Page 68 of Queen of the Night
I nod and scribble the names down. “I remember two, Fina and Maven.” I look up at each of them. “Three more.”
Four is great. The entire list of seven is better.
“Vera?” Her head jerks up at her name. “Do you remember any?”
She looks at me like she might spit on my boots. “Nope,” she says, theppopping a bit with her attitude, matching the disdain in her eyes.
I want to understand her hesitation, but I can’t wait any longer.
I plow ahead. “Any others?”
Darvy speaks again. “The only other one I sort of remember was a different type of name, one I haven’t heard before. Was it Avanna?” He shuts his eyes, trying to visualize it.
I find myself watching Vera from the corner of my eye. She’s statuesque again and pale, stroking Rupi’s feathers sohard that she’s beginning to quill as Vera’s hand passes down her back. But Rupi stays where she is, handling the mindless, anxious stroking like the hardiest of soldiers.
Darvy tries again. “No, that’s not right. Avetta?” Now he’s frowning with frustration. “It was something like that. It’srightthere in my mind, but I can’t quite visualize it. Maybe I’m just thinking that because Vera is with us, and it somehow seems similar. But I know it’s a longer name.” He laughs and Vera joins him, albeit slightly forced.
“That’s alright.” I write down the ideas in case it helps us later. “We’ll think of them or we’ll find someone who can get us another list.”
I eye Vera with an accusatory glint. She stares back without an ounce of guilt in her cool gray eyes.
I break the stare between us and look at the page of names. “We aren’t the only ones to have had eyes on those names. Someone else compiled it and sold it. I suppose finding out who that was will be our next course of action.”
“You don’t know who made that list?” Vera asks in a controlled voice.
“I never did tell you where I got it, did I?” I smirk. “No. I don’t know who compiled the list.”
Darvy folds his arms across his broad chest. “No, he ditched Rhosse and me, and won it fair and square in an illegal fight ring.” He looks my way. “I still hold a grudge over that.”
Vera’s face pales even further. I’m worried she might keel over in a dead faint. Is it concern for me putting myself at risk in a fight? Or the fact that someone else seems to know the names of the Tulips? I’m betting on the latter.
I carefully remove the page from Darvy’s book and slowly fold it, pressing the edges into flat creases,wondering what means Vera will resort to this time to destroy it. Will she simply lift it from my pack? Another tea dousing? Or maybe she realizes now that no matter if she destroys it, not only do we remember a few of the names, but there’s someone else out there that knows every single one—something she can’t change.
Chapter 40
Vera
All this time, it never occurred to me to question where that dratted list had come from. I’d only been worried about destroying it and ensuring the men wouldn’t get the names fromme. I thought it would end here, with me. That if I held my secrets close, they’d stay hidden. It was foolish. Was it one of the Tulips? A betrayal? Therewereonly seven names.
I don’t realize how heavy my strokes are until Rupi squirms beneath my hand. I lift it to release her, and she affectionately pecks my hand before fluttering into Darvy’s lap to observe him sketching her wing. My thoughts return to the list, considering each of the women who appear so scared at every annual meeting—it just doesn’t sit right. None of them seems the traitor type. Someone else, then. But who?
Blood rushes in my ears, and I know I need space.
I stand and offer a murmured excuse for needed privacy. Ikar watches me like a hawk as I step into the forest shadows. I start out walking until I’m far enough away, then for a few moments, I run gracelessly through the trees, tripping overlarge roots and rocks until I finally stumble to a fallen tree and practically curl in on myself, holding my head in my hands and rocking back and forth in an attempt to contain my panic and emotion.
What do I do?
I’d hoped if I tied this job up nice and tidy, I could leave this all behind and pretend it didn’t happen. I could simply hide behind my bracelet like I always have.I was going to fix it.
“Vera?” Ikar calls from somewhere behind me, his steps so intentionally noisy that I know he’s being courteous of my privacy, even though I felt the pull of magic strengthen between us before I heard him approach.
I jump up, roll my shoulders back, brush stray hairs away from my face, contain my magic, and attempt a stony expression. Someone else out there knows about the Tulips, but I certainly won’t be making his job of finding one any easier.
I tip my chin in the air, hoping the motion gives me more confidence than I feel. “Yes?”
He takes that as permission to close the last several feet between us, appearing as a panther in the dim moonlight. Stalking like a predator. Half his features are draped in shadow from the angle we stand, and it’s difficult to gauge what he’s thinking with his eyes veiled in darkness.
I gather a bit of lucent in my hand, just enough to illuminate his face, and I spot Rupi in the shadows near his ear looking as dark as a white ball of fluff can. Suspicion fairly oozes from him, and the line of his brows is hard. My light flickers a bit.
