Page 79 of The Shadow Fae Rhapsody
What kind of ugly, shitty writing is this? Is this the tunnel system?
“I’m healthy enough to be discharged from this healing house,” he informs, even though I didn’t ask. “Just in time for me to go to the Queen’s ball tonight.”
Young healers smile and giggle over his presence. If only they know the pure stupidity coming out of his mouth.
Shade gives me a pitiful look. “You weren’t invited?
Of course, I’m fucking invited.
A headache gathers behind my temple. I may survive trespassing on holy ground, but talking to this idiot is a new form of torture. My teeth grind in irritation.
“I am the queen’s honored guest. But everyone in the city is welcomed to go,” he adds. “I can add your name into my invitation card if you want to.”
I glance at the pillow on his bed and contemplate suffocating him with that. It’ll be clean and smooth. Not even the healers will notice. I quickly remind myself that my wife risked her life to save this smoky-haired bastard.
His dull, gray eyes scan me briefly. “I don’t think you care much about innocent lives, otherwise you would have tracked down the creature earlier. You’re doing this for the queen.”
Who else would I be doing it for? I want to do right by the girl so I can stay with her forever.
“It’s a waste of time,” he says in one breath.
I raise my eyebrows in silent question.
“Wesley’s men stormed into the sewers yesterday to flush out those rats. They found nothing but the ones you burnt,” Shade says, finally bothering to slip on a plain black shirt. “The sorcerer lost his hold on the monsters. I think the beasts are smart enough not to return to the last place they were enslaved.”
Fucker has a point.
I silently implore him.
This dumbfuck is the first to figure out the truth about the monster. Is it pure luck or is he smarter than he lets on?
“If it’s the queen’s favor you seek, then go to the ball with her tonight,” he says without a flicker of emotion. “I think she would have liked you to be there.”
I say nothing to that.
“The queen needs all the support she can get,” he continues. “The Silverra—her uncle will not be there tonight. She’ll be alone.”
A lonely deer in a room full of wolves.
The thought of that stirs a strange emotion inside me. I rise and take my leave.
“Wait,” the assassin suddenly calls just before I go.
Perhaps he finally remembers some clue on the monster. I swivel back towards him.
“Will I turn into some kind of elven vampire?”
This fucking moron.
“No.”
I return to the keep swiftly after the unfruitful endeavor. Nel hasn’t come home yet from her dress fitting. She needs to change into seven different ones for tonight. What a fucking chore. But each gown is vital to her goals for the occasion. I lay by the window and enter into my dormant state to purge the assassin’s stupid words.
I think she would have liked you to be there.
The sun arches in the sky and begins its descent by the time the door creaks open. Rhianelle trots to my side, thinking that I’m asleep.
I inhale her sweet scent deep into my lungs as she nears.
