacle before remembering some of the reasons why she’d be so shocked I wantedto treat her like an equal. My mirth fled, and I paused my eating.

I smiled despite my predicament. “Pru, I meant it when I told you I want us to be friends.”

She looked up at me with those black, depthless eyes. They were shining, and she furiously blinked until they gleamed no more than usual. Gradually she nodded, her scraggly hair moving stiffly around her narrow shoulders.

I nibbled on the plum. “Thank you for the food. I wasn’t sure you’d come.”

“I thought you were in the … other dungeon. And we goblins aren’t allowed to go there.”

I swallowed thickly. “Oh? How’d you find out where I was, then?”

“One of the queen’s goblins told me.”

“I see.” Suddenly, the plum lost its flavor, and I set it down on the plate. Stare fixed on the bobbing ear, I whispered, “Is Rush okay?”

“I don’t know, Mistress.” Softer now: “He asked me to report back to him on how you’re doing though.”

Was that because he cared? Or because he was meant to know everything about me to do his job for the queen?

“And the fights,” I said. “Who won today?”

She rattled off the familiar names I was hoping to hear. I sucked in a deep breath. “Did anyone die?”

“Yes, Mistress. There are now fourteen contestants left to fight tomorrow, and that includes you.”

I nodded, unsure how to feel anymore. “What happened with all of Braque’s potions? The pit? Someone closed it?”

“Ivar did.”

“And Braque?”

“He’s back to his usual self.”

What a shame. I liked the chicken beak and leg look on him.

I needed to ask, but at the same time I didn’t want to know: “The queen?”

Pru studied me, the bed, me again, then climbed up onto the mattress, swinging her short legs over the side once she settled in. After another sweep of the room for listeners, “Mistress shouldn’t disrespect Her Majesty, or it’ll be off with our heads.”

“Yes, yes, I know.” I chewed on a block of cheese.

“Many of the fae in the arena are being very disrespectful to Her Majesty too. It’s not good. Her subjects should show her respect and do what she says.”

If I understood what Pru was trying to say without saying it, after I left, and after the guard incited the spectators to rebel against the queen, some were indeed doing so.

“What’s the queen … doing to stop them?” I asked, wondering if the queen herself might be listening to us now.

“Whatever she needs to,” Pru answered shortly. It was the last of the useful information she offered me, and when she caught me eyeing the gap between the door and the hallway beyond, she shook her head.

“There’s no point to it,” she said cryptically, but Iheeded her warning—for now. If Xeno and Saffron might truly be but one floor away, I had to at least try to get to them.

With promises to come fetch me the next day for my match, and to seek a book for me to read, Pru left too soon. Her final words to me were: “Behave, Mistress, or Her Majesty will have your head.”

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