She opened her eyes again and watched it spin. Whatever she saw there, she didn't like it.
Her eyes widened, and she let out a banshee-esque scream. The spel broken, the globe hit the floor and shattered into a spil of glass.
"The sky is bleeding!" she said, then flipped her head around, strawberry locks framing her face, to glare at her guards. They cowered at her murderous expression.
"I have seen it," she said. "I have seen the bleeding sky, the dark water. The city drips of elemental magic, and you thought not to tel me?"
The guards looked at each other. "My lady," one quietly began, "we only just learned, and we didn't want to concern you."
"You didn't want to concern me? We are the sky folk. We master the moon and sun. You didn't think I should be cal ed upon?"
My stomach fel - and not just from the burgeoning magic in the room. This was our third attempt to connect the supernatural dots, and we stil hadn't managed to do it. Not only had the fairies not caused the sky to change, the queen hadn't even known about it.
"My lady," began the other guard, but Claudia held up a hand. She closed her eyes, her expression pained.
"Is she unspel ing it?" I whispered, hope rising in my chest.
Jonah shook his head. "I don't think so."
After a moment, she opened her eyes.
"There was a time when the fae were free to roam,"
Claudia said. "Before magic was forbidden. When the world was green. The world is no longer green, and I am relegated to my tower. Those years have passed, and the fae hardly remember the shape of the green world. They become entangled in human drama just as you do. They believe they know how to survive. Am I no less to blame?
The world moves slowly here, and on occasion I forget the meadow and the field."
Without ceremony, she strode across the room to the guards, the gauzy fabric shushing against the stone with each step. She reached the first guard, the man, took his katana in hand, and before I could even grip the handle of my sword, she whipped it through the air.
A long red line of crimson appeared at the guard's cheek.
"You have failed me," she hoarsely said.
The scent of fae blood flowed across the room, and my eyes rol ed back at the temptation of it. However much I might have enjoyed blood of the bagged and vampire varieties, the hunger they inspired was nothing compared to the scent - from across the room - of a few droplets of fairy blood.
My fangs descended. I struggled to retain control over my hunger, to avoid leaping across the room and jumping on the bleeding fairy for a snack. Thanks to Frank's restrictions, I'd had barely any blood in the last few days, and my hunger roared back to life.
I squeezed my fingers around the hilt of my katana until my nails began to bite into my palm, confident that if I lost control, we'd lose the fair {loss around ies . . . and possibly our lives.
"You defy your queen," Claudia told him, "and you wil bear the scar of it."
She dropped the sword to the floor, where it bounced and clanked, steel against stone, and final y came to rest, a drop of crimson hanging from the finely honed edge.
Claudia moved to the female guard, pul ed away her sword, and repeated the act, the air now doubly permeated with blood and magic.
I shivered in anticipation. "Jonah."
"Merit," he gritted out. "Hold it in." But his voice was hoarse, and when I looked, I saw that his eyes were silver, as wel .
Had no one known about this reaction? Had no one thought to warn us that if mercenary fairies bled - when violence was in their names - we'd be in trouble?
The second sword hit the ground, and both fairies stood bleeding, their queen before them, the instruments of her wrath on the ground.
"You, too, wil bear the scar," she said. "For refusing to remember that I and I alone am your queen, to whom you owe al fealty. You do not make decisions for the fae!"
Her words rose to a crescendo. The guards dropped to the floor as the power in the room rose.
I fought back the urge to cower, the hunger for blood too strong.
I took a step. That first step taken, the second, third, and fourth were easier, and I was nearly to the fairies and the scent was delectable . . .
"Merit! No!" Jonah cal ed out my name, but I crossed the room so quickly the fairy had no time to react, only to struggle in my arms as I moved in for a bite.
I was there and at his throat, my teeth bared and ready to strike. And it wasn't an insult or a threat or a risk to his life. It was flattery. A compliment to the blood that coursed through his veins, liquid gold in its worth . . . But Claudia would have none of it.
"Bloodletter!" she cried, and without warning, I was in the air and flying across the room. I hit the stone wal behind me with energy enough to force the air from my lungs - and the bloodlust from my body.
My head rung, my body aching, chest heaving with the effort of pul ing in air. I put a hand on the floor and just managed to raise my head enough to see her striding toward me.
"You dare to seek the blood of the fae in my home? In my tower?"
Claudia was furious, her eyes black with it, and she strode toward me with such anger there was little doubt about what she'd do when she reached me.
But then she was blocked from view. Jonah stepped between us, his katana outstretched.
"You touch her, and I wil strike you down, the repercussions be damned."
If I hadn't already been on the ground, you could have knocked me over with a feather.
"You defy me, bloodletter?"
"I defy anyone who would seek to harm her. We have advised you of things no one else would, and you have had your fun with us. We leave here with the scales balanced.
And besides, she is a bloodletter, and that makes her kith and kin to me. You would do the same - have done the same - to protect your own."
My head was reeling with the truth of that one.
"She attacked my guard," Claudia persisted.
"Because you baited her with blood and violence, and you attacked her in kind. We are even. As master of the sky, you wil see it is just."
Silence, and then a nod. "I wil spare your life on this day because you speak the truth. Let it be recorded that I have no quarrel with you or yours."
The deal struck, Jonah reached out a hand to me, and when I took it, he pul ed me to my feet. Every bone and muscle ached, and the room was stil spinning, although I wasn't sure if that was an aftershock of the bloodlust, the throw, or the magic that stil peppered the room.
He scanned my face for injuries. "You're okay?"
"I'm fine."