Page 122 of A Fae in Finance
And it ended.
“Be that as it may,” the Queen said. “I deem it irrelevant to the issue at hand.”
She turned away from me to look at Sahir. “You may take her through my portal,” the Queen said. “I wish you short and easy mourning, if the Builder was wrong and her guts explode upon your faces.”
She waved her hand, like a woman brushing crumbs off a table. Sahir grabbed my wrist and pulled me backward. The four of us backed away in silence, heads bowed.
Even through my seething rage, I knew that was the smart thing to do.
When we’d slid backward into the tunnel, I tried to sag against a wall, but Sahir continued dragging me away. I scratched at his hand around my wrist, but it was still wooden, and he didn’t notice. I, on the other hand, got splinters under a few fingernails, whichhurt.
The shadows in the gray striations on the walls followed us, and the glowing strings of light only made the darkness more evident.
We squeezed back through the rock crevice in single file, Sahir pushing me ahead of him. I wondered if he planned to defend our backs, but no one came after us. When I looked up toward Lene, I saw that she had her claws out; they glinted in the dimness. Was she worried about Kamare lying in wait for us?
Only once we’d stopped beneath the small circular hole in the ceiling did Sahir seem to relax slightly.
Lene leapt up without a problem, catching the rim of the entrance and pulling herself skyward. Sahir held out his cradled hands for Gaheris to step into and levered the fire faerie upward with a grunt. Lene leaned down, one hand outstretched, and caught Gaheris’s hand, pulling him out, too.
Sahir maneuvered me upward by grabbing my thighs and lifting me, and Gaheris pulled me up by the arms. Sahir followed last, and Gaheris hoisted him out. He was covered in a smattering of dirt and looked irritable as usual.
And absolutely nothing happened.
Chapter 19
In Which I Educate My Companions About NJ Transit
We stood in the small clearing, not looking at each other. Our packs were gone—requisitioned, probably, by Kamare and company. I imagined another night in the freezing forest, this time without a tent.
I broke the silence. “No chance we can just walk away?”
“I do not think the Queen will permit that,” Lene said, staring determinedly at a tree in the middle distance. Her bottlebrush tail stuck out like she’d been electrified.
Sahir cleared his throat, scuffed his toes through the dirt. “If Roman is correct, you may well live.”
“And if he’s not?” I asked.
“We do not really have a choice,” he said, his throat working. “I cannot defend you from all the Queen’s legions. I cannot even defend you from all the Queen’s magics.”
I breathed deep. “Okay, then there’s no point putting it off,” I said.
“If you die, I will be displeased,” Gaheris told me.
Sahir sighed, a sound that warmed my heart. “Miriam can leave Faerie,” he said. “Probably. So we can travel through the Queen’s portal, take the train in the mortal realm, and enter through the Princeling’s portal. Once Miri has stepped through the portal, the Queen will consider the transgression repaid.”
Confronted with my own mortality, I searched desperately for anything else to focus on. Otherwise, I would never be able to keep myself upright.
Lene made a noise like a cow attempting to sing a Christmas carol. I surged toward her, arms open. “Are you okay?”
“I’ve never been in the mortal realm,” Lene said, falling into my outstretched arms like a 1920s starlet. I sagged under her weight.
Gaheris took it more stoically. “I have,” he said. “And it will be interesting to see all of the electricity again.”
I glanced at Sahir, who shrugged.
“Lene?” I asked. “Would you like to travel with Gaheris through the Queen’s lands?”
Lene touched my face with soft fingers.
