Page 46 of Fae Champion

“Don’t pander. It doesn’t suit you.”

“It’s better than the truth.”

“No, it isn’t. The truth’s always better, no matter what.”

When she didn’t say anything else, I flung open the door to the antechamber in anticipation of Rush’s return. “Whatever you’re really thinking,” I pressed, “I want to know.”

“It’s time to go. We’ve tarried enough already. Surely the drakes have made the necessary preparations to deliver you to the Hall of Mirrors by now.”

With purposeful strides, I stalked to the bench seat at the foot of my bed and sat primly. Tilting my head toward her expectantly, I prepared to wait her out.

Pru huffed loudly, but didn’t speak.

“As the goblin appointed to assist me,” I said, “you’re required to do as I ask, yes?”

Pru pressed her lips together, eking out a “Yes” from between them.

“Then let me have it. The truth.”

Another sigh, this time resigned. Pru studied the claws on her black dragon feet. “As much as we might talk and wish and … hope … the land only has so much power left. The queen’s taken it all. There’s nothing left for anyone else. Until she dies, which she might never do, there’s no chance of anyone ever becoming more powerful than her. It doesn’t matter what any of us want or don’t want. It’s just what is.”

I was digesting that fact when the door to the hallway opened and closed quickly, and Rush’s footfallswhispered across the anteroom. His head peeked around the door, his eyes immediately finding me. Their moonlight swirled as he devoured the sight of me.

“It’s time to go,” he growled, a rough purr that had my center clenching and another memory of him inside me flashing through my thoughts.

Then I remembered he was delivering me to the queen, who planned to kill me at the earliest opportunity. I rose, smiled somberly at Pru, then brushed past him, allowing the backs of my fingers to whisper across the bulge beneath his belt.

He sucked in a sharp breath that whistled through his teeth, but I didn’t look back.

My next fight wasn’t tomorrow.

It wasn’t in the arena in view of a mob of spectators.

It was tonight.

In the palace, entirely wretched behind all its fancy opulence.

Beneath the guise of civility and glowing chandeliers, the battle for my survival awaited.

“Are you coming?” I called to Rush over my shoulder, then opened the door to the hallway and stepped out.

14.THE DARK QUEEN MUST DIE

More elegant than I’d ever seen him, Rush wore a fitted, iridescent slate gray jacket that matched his pants, both skimming his muscles and accentuating his sculpted waist and narrow hips. A single short sword hung from his belt—as if the queen’s court weren’t as dangerous as the arena, where he would have been armed to the teeth.

“I wish you the fortune of dragons, milady,” Pru said as she snaked through the open door. But Rush yanked it shut before I could respond.

Brows arched, I asked, “What’s got your britches in a twist? I mean, other than the obvious?”

He steered me by the elbow rapidly down the hall. I had to take two steps to his every one in the silly heels, but I made sure to keep up, unwilling to risk him scooping me up in his arms again so we’d move faster.

“Isn’t it enough that I’m delivering you to Her Majesty knowing she may order you killed on the spotfor your treason?” he grumbled, skirting the line of what content was acceptable for the two severed ears bobbing along the seam of ceiling and wall of the corridor.

I glanced up at them, wondering what would happen if I swatted them away—or even captured them.

At the far end of the hall, Ryder, Hiroshi, and West stood in a line, three mighty, thorned trees stuffed into civilized clothing. Like Rush, their expressions were grim.

“I can’tbelieveyou’d try to escape and put me in this position,” Rush snarled without even looking at me.

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