The Queen by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Chapter 8
My house looked like it had when I left.
Gray-and-white-checkered throw pillows were fluffed and placed at the corners of the couch. A stack of books was piled neatly on the coffee table. Several tiny stuffed mice had been collected and left by a foyer table where all the mail had been placed. A pair of sandals sat on the bottom step of the staircase leading upstairs. Above them were black and white sneakers that belonged to Tink. The kitchen was utterly spotless, which was almost impossible with Tink living here.
My gaze flickered over the living room. This was where Aric had grabbed me. He’d been waiting for me, and I’d walked right in, having no idea that he was here. I knew that if I closed my eyes, I would hear his voice.
I hear you’ve been looking for me.
I didn’t close my eyes, but his voice was still like a whisper in my ear.
“I tried to keep things the way you had them.” Ivy had moved ahead of me, her long, curly red hair pulled up in a messy topknot. “I even dusted.”
“Actually, it was me who dusted,” Ren said, coming down the stairs. He’d quietly gone up there when we entered, and I knew he was scoping out the rooms, making sure no one was here.
Ivy rolled her eyes. “But I was the one who gave him the supplies.”
“It was a joint effort then.” I ran my hand along the back of the couch. “Thanks, you guys. I had no idea what to expect when I returned.”
“It was no problem at all.” Ivy looked down as Dixon pranced out from the kitchen, rubbing against her legs. Bending, she scratched him behind his ear.
Ren leaned against the banister of the stairs. “You sure you’re ready to be back here?”
“More than ready.” I forced a smile that felt as fake as pleather.
The two of them exchanged a look, and I knew they had questions. Lots of them.
Luce had checked me over this morning, and after setting up a time for me to visit her the following weekend, she’d cleared me to leave Hotel Good Fae. I’d expected Tink to show up then, but come to find out, he was already at the house with Fabian and Dixon. It was Ivy and Ren who arrived as Luce left. All I knew was that Caden had asked them to escort me home, but I had no idea what, if anything, he’d said to them.
He’d been gone when I woke up, but that didn’t change the fact that I’d gotten the deepest sleep I had in a really long time. Neither had it erased the moments at dawn when, still mostly asleep, I felt the bed shift and the soft sensation of his lips against my forehead. I told myself repeatedly that had been my imagination.
“Well, if you need anything, you know you got us,” Ren said as Dixon meandered over to me, the white tip of his gray tail swishing. “And even if you don’t need us, you still have us.”
“We’ll be making periodic patrols,” Ivy said. They’d been filled in about the traitor in the Summer Court, but as discussed, they hadn’t been told everything.
“Your phone is on the kitchen counter,” Ivy explained while Dixon stretched up, pressing tiny paws into my legs. I picked him up, burying my face in his soft fur as Ivy said, “Oh, and by the way, Miles said to call him whenever you’re ready or stop by the headquarters.”
Face still planted in Dixon’s fur, I nodded. “He most likely wants to see if I’m mentally stable and find out if I spilled any Order secrets.”
“He didn’t exactly suggest that, but…” Ivy trailed off.
I cracked a grin. Miles was the bluntest and most deadpan person I’d ever met. Even more so than Faye. Not one to beat around the bush, his first concern would be if I shared any of the Order’s secrets.
“He should be happy to know that Aric didn’t seem to care at all about the Order,” I told them as Dixon purred.
“Actually, that would probably displease him,” Ren commented.
I snorted at that and lifted my head, looking around the sundrenched room. “How did he respond to the news about there being someone in the Summer Court who’s working with the Winter fae?”
“The same way Miles takes the news about almost everything,” Ivy answered. “He raised his brows, was silent for probably a good minute, and then said something like ‘there’s always one rotten apple in the bunch.’”
“That sounds like him,” I said dryly. “I almost wish we didn’t have to tell him, but the members need to be on their toes.”
“Agreed.” Ren folded his arms. “It’s not like every Order member has dropped their guard around the Summer fae, but they have relaxed, and that could be deadly.”
And that was why the Order members needed to know.
“I just don’t get how any of them could do that.” Ivy shook her head, causing a thick curl to fall over one eye. “Them supporting the Queen’s return is bad enough, but to aid the Winter Court when they’re using stuff like Devil’s Breath to destroy the younglings? It just doesn’t make sense.”
It really didn’t. “Aric had said that whoever it was had their reasons. I don’t think he said more. Or if he did, I…I don’t remember it. But you’re right, it doesn’t make sense.”
“I feel like we’re missing something,” Ren said. “I’ve been thinking about this, and I can’t come up with a reason a Summer fae would want the Winter Queen to enter this world, especially since they have their bright and shiny King.”
A small grin tugged at my lips.
“It’s not like they’re without leadership or whatever. So, the only thing that makes any sense to me is that it’s someone who has a vendetta against the King and would rather risk the whole world to either see him taken out or returned to his former evil glory.”
My heart turned over heavily at the thought. “But what kind of vendetta could drive a Summer fae to these extremes? If Caden were somehow placed under the Queen’s curse again, they’d have an even bigger problem on their hands.”
“So, maybe they were hoping Aric or the Queen would kill Caden,” Ivy suggested, and my stomach dipped. “Take him out so another could become King.”
I frowned as I thought that over. “From what I understand, only he can be King since he accepted the crown…or whatever. That even if he abdicated the throne, Fabian wouldn’t become King. The Court would be without a ruler, but I have no idea what would happen if Caden died.” The last word tasted like ash on my tongue.
“That might be a good question to ask,” Ren said. “But I doubt we’ll get an answer out of Fabian. He’d probably suspect that we were plotting to murder his brother.”
“I could ask,” I volunteered.
Ivy looked over her shoulder in the direction of the side door that led to the courtyard. “I hate to even ask this, but we don’t believe that Fabian has any desire to be King, do we?”
“No. I don’t believe that he does,” I said honestly as Dixon rubbed his nose against my shoulder. “There are…certain expectations that I don’t think Fabian has any desire to fulfill.”
Neither did Caden, but that was neither here nor there.
“But why would anyone want to remove Caden as King?” Ivy asked, lips pursed. “I mean, he seems to be doing an okay job, and it isn’t like he’s unfair or cruel.”
She was right, but I didn’t think Caden wanted to be King before he took on the role. He’d felt forced, and that was before things really escalated between us. Even now, he was willing to shirk his obligations, but no one knew that while I had been held captive by Aric. And those who now knew about him ending his engagement were the only fae I one hundred percent trusted.
So maybe the traitor’s motivations had nothing to do with Caden? If so, that brought us all the way back to square one. Why would a Summer fae work with the Winter Court?
For some reason, I thought of the old leader of the Order. David Cuvillier had betrayed the Order by aiding the Winter Court and Queen. He’d done so out of fear and resignation, believing that we hadn’t stood a chance against the Winter Court. Could the traitor within the Summer Court have a similar mentality?
Fear could make some brave.
But fear could also turn others into the worst kind of cowards.
