Page 77 of Throne of Ice and Blood

But then I jerk back, shock crackling through my veins.

Because the blond woman is gone.

My mind spins and my mouth drops open as I stare at the person now standing before me instead.

It’s still a woman who looks to be between twenty-five and thirty with that timeless look that marks her as not human.

But her long blond hair is now black, and her eyes…

Her eyes are yellow and violet. Both colors mixed in both eyes like swirls of paint. Which means…

“You’re fae,” I blurt out.

She smiles a slow feline smile, which makes her look more like a smirking cat than a person, as she watches me. “And so are you.”

“B-but how…” I glance from side to side, but the elegant hallway is empty apart from us. I meet her eyes again while shaking my head. “The blond woman?”

“A glamour.” She lets out a smug chuckle and arches a dark eyebrow. “Very useful magical ability for someone such as me.”

“But I don’t understand. Who are you?”

“My name is Nysara.”

“No, I mean,whoare you? How did you get here? Why do you live here? How did you even get out of the Seelie Court?”

Nysara gives me another one of those slow smiles. “Oh child, I am not from the Seelie Court.”

For a few seconds, all I can do is to just stand there on the pale wooden floorboards and stare at her. My pulse is thrumming so hard that I can hear it pounding in my ears. Then at last, my spinning mind catches up and I realize what she’s actually telling me.

“You’re from the Unseelie Court.” The words come out as little more than a whisper.

“Yes,” Nysara replies. She flicks her gaze up and down my body. “You look like you’re about to faint. Perhaps we should sit down.”

Before I can even open my mouth to respond, she is already walking towards the doorway to my left. Candlelight dances over the pale walls as she brings the candelabra with her. Giving my head a quick shake, I try to snap out of my stupor and scramble after her.

She leads me into an elegant dining room. A grand table with eight chairs around it takes up most of the floor space in the middle of the room. Nysara glides towards it and sets the candelabra down on the smooth tabletop. Then she claims a seat. I sit down opposite her while she reaches for a crystal decanter that is waiting on a silver tray beside where she set the candelabra.

“Wine?” she asks without even looking at me.

My first instinct is to politely decline since I don’t want to be troublesome. But I get the feeling that I’m going to need a glass of wine to help me through this conversation.

“Yes, please,” I reply.

A soft laugh ripples from her throat. “So polite.”

I would have assumed that that’s a good thing, but the way she says it makes it sound like an insult. However, I don’t have the brain capacity left to think about that, because there are a million other questions ringing inside my skull right now. Drawing in a long breath, I try to gather my wits enough to figure out which question to ask first. In the end, Nysara decides for me.

“So,” she begins while she pours dark red wine into two gleaming glasses. “You are one of the life slaves from the palace, and you have come here without a collar, which means that you are here to beg for my help to get out of the city. Am I right?”

“Yes. And no.”

She raises her eyebrows in surprise. After she has finished pouring the wine, she sets the crystal decanter down on the silver tray again. Then she slides one of the glasses towards me before picking up the other and taking a sip.

“Oh?” she asks.

“I’m here because I need you to getallof us out of the city,” I say, and then add, “Please.”

“All of you, huh? Then where are the others?”

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