Page 89 of A Court of Hearts and Hunger
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The sound of angry voices rouses me from a nap. I sit up, tossing back my hair, wishing I had a comb. It’s becoming dreadfully tangled.
The Cat and the Rabbit—Caer and Riordan—are coming down the stairs, approaching my cell. I stand up, brushing the wrinkles out of the blue outfit Caer gave me.
“I thought you were skilled at seduction, Caer.” Riordan’s voice is low and gravelly, threaded with frustration. “By your own boast, I assumed you’d slept with half the Court over the past ten years. Yet you cannot lure one tender Seelie female into your bed?”
“I’m very seductive,” says Caer haughtily.
“Perhaps your heart isn’t in it, then,” Riordan says in a lower tone. “You’re letting your desire to nest with the little human get in the way.”
“I’m not.”
“Then where is the Seelie artist? I told you to bring her back here as soon as possible. There’s something not right about her. I think she’s wearing a glamour.”
“Her and half the Court,” Caer says. “Nothing strange about that. Gods, you’re usually the patient one, Riordan. Have a little self-control.”
“Self-control?” Riordan hisses. “You know what’s at stake.”
“Yes, and I have the little Seelie exactly where I want her,” Caer replies. “She’s practically salivating for my cock. I’ll bring her back here tonight, and then you can question her about what you saw in her painting. I’m not convinced it’s anything useful—”
“Because you haven’t studied magic for centuries,” Riordan snaps. “Trust me, I know what I saw, and I know what it means.”
“You’re sure it’s acomhartha dia?”
“I swear it on my heart’s flesh.”
“And that means…”
“It means the Queen is under a curse. Her immunity to harm, her resistance to magic, her craving for living hearts—it’s all part of a deeply knotted spell, an eldritch hex that is rare in this realm.”
They’re close to my cell now. On impulse, I lie back down, cover myself with a blanket, and focus on breathing slowly. If they think I’m asleep, perhaps they’ll speak more freely. If I’m to get out of this alive, I need all the information I can get.
“If the Queen’s under a curse, then it can be broken,” Caer says quietly. “That’s her weakness.”
“Now you understand.” Riordan’s voice rolls deeper than usual, rich with hope. “The Tama Olc contains information about the god-touched hexes. I simply have to study it, find out which curse was used, and discover how to break it.”
A long silence, during which I can almost feel them looking at me through the barred window. Then Caer whispers, “Be as gentle as you can with her.”
“You know I don’t have that luxury.”
“How do we know it’s a curse from the Tama Olc? The book hasn’t even been in this realm for years. Maybe it’s something else.”
“Seeing that symbol brought back a long-ago memory—my father reading aloud from the Tama Olc, telling me about a similar curse. From what I recall, its effects don’t quite match the Queen’s circumstances, but it’s close. Someone may have copied a few of the spells and altered them. Perhaps she even did this to herself, intending to become all-powerful. The book is the key. I need to access it. I must make our prisoner yield it to me.”
“But I like the little human, Riordan.” The Cat’s words are so soft they barely reach my ears. “She is clever, adorable, fierce, sweet-scented—the taste of her mouth makes my cock so hard I can barely think.”
Riordan’s voice is a growl. “Go and get the supplies I asked for. Put them in the examination chamber, and then go upstairs if you cannot bear to witness this.”
“You like her too,” Caer throws at him. “I know you, and I can see it.”
“You’re imagining things.”
“The fuck I am.”
Riordan doesn’t respond. Caer scoffs, and then his light footfalls fade down the hallway.
A moment later, the door to my cell opens.
