Seven Black Diamonds (Seven Black Diamonds #1)(53)

“And I won’t risk the people I love because you want to prove a point. Our queen has ordered me to bring you to the Hidden Lands, so you can either cooperate, or I will find another way.” Zephyr hated that he had to admit these things, but she needed to understand how their world worked. “I’ll not let any of them die because Creed has a crush and you think you’re above the rest of us. She’ll kill him if she thinks he’s in the way of her plans. She’ll kill your father if you don’t comply. She’ll kill Alkamy if I step out of line. Maybe Roan, or Vi first, but if she thinks I need more motivation, she’ll slit Alkamy’s throat. . . . It’s her word that controls what blades are made wet.”

Outside the room, he could hear Creed laughing at something Violet had said. He couldn’t make out the words, but he knew the voices of those in the cell better than any others in this world or the other.

“If this proof of Creed’s turns up and I decide that you’re all telling me the truth—”

“Fae don’t lie.”

“I can lie. Creed can lie. I’m sure you can too.”

“We aren’t like that, Lilywhite. We keep our word, our vows. If humans did too, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

They stared at each other in silence. There were things that were impossible, even for them. In this world, they lived lives of indulgence. In the Hidden Lands, they were special in a different way. They were tools, weapons fashioned by the queen’s will. Weapons don’t summon queens. That wasn’t the way it worked.

“Do you understand?” he finally prompted.

“She’s a monster.”

“Maybe,” Zephyr admitted. “That doesn’t mean we can slay her like a storybook dragon . . . or even dream of it. The best we can do is protect those we love.”

“There has to be more—”

“No,” he interrupted firmly. “There isn’t. Let Creed down easily or be harsh. Either way, do it. Only then do we go to see the queen—or you risk all of our lives.”

“Fine. I’ll come to meet her, but it won’t change a thing between you and me and I won’t go until I meet Creed’s ‘proof.’” Lily walked to the door and pulled it open, a smile once more on her lips as if everything was fine. Zephyr wasn’t sure if anyone else heard the forced gaiety in her voice or if he noticed it because of what they had just discussed. Either way, he thought she sounded brittle as she told them, “Come on already, people! I want to go dancing.”

And they were all coming into the room in a breathtaking blur. These few souls were his family, the people for whom he’d do anything. He served the queen, but he did it for them above all else. Fortunately, Lilywhite cared about them enough that she’d agreed to go to the Hidden Lands without his having to resort to force. It was fair progress.





twenty-three


LILY

Things with Zephyr were less tense after that night. Lily still felt more comfortable with Roan, Will, and Alkamy, but they weren’t as painfully awkward as they had been before they talked. Violet was hard to resist, and they’d bonded over a collection of daggers that Violet had been forging by way of her own affinity to fire. She’d apparently started to do so as a child, and the earliest of her handmade blades was an ugly, crude thing. It was still impressive, and the tiny actress had started helping Lily practice with her own affinity to fire.

The issue, of course, was that as Lily thought about Zephyr’s explanations, she realized that she needed to create more distance from Creed. Her ability to meet the Queen of Blood and Rage was not the same as agreeing to obey her. It did, however, highlight the fact that the queen was perfectly at ease with violence as incentive. She’d already called Daidí and Erik and asked them to be extra alert. With Erik, she was vague. With Daidí, she told him that she’d met some students “like her” and felt nervous. It wasn’t a full truth, and he knew as much. It was the best she could do right now. She’d learned years ago that phone lines were never truly secure.

“Do you need to come home?” Daidí asked.

“Not right now.”

“Later?”

She paused. “Maybe. I’m not in danger, and there’s something . . . comforting about being around people like me.” She laughed lightly then, knowing her father would understand what she meant after more than ten years of having multi-layered meanings in their conversations. “There are constantly people watching when you’re like us though.”

“Ah, paparazzi problems,” he said.

“Some are worse than normal watchers,” she agreed, letting him know that it was the “not normal” watchers that were an issue. For years, that had been a code word for those who watched the fae and fae-blood.

“I didn’t think they came on campus.”

“You know how it is,” she admitted reluctantly, all but saying she’d been unable to stay on campus.

“Lilywhite!”

She sighed. “I know. I’m protected though.”

“Do you need Cerise?” he prompted, using their code word for weapons.

Lilywhite laughed and clarified what sort of weapons she wanted. “Like Hector would separate from Cerise!”

“Right,” he agreed, knowing that her emphasis on her father’s largest guard was a request for a bigger gun. She already had a small one with her, but she felt the need for something with more stopping power.