Page 120 of A Fae in Finance
I jerked my head to look at Sahir so fast that my neck hurt. He’d spoken of me to his friends? We were office mates; we hadn’t spent any significant time together.
Sahir was still a tangled mass of vines, so I couldn’t exactly see his face.
“The other humans were cruel to him, as I understand it. They laughed when he spoke, or pretended not to understand him. They would not be alone with him if they could avoid it. These were forms of cruelty I did not know to fear, until Sahir explained them to me. But she never treated him any differently.”
I flushed. Sahir had talked about me at length, apparently. He’d mentioned me often enough that Gaheris knew who I was before I ever came to Faerie. And—Sahir had been miserable at work, and in all these months I’d never asked him about it. I’d been too wrapped up in my own misery to think about his. My stomach dropped.
Sahir’s arm vines had started twitching in agitation.
“I had to think about cruelty and kindness, Queen,” Gaheris said. “And I found myself relieved that my companion had one kind face during the hours he toiled in the mortal realm,” Gaheris continued, oblivious to my inner turmoil. “And so I was indebted to Miriam before I ever met her.”
If a mass of vines could look embarrassed, Sahir did. I raised an eyebrow at him, but he didn’t speak.
“This does not explain why you felt the need to trespass upon my lands,” the Queen said, her jaw set. “Nor why you spoke with Roman, the Builder, of the portals between our realms.”
“We trespassed to speak with Roman,” Gaheris replied. “Our need was great, and his work had taken him into your Court. When we learned that he might know something of the magics trapping Miriam here, we knew we must go to him for assistance, even if we would miss her when she left,” Gaheris finished. He had finally raised his head to look at the Queen again.
The Queen looked into his eyes for another minute, her expression implacable. Then she nodded, like she had come to a decision. “Our people do not prize kindness, Gaheris.” It was a rebuke.
His face dropped, but to my shock, he stood tall, the fire on his head small but vital. “My Queen, I believe we do not prize kindness because we do not understand cruelty.”
The Queen frowned but didn’t comment. Instead, she took a step to her side, stopping in front of Lene. She moved with the same grace, but I didn’t feel the same awe as before.
“And you?” The Queen’s red robe had spread out around her feet in a perfect circle.Thatwas cool magic.
Lene rolled her shoulders. “I love her cat, Doctor Kitten. He is soft and warm, and we sometimes watch birds together.”
I glared at her.Eleven weekswe’d been hanging out. That was it?
She looked at me across Sahir’s undulating arm-vines. “And I like her,” she added hastily, seeing my expression.
Small comfort that faeries couldn’t lie.
The Queen seemed to be suppressing a smile. “The mortal offered you no gifts for your companionship?”
Lene shrugged. “None that I could easily name.”
“And you joined her anyway,” the Queen said.
Lene nodded.
“Did her knight treat with you?”
Lene shrugged a second time. “No more so than usual,” she said. “I came here without expectation of recompense.”
The Queen did not reply.
Instead, she took another step, toward Sahir. “And you? Why did you tie your life to a mortal woman, the moment she set foot in our realm?”
His voice came from the center of the vines. “It is as Gaheris explained.”
She snorted, which made me like her slightly more. “Sahir,” she said gently, “I would like to hear from you.”
Behind the Queen, her Elvis-impersonator guards stood in exactly the same place, their spears once again raised, and their eyes blank. I kept sneaking glances at the matching slicked-back hair framing their matching stony faces.
Sahir sighed. “May I speak with you alone, my Queen?”
I felt my stomach clench—did he not want to tell her the truth in front of me? Her eyes went to me as well, like she knew why he hesitated.
