Page 63 of A Court of Sugar and Spice
“We’re still days from the Pool! I can’t—youwon’t—” I fly at him, punching his chest as hard as I can. I don’t care that the others from camp have arrived, that they’re watching. “You fucking bastard! You unfeeling piece of shit, you asshole—”
Lir seizes my wrists, pins them together in one hand, and clamps his other hand over my mouth. “I can’t let you speak to me that way in front of our companions,” he hisses. “Calm yourself. We’ll do everything we—”
“I’ll go after her.”
It’s Finias, white-faced and grim-jawed.
“Not even you can catch up to a Racer, Fin,” the Prince says.
“If it’s running at top speed, Clara will pass out,” Finias says. “Hopefully the Racer will notice and pause to bring her back to consciousness. Then it will have to go more slowly so she doesn’t die. It wants her for something. Racers don’t copulate, so it’s not for sex—and they don’t consume flesh. They live off soil, air, and sunshine. It’s probably taking her somewhere to sell her, or to sell her bodily fluids.” He turns to the moth-girl, Cahren. “Which way did it go?”
She points in a direction.
“They always run straight toward their destination,” says Finias. “All I need to do is run in that direction as well, until I find them. And when I find them, Louisa, I will bring Clara back to you. I promise.”
I nod, releasing a sob against Lir’s palm. Tears overflow, running down my cheeks onto his fingers. He lets me go, his hand cupping my chin in a brief caress, almost an apology.
“I know you need me for the next part of the journey, Lir,” Finias says, his golden eyes desperate. “The Ravine will be full of the Rat King’s forces. But Clara—”
“Go,” says the Prince. “Save her. We’ll make it through without you, somehow.”
Finias gives him a grateful nod. “I’ll meet up with you again as soon as I can. Louisa, take my satchel of spells. There’s a guide in the front pocket. Study it, and use them.”
“Me?” I gasp. “Shouldn’t it be Lir who uses them, or—”
“No, he’s right,” says the Prince. “You have a warrior’s instinct, the mind of a strategist. You will use the spells.”
Finias grips my hand briefly, a fierce promise. “I’ll save her,” he says.
And then he’s off, speeding down the bank of the stream like an arrow.
“He’ll fly when he needs to,” says Lir. “But he’s faster on foot as long as the way is clear enough.”
The other mercenaries are turning away, muttering amongst themselves as they shuffle back to camp. I face the Prince, gratitude and anger churning in my chest. “Next time, don’t cover my mouth.”
“I couldn’t let a mortal girl speak to me that way in front ofthem.” He speaks low, with a jerk of his head toward the mercenaries’ receding figures. “They already lack respect for me.”
I clench my teeth, hating that he makes sense. “Fine. But I didn’t like it.”
“Fair enough.”
“Thank you, though. For letting Fin go after her.”
“I doubt I could have stopped him. There’s something between them. I’m sure you’ve noticed.”
“Oh, I’ve noticed. She told me they’ve fucked, at least twice. And he watches her all the time, hovers near her, smiles whenever she speaks. It’s rather adorable.”
“I haven’t seen him like this with anyone.” Lir says the words gravely, as if they carry a deeper meaning.
“You think he’s—in love with her? I thought maybe he just wanted to fuck a human, for fun…” My voice trails off at the stormy look on Lir’s face.
“My cousin is the only one who could have ensured our safe passage through what lies ahead—a Ravine overrun by the Rat King’s troops and monsters. Fin has abandoned this quest, knowing full well that leaving me now likely means I will fail, and we will all die. Yet he departed without question, without pause. His affection for your sister outweighed his love and loyalty to me, his kin. And his duty to the entire kingdom of Seelie.”
The heaviness of dreads weighs my stomach. “And you let him go,” I whisper. “You gave him permission, knowing his absence might mean capture and death for the rest of us.”
“Clara’s safety is important to you,” the Prince says stiffly, avoiding my eyes. “And I happen to like your sister. She’s far less argumentative than you are. Besides, as I said, Fin would have gone after her anyway.”
He starts to move away, but I catch his hand. “Lir. Thank you.”
