His sneer faded into amusement, and still I would not meet his eyes. I don’t bow for anyone. Period.
“I have matters to discuss with you,” Xander said to the woman, brushing aside my silent power struggle. “You know what’s happening in my kingdom.”
“I do,” the woman said, seeming disinterested.
“You will not intervene?”
“No.”
The word carried enough finality to draw my attention. I looked at Xander; pain was written on his face. I knew that look; it was a reaction to betrayal.
“We will not involve ourselves in this matter,” she continued. “Fate will see the victor.”
“I’m putting this matter of war before the delegation today.” Xander’s tone had become more frigid with every word. “I will ask for aid if it comes to war. I cannot risk my kingdom.”
With a slow inclination of her head, the woman rested a pearlescent hand on Xander’s shoulder. “Then Fate be with you,” she said. “I do not wish to see your kingdom in danger. Nor you or yours. But the die has been cast, and these events must be seen through to their end.”
The sound of a gavel banging saved me from having to plunge my dagger into anyone’s belly, and the siblings retreated toward the far end of the warehouse. The man cast a backward glance at me as they left, and I felt something in the invisible energy pulsing around him. Nothing malicious or even taunting. But, rather, curious. As if he’d been testing me. His lips turned up in a soft smile that spread to warm the chill in his white-blue eyes. He looked pretty damn pleased, actually. I stumbled, my attention inexplicably drawn to the Sidhe. In turn, Raif snatched me by the elbow as we followed Xander to his seat. “I’m proud of you, Darian,” Raif said. “He is an ancient, and very powerful.”
“Does he have a name?”
“I will not speak it,” Raif answered. “The older Fae will not be named. They believe that by giving someone their given name, they are giving up a portion of their power. Few know their true names.”
Wow. Supernatural 101. I hoped there wouldn’t be a quiz later. “What do you call them, then? You have to call them something.”
“Moira, and her brother is Reaver.”
Cheery names to go with their cheery faces, no doubt. “They mentioned your father.” Or was it his grandfather? “I didn’t realize he was still alive.”
“Technically, he isn’t.”
Another round of gavel banging interrupted our conversation, and Raif and Xander promptly took their seats.
Curiosity burned little scorching paths through my brain as I rounded the rectangular table. Technically? What in the hell did that mean? I took my place at Xander’s left side and used the moment of inactivity as an opportunity to take in each and every detail of the other beings seated along the tables.
I’d never known, let alone seen, such an assortment of creatures gathered in one place. Tall, short, fat, thin—and, for the most part, remarkably human in appearance. Everyone, that is, but Moira and her brother. They seemed to flaunt their otherness with brash arrogance. Beneath the facades of the delegates, I caught a glimpse of what these creatures really were. The glamour must’ve allowed them to pass for human. But a shimmer in the fabric of reality blew away as if on a soft breeze, and their true faces were revealed. A tiny girl sat to one side of Xander, her hair tossed in wild curls almost to the floor. She gave the impression that she could’ve crawled out from under a tree before taking her seat. Across the square from her, a pair of nymphlike creatures sat. A male and female, their skin glistened as if they’d just taken a swim. That wasn’t all. Creatures with fur and some with feathers sat side by side with others covered in scales. And ignorant as I was, I couldn’t even place a name with their shapes. Faeries, gnomes, werewolves; I wouldn’t know a vampire from a shape-shifter, if either were present. And under the cover of their glamour, they appeared no different from the humans on the street.
My face felt hot all of a sudden as the embarrassment seemed to crawl right up my cheeks. Damn Azriel. I bet he was getting a good laugh over this right now. It must have been his goal to keep me in the dark, both literally and figuratively. His actions had become inexcusable, and the thought of his death not only acceptable but appealing.
Xander turned from his conversation with his brother and beckoned me. Like any good employee, I moved closer to see what he needed.
“What do you think?” he asked.
“I think I’m an idiot,” I said, low, next to his ear.
Xander laughed and some of the spark returned to his eyes. I didn’t miss the dark glance he shot in Tyler’s direction, though. “Let me ask you this.” He paused and traced his finger in a square on the table’s surface. “What do you feel here?”
It was my turn to take a pause. Feel? Like, my feelings? I didn’t know we were choosing this moment to open up about that sort of stuff. But then my brain actually kicked into gear and I realized he wasn’t asking how I felt, but what I felt. I’d noticed it before, as we walked among the other delegates, that the room definitely had the energy of many different creatures buzzing around inside it.
“I feel others like us,” I began. “And”—my heart jumped in my chest—“I sense a Lyhtan somewhere here.”
“What else?” Xander asked softly next to my ear.
“A hum, not like the pressure I feel in the air when a Shaede or Lyhtan is present, but something else. A vibration, almost.”
“Faerie?” Raif asked, leaning to speak behind Xander. “I’m not sure, but I bet that’s what you’re feeling. It could also be a Sylph, I suppose.” He pointed to the girl with the long, wild hair who was sitting beside Xander.
“Anything else?” Xander asked, ignoring his brother.
Raif shot his brother a murderous glare, and for a moment I could almost picture them fighting like children. A hint of a smile formed on my lips as the image of two boys arguing over a favorite toy popped into my head.
There were too many sensations to differentiate between them all. It felt like I was sitting in a hot tub, wrapped in one of those massage pads, with melting ice trickling down my back. Top it off with a buzzing in my ears, the hair standing up on my scalp, and a pounding pulse, and that just about covered it.
“I can’t divide and identify all the sensations,” I admitted. “And if I could, I wouldn’t know what it meant or who to credit the feeling to.”
Xander smiled and leaned farther back, studying my face. “You are remarkable.”
I looked up to see Tyler scowling in my direction. I was warming up to the idea that the only way to settle their little grudge was to put him and Xander in a steel cage together and let them fight it out. Two men enter; one man leaves. I laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Raif asked.
“I was thinking of Thunderdome,” I said.
Raif gave me a puzzled look and shook his head.
“What about the Lyhtan?” I asked Xander, looking at the table to our left. Sure as shit, the nasty bastard lounged in its chair with, of all things, a human standing security at its back. I knew the guy was just as normal as Dylan McBride, though the glazed-over look on his face told me he wasn’t all there. “That human,” I said, jerking my chin toward him. “He’s guarding the Lyhtan. Under thrall?”