Chapter 30 #2
“I don’t know what they’re doing. I expected it to be a trap, which is why I told you to stay at the outpost. But if it is a trap, I don’t see how.
Our scouts could only pick up the scent of a single fae within that town, which doesn’t make sense.
A child of the Winter Queen would not be allowed near a contested zone without ample protection.
” He took back the letter, scanning the text.
“And the message bothers me, too. It’s addressed to the Regents of Chains. ”
That was a good point. Their neighbors mostly considered the Chains a nuisance, and one of the primary reasons for it was their leadership. While Natalya technically wasn’t Queen, everyone treated her like she was. Aleksander included.
But many saw fiends as less than. Greater fiends especially. They were summoned to be under the will of another, and many considered it unnatural or even insulting to see them as anything more than tools.
It was one thing to legitimize the Chains by inviting them to a Court meeting. But offering Natalya the respect of a Regent’s title…
A play of some sort? The game board was just too obscured to make out its purpose.
“So what’s the plan?” Maya asked. “Wait for Natalya?”
“Save for emergencies, she stays in Chicago. I won’t pull her away from the position that strengthens her most.” He pinned Maya with a stare. “But you can go.”
She stepped back, eyes wide. “What?”
“I have two options. Let the meeting and whatever opportunities it may present pass me by. Or send a representative. Someone who knows the values of my Court and can be trusted to speak for them. You fit both descriptors.”
Maya stammered out a few hollow attempts at words before getting her voice in order.
“I’m not ready for something like that. I wouldn’t know what to do or say.”
“You would. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be asking you. And if you ever feel unsafe, call me, and I’ll send in reinforcements. I had several volunteers.”
Maya looked back at the people gathered behind her. They were standing at attention, ready to move at a moment’s notice.
“And Night?” Her voice came out uneven, and she quickly got it under control. “Will they be there?”
This would be a lot easier with a friend at the table. Almost a year ago, the Chains had helped Hasan Khara—the Night King of the American Heartlands—topple the sitting vampire Regent, ending a reign of terror and pain.
The cost of the alliance had been two states, with the Court of Night rescinding control of Illinois and Wisconsin to the Chains. It would have been too high a price for most people. The steady correspondence between Hasan and the Chains suggested he didn’t share that belief.
“Night won’t be present. Hasan is still dealing with the fallout of claiming his territory. Vermin are hard to kill.”
Aleksander stepped closer, lowering his voice.
“This is a request. Not an order. I won’t pretend this isn’t dangerous, but we are on the brink of conflict.
Expanding our borders has earned us more ground and numbers, but it also gave us several enemies.
The longer the loss of St. Louis persists, the more people will point fingers, and we make a prime target.
One Court cannot reclaim the city without heavy losses, but if Winter is serious about offering aid, everything changes. Do you understand?”
She did. Sort of. It was risky, to invite collaboration with a faction known for backstabbing. To enforce change in a world that had been rigid for years. But while the Chains were hard as steel, they were also flexible. Capable of bending and growing in ways others refused to do.
For some, that fact was enough to want them destroyed. For some, it was enough reason to defend them. But though part of Maya fell within the latter camp, her motivation had a far simpler source.
This Court was her home. Harper’s home. That alone made it worth dying for.
“Okay,” Maya said. “I’ll try. Hopefully, that will be enough.”
Aleksander’s mouth tensed. A hint of a smile.
“It’ll be more than enough.” He looked back at the bridge, eyes hard again. “Whoever this R. Frost is, do not give them anything. Especially not the benefit of the doubt.” He gave a single nod. “Now go.”
Forcing her face into a composed mask, she stepped away from the trees, walking at a brisk, but human, pace. She typed the address into her phone, reading the directions.
Just a few minutes away. So close to the border that it was almost taunting. But it didn’t feel like a taunt. If it was, it was shortsighted. Lacing an invitation with an insult didn’t set you up for success.
Winter wasn’t averse to gambling, but there was a difference between accepting risk and needlessly inviting it. Gloating was better done when your opponent was bleeding out on the ground rather than merely at a safe, but temporary, distance.
Something about this was plain odd.
Maya came to a halt at the target address. A dingy-looking bar with a neon sign reading ‘O’Reilly’s’ in flickering letters. Putting her phone on silent and slipping it into her pocket, she pushed down the growing unease and stepped inside.
The place was dimly lit, the pungent smell of alcohol and body odor thickening the air. Only a handful of people were present, most of them sitting hunched at the bar or leaning over a beer-stained pool table.
At the back of the room, sitting at a corner table, was a woman. She had dark hair and wore a tense expression, and she had exchanged the uniform from their last encounter with clothes more befitting a place of questionable character.
As soon as she spotted Maya, her eyes narrowed.
“I was starting to think the Chains wouldn’t show,” Jackie said as Maya approached. “Didn’t realize you would be speaking for them. I figured they would send that she-fiend again.”
Maya sat down. She almost threw out a snappy retort, but caught herself.
“Natalya is otherwise occupied.”
Jackie snorted. “Right. Sure. Her feeling skittish has nothing to do with it? Greater fiends are in high demand, from what I hear.”
Maya wasn’t the only member of the Chains highly sought after. Natalya had dodged multiple attempts at capture since founding the Court, with one of them even succeeding—however briefly.
Leaving her territory put her at risk. Put any Regent at risk, in fact. But since Jackie’s pack favored brutal traditions that involved a ‘might makes right’ mentality, caution could easily be interpreted as weakness.
Diplomacy fell within that same category. That could be why she’d shown up personally. Whatever she gained from this meeting, she could spin her own story about how she got it.
Clever. Or desperate. Jackie had been bleeding members since Kieran defected, which might explain why her leg was bouncing against the floor.
“I heard the girl made it to Chicago,” Jackie said. “You know, the one the Chains pretended not to know anything about. Ring a bell?”
Maya closed her hand into a fist under the table.
“She’s settled in well. She has family in the city.”
“I heard that, too. Smart move, that you got her to leave with no Chains escort. At least not a visible one.”
“Her leaving was needed. No thanks to you.” Maya bit her tongue. Careful. “I’m surprised you’re thinking about her. Didn’t realize her well-being concerned you.”
Disgust flashed in Jackie’s eyes. “I was Alpha to her mate. Of course it concerns me.”
Maya stiffened. She shouldn’t take the bait, if it even was bait. But if she didn’t speak, the anger simmering in her chest would flare into her face, and that wouldn’t help either.
“You have an odd way of showing it. Unless you didn’t know how Kieran was treating her, which I doubt. Her bruises weren’t subtle.”
“You don’t know how the packs operate,” Jackie said with a snarl.
“The odds of having a mate are so slim that they’re basically nonexistent, and Claiming them is considered sacred among our kind.
I told him to slow down, and that was more than most Alphas would do.
Under the circumstances, Kieran acted with restraint. ”
Jackie scoffed. “Especially considering the human in question. She isn’t exactly easy to handle. Him stepping up to make sure Harper knew her place—”
“Stop talking,” Maya said through gritted teeth. “I’m here on behalf of my Court. That means I have to be cordial. But mark my words, if you say her name again, I’ll rip out your fucking throat.”
Therian packs were small by nature and having more than a few dozen members was rare. Jackie’s was home to hundreds. You couldn’t maintain a pack of that size by going against the grain.
But it didn’t matter that there was reason, however twisted, behind her actions. Harper’s name shouldn’t be in her thoughts, let alone on her tongue, and if she voiced it one more time, Maya didn’t care how politically detrimental it was. She would crack Jackie’s skull against the fucking table.
Jackie stayed quiet, leg still bouncing against the floor.
Maybe Aleksander made a mistake. Maya wasn’t fit for this. If she couldn’t even keep her violent thoughts contained, this meeting was off to an awful start.
Get it together, Maya. Stay focused.
They sat in silence after that. For several minutes past when the meeting was supposed to start. Maya stayed relaxed, not even strumming her fingers, while Jackie was fighting not to fidget.
Almost twenty minutes later, the bar door opened. A gust of wind blew through the room, causing some of the nearby patrons to glance towards the new arrival. Or stare, was the more accurate term.
A woman had stepped inside. She was wearing an expensive dark blue suit and knee-length skirt, and her silver blonde hair was arranged in a tight bun. Her skin was pale, bordering on translucent, and unmarked by even the slightest blemish.
No freckles. No beauty spots. No marks of any kind. An ethereal phantom born of snow and winter storms, and her eyes—such a piercing shade of blue that they looked like ice—were fixed on Maya.
Maya maintained eye contact. One of Aleksander’s most repeated lessons was that she couldn’t avoid being stared at, so she needed to not let it affect her. Or at least make it appear as though it didn’t.
“I wasn’t aware the Chains would send a representative.” The woman had approached the table. “Especially not someone like you. Curious.”
Her voice was cold and crisp, sharpened by a British accent. A posh cadence, making every word sound both elevated and insincere.
“My Regents are busy with other matters.” Maya cocked her head. “I assume yours is, too. Or is Queen Morrigan unwell?”
The woman scanned Maya’s face as though looking for cracks.
“My Queen’s territory spans nations rather than states. With spring’s imminent arrival, she has more serious issues to contend with than this… situation.”
Jackie glanced at the door. “Is that why Summer isn’t here?”
“Summer won’t arrive until months from now.
” The woman sat at the end of the table.
“Besides, they prefer their fairy circles to civilized meetings, and they are unwilling to break bread with my kin. Night won’t be in attendance either, so unless you want to lament about their absence further, I suggest we get started.
This issue is a thorn in the side, and it’s been allowed to fester for too long. ”
The woman eyed Maya again. “Though I have to wonder why you are allowed to be here. I expected the Chains to keep such a valuable toy on a tighter leash.”
Jackie snorted. Didn’t even bother hiding it, either. She saw the woman’s comment as an amusing insult and treated it as such.
It wasn’t an insult. It was a question disguised as a jab. If Maya let it needle her, she would throw out a snarled response that she was a person rather than a toy.
Doing so would provide information. And this woman had the look of someone who wielded information like knives.
“My orders are enough of a leash,” Maya said. “Once this is done, it’ll pull me right back to Chains territory. Where I belong.”
The woman’s face stayed impassive. This close, her flawless skin became eerily so. Though something about her seemed ancient, she didn’t have a single wrinkle anywhere. As though she had never creased her brow or even smiled.
Maya extended her hand. “I’m Maya, by the way. Maya Novak.”
“I know who you are. Your eyes provide a detailed introduction.”
“Well, now I feel rude. Since you know who I am, but I don’t know you.” Maya smirked. “Can I have your name?”
The woman’s eyes shifted. For a second, forgoing their piercing quality for one a fraction softer. A hint of amusement, gone in a blink.
“You cannot. But, if you wish, you may call me Róisín.” She gave Maya’s hand a single shake. Her fingers were icy cold. “Róisín Frost.”