Chapter 26
Daisy
The next morning, after a night spent in Tarian’s arms, each of them resting and healing, Daisy exited Tarian’s empty chambers to see Lennox and Niall sitting on the couch with a blanket spread out under them. They each had a book in hand.
“Honestly.” She clucked her tongue. “You have clothes on, and he doesn’t ejaculate. What are you even worried about? You don’t need the blanket.”
“It’s gross,” Niall said, not looking up. “It’s the principle of the thing.”
She rolled her eyes. “Where’s everyone else?” She sat on the couch opposite them.
“Information gathering, errands, coming up with a plan to kill the princess’s favorite toys. She covets them, and she expects Tarian to go after them. It won’t be easy to get to them, but if anyone can make it happen, Tarian is that male.”
“Right. And…after all she’s done to him, why wait until now?”
They both looked up over the edges of their books.
Lennox answered, “Because it would’ve incited a retaliation, and he had a duty to find those chalices. Also because…” He stalled.
Niall looked back down at his book. “Because of you.” He turned a page. “He dealt with that decay for years and shouldered the stink. He didn’t want to put us or our plans in jeopardy. But he will not suffer anyone touching you. He’s finally pushing back. Hard.”
“Fucking finally,” Lennox said under his breath. “It killed me to watch all that and see him pretend to shrug it off and get back to work. I felt responsible.”
“Me too. We all did. It was fucking unbearable. The good news is that the king wants a turn with you.” Niall looked at Daisy.
“Ah.” She leaned back. “If it wasn’t me, that would indeed be good news, yes.”
Lennox went back to his book. “Told you,” he muttered.
Niall used his finger to hold his place and lowered his entertainment. “How in the fuck are you blasé about that? Tarian said you were, but we didn’t believe him.”
“I did,” Lennox cut in.
“Fine. I didn’t believe him. Most of us didn’t.”
“The ones that are around her the most did,” Lennox said lightly. “Except…for you.”
Niall rolled his eyes before his accusatory gaze came back to her.
“Are you pulling a Tarian? Are you dying inside and won’t tell us because you’re noble and doing a duty and whatever bullshit excuse you have?
I don’t know your family, but they raised you, and you’re a good sort of female, so I can’t imagine they’d be okay with that. ”
She grinned and looked at the object resting on the table.
It was propped there with little stoppers to keep it from rolling off the flat surface.
The smooth onyx exterior showed large cracks that a hand couldn’t feel, their color a dull orange.
Until it was activated, that was. Then an orange-red glow peeked out through the cracks, pulsing higher until a yellow-white point denoted that the chalice was at its maximum power.
Daisy’s presence in this court had activated them all. For the first time since Tarian had brought them here, they were working. They were boosting power. Tarian had sent for Eldric late last night to discuss it.
The royal family attributed this to—what they thought was—the crystal chalice (which was actually the diamond chalice). Tarian had known they would. It was why he’d waited to bring Daisy here until he had that chalice. Well, one of the reasons.
Come to find out, several of the chalices had been taken from the library, all by the royal family.
The female fae that had attacked them with shadow creatures had been holding one last night, an onyx chalice.
She’d used it to garner more power and send those creatures after Daisy and her crew.
The king had held the diamond chalice on the throne.
Everyone now believed the princess hadn’t acted with someone else, but that she’d had a chalice of her own.
They were learning how to use them, and sooner rather than later, they would think they didn’t need Tarian anymore.
“It’s not rocket science,” she told Niall.
“Rock—what?” he replied quizzically.
“It’s not complicated,” she tried again.
“Apparently, it is for Niall,” Lennox murmured.
“Tarian should be half ignoring me so the court doesn’t think I’m all that valuable to him,” Daisy said.
“Instead, he’s doing the opposite. It’s fine that he doesn’t like to share, sure, but he’s putting too much emotion into it.
They might not fuck me, but they’ll target me.
They’ll want to hurt me or kill me to mess with him or bring him down a peg.
To hurt him. It happened in the past. It worked in the past. But this time, the king wants a turn.
He wants me alive long enough so he can mess with me.
He’s made that clear. I’m now mostly off-limits until the king has had his fill.
If the princess can manage to kill me accidentally before that, she will.
Otherwise, the king has dibs. After that, no more rules.
Everyone Tarian has wronged in the court will come for me. That seems like a lot of fae.”
“No, right, yeah.” Niall scratched his nose. “We know all that—”
“And she knows all that.” Lennox turned another page. Could he possibly be reading and listening—and interacting!—all at the same time?
Yes, Lennox said.
And eavesdropping, too. Add that to the list.
Noted, he replied.
“So…” Niall leaned forward, putting the book on the couch next to him. “You’re blasé about all that because you think the king will keep you alive longer?”
“Not really. The princess will be gunning for—after me in those games. An oops will be pretty easy to navigate behind the scenes. She seems cunning enough to pull that off. I’m worried about her, actually.
She’ll be playing in the shadows, and I need to be very careful not to reveal what I am while also not getting killed.
I need to find an ally, which will be very hard to come by.
But the king? He’ll take me to his chambers, get super gross, make a move, and realize he has no magic.
It’ll be him against me. We should all really hope I can take him.
And also that I can escape once I have. Tarian is asking Eldric to dig up and deliver me a map of the king’s chambers.
We need plans in place. Many plans in place…
except we have no idea what we’re planning for. ”
Both guys were looking at her, something strange moving behind their eyes. She couldn’t quite tell what it was, though, so she just asked.
Lennox glanced at Niall before going back to his book.
Niall hadn’t looked away. “You’re confident about all that,” he said. It wasn’t a question. “The games, the king, the princess—you’re confident going into all those unknowns.”
“I mean…yeah.” She looked at that chalice again.
“I have to be, right? There’s no alternative.
Welcome to my life. Before Demigod Kieran, we had a certain set of problems, mostly to do with staying alive.
Keeping a roof over our heads, having food to eat.
I didn’t know it then, but that was actually the easiest time in my whole life.
I was scared a lot then, but the problems were manageable.
They didn’t feel like it at the time, but now I know they were.
After Demigod Kieran, it was battles and extreme danger for all of us.
Death would’ve been a better path than what had waited for Lexi had we failed.
Once that was settled, it was mostly danger just for me.
With occasional assassination attempts on the Demigods, obviously. ”
They nodded. They were fae. They got it.
She shrugged. “Now I’ve got a different set of problems. Being worried about it, or afraid of it, will drain my energy and deplete my resources to analyze. I need all the facts, all the angles, and then…to stay alive.”
After last night, that seemed like the hardest part of all.
The next day, she wore somewhat formfitting trousers strapped with visible weapons.
Her top was loose, the shirt under it tight, and more weapons were strapped to her torso.
Her magical knife had a sheath, with a strap over the hilt to secure it in case someone should reach for it.
She’d been practicing a quick draw so that the strap didn’t waste valuable time.
“Remember our signals.” Tarian walked with her in his princely attire, his shoulders back and straight, his gait relaxed and unhurried. It was time to present her into the games.
“Yup.”
“If it is your life or theirs, always pick yours.”
“Obviously.”
“After each battle or any time you need it in the holding areas, you are allowed your healer.” He glanced behind him at Faelynn. “Use her.”
“Okay.” They’d been over all this, last night and again this morning, but the reality of the situation was crashing down on Tarian right now, like it had crashed down on her when she’d visited Eldric. He was second-guessing the decision.
Too late now.
“Remember your training.” They turned a corner.
Other groups of fae ambled down the hall, the champions easy to spot.
They were large, hulking things, most of them, with rounded shoulders and a certain walk that said they meant trouble.
None of them looked around at the competition, staring straight ahead intimidatingly.
He slowed her as another noble veered in front of him, centering themselves in a line. At the end of the hall was an archway and various attendants checking people in. The nobles walked away. The champions continued on.
Butterflies filled Daisy’s belly.
Remember your training, Tarian said again, reaching down and taking her hand. Remember Zorn’s teachings. Make him proud.
It was what she needed to hear. The strength she needed to keep stepping forward, one foot in front of the other, heading to a place where she’d be on her own with a bunch of magical fae who wanted her dead.