Page 45 of The Queen The Fae Forgot
But even unrest amongst the humans couldn’t bethatconcerning, could it? Rebellion sounded strong, but they were only humans.
We were fae.
“How bad is this rebellion, Phina?”
Once again, she struggled to keep from answering me, but once again, she failed.
“The queen has called the council. In a week’s time, they’ll meet to discuss how to proceed. I don’t know the specifics.”
“But you do know it’s serious?”
The look on her face was enough of an answer.
A rebellion was brewing? Was it really so bad that the queen would call on the other courts now? Or was that just a guise, a ruse meant to call them here for my supposed debut? It would be one way to get them here without stirring too much suspicion.
But suspicion from whom?
From them … or from me?
That debut, the announcement that the king was dead and I would be taking his place, was starting to sound even less likely by the moment.
Before I had the chance to ask more questions, however, Finch suddenly appeared behind me, standing up from the ground with a groan as he stretched his neck first from one side, to the other.It was my turn to find myself completely disoriented.
“Sorry, Aurra, I’ve been trapped in that cat form for some time now. I needed a minute to stretch out a kink in my neck.”
“How did you, how were you …”
My mouth hung open as he stepped forward, a devilish smile on his face.
“You hit me with the same glamour as the guards yesterday. Stay, remember? Don’t move? Rather unfortunate for me. Guess the spell was a little stronger on me as a cat, because I’ve been staying there, unmoving—just as you ordered, mind you—since the moment you left.”
“But …”
I trailed off, my eyes flickering to the space beneath my chair, where that cat had so often been. That cat, always winding around my ankles, sitting on my lap, curling up beside me when I went to bed.
Color rushed into my cheeks.
“You were here, all this time?”
His smile broadened. “I like to keep an eye on my girl.”
His words made my blush deepen.
I was too shocked, or maybe too amused, to be angry. I’d wondered where Finch had gone off to, how he’d avoided being roped into the queen’s bidding or Shiel’s command all week. It felt comforting, knowing he’d been here, all this time, with me.
Finch leaned in a little closer. “If I’d realized you’d be this happy to see me, I’d have revealed myself sooner. And more of myself, too … if you catch my meaning.”
I swatted at him.
Thatfinally broke the short-lived spell Finch’s appearance had cast on me, but it was a moment too late. When I turned back to resume my interrogation, Phina was gone.
Somehow, she must have slipped from the room in the moments when Finch and I were distracted. From the silence on the other side of the hall, she’d taken the guards with her.
I swore as soon as I realized what had happened.
Perhaps Phina was a littletooloyal to my mother for any hope she might switch sides.
There was only one place she was headed now. I’d wanted an audience with the queen, but not underthesecircumstances. If she came for me now, it would be with demands. This time, before I decided whether or not I’d meet them again, I needed to know what I was really up against.
