Page 15 of A City of Emeralds and Envy
“Oh, thank the gods.” My voice cracks and I bow over, clutching my chest. “Fuck you, Riordan! I thought you meant—I thought he was dead.” I take a moment to collect the pieces of my half-shattered heart and reassemble it before I manage to ask, “Changed him how?”
“I think that’s too much for you to hear right now.”
I draw in a slow breath. Maybe he’s right—black spots are still swimming across my tear-filled vision. “You still haven’t explained how you got into that armor.”
“When I found out what had happened to Caer, I knew I couldn’t handle him on my own. My magic is not the aggressive kind, as you know. I’m not like Finias, with his flamboyant attack spells.”
There’s a twinge of jealousy in his tone, and that, more than anything else, convinces me that it’s really him.
He rises from the crouch, a sigh gusting hollowly through his helmet. “I asked the Green Wizard to give me something that would help me face Caer without him killing me. Within seconds of my wish, this suit of armor formed around me. It’s impenetrable. Preserves my body in perfect health, even though I can’t eat, drink, shit, or fuck. I haven’t felt the air on my face in what feels like a lifetime.”
I peer up at him. “Your ears must be horribly cramped in there.”
“It’s torture.” The agonized quiet of his tone sends an answering pang through my heart.
What is wrong with me? I refuse to feel bad for him—I’mangrywith him. I’m fucking furious. He sent me back to the human realm, because he was convinced he knew what was best for me. He thought he understood my emotions better than I did.
He was wrong. So wrong.
“You were a fool to make a wish to the Wizard,” I snap at him. “Especially after you found out what Caer’s wish did to him. And I’m strong enough to hear the truth, by the way.”
“Not tonight,” he says. “No more revelations this evening, kitten—you’ve had more than your share of shocks today. And you may call me a fool, but aren’t you and your friend headed to see the same wizard tomorrow?”
I wince. “Yes.”
“And what will you wish for?”
“Iwasgoing to wish to be transported to the Unseelie Kingdom.”
“The Wizard would have fulfilled your request—he has no choice, you see. He is forced to grant a wish to each supplicant, not out of mercy, but because of some dire compulsion. So yes, he would grant it—but you’d have landed in a den of Unseelie monsters, most likely. He twists every wish into a curse.”
“Well, I still have to visit him. I have to at leasttryto free you two boneheads from your respective curses.” I rise, brushing off my dress. “Waste of a perfectly good wish, if you ask me.”
A muffled chuckle from the helmet.
I narrow my eyes at him. “Are youlaughing?”
“No matter how you may feel about me, Alice, I am glad to see you.”
His use of my name sends a tremor through me, mostly centered between my legs. He and Caer have featured prominently in my fantasies each time I touched myself. Every memory I had of them has been teased out, relived, and expanded during many lonely nights.
The fact that Riordan is here, just as untouchable and just as supremely infuriating as ever—it’s more than I can handle. And I hate to admit that, almost as much as I hate the barrier of metal between me and his mouth.
7
I could dance like this forever, reeling beneath the stars, surrounded by swirling blue figures.
“Do all the Fae wear blue?” I could swear I asked the question in my mind, but one of the villagers near me replies, “Blue is the color of the sunny sky, the hue of the arch in which the crows fly. We wear it as a sign of respect for them. It is the natural color of reverence and truth. All servants of the crows know this in their bones. You and your pet wear it too. You must be true servants as well.”
“True servants—yes, that’s me and Alice.” I laugh lightly, mockingly, but unease twitches inside me as I glance around, searching the dancers for the pale-haired girl I came with. She’s nowhere to be seen.
I don’t naturally care about the wellbeing of others, but I’ve taught myself the patterns followed by people who do care. I can propel myself through the thought chain a normal human would follow, and thus determine what my emotional response should be, what action I should take.
Alice is an acquaintance with whom I’ve shared a significant experience, which brings her closer to friend status. We’re in a strange place, with potential dangers, and my acquaintance-friend is out of my sight, either by her own will or someone else’s. She could get hurt, which, as her friend, should disturb me. I should want to prevent that. Which means I should go look for her.
Expressions of concern are a familiar part of my mask, so I assume one and move toward the edge of the crowd. Glenna is flying over the heads of the dancers with a few other winged Fae. She’s drinking deeply from a jug.
I call up to her. “Have you seen Alice?”
