Revealed in Fire (Demon Days & Vampire Nights #9)(50)

I want Callie and Dizzy here, as well. Hopefully that’ll distract people from realizing Emery and I are away. They are speaking in hushed tones, even amongst themselves, and have organized a closed trial with sentinels. They are wary of strangers in their midst. I was able to glean that people are angry with the First. They want their say. Even still, I do not know if they’ll tear her off her post.

“You’re taking Emery with you tomorrow? Can’t you just use a spell casing to hide?”

I could, yes. But he doesn’t trust me to relay the information I gather.

“Wise.”

He is absolutely correct, yes, and his knowing that is…frustrating.

I laughed as I collected my weapons and we made our way off the field. Fae were returning to the practice field, giving me a wide berth but facing off with the shifters, now in their animal forms.

“The thing is, though, I might be more valuable to you if I wander around the village and maybe just…kinda…insert myself into the proceedings? I can make a show of Penny anytime, but if I’m fighting, I can’t very well listen to the melons, if you know what I mean.”

Listening to thoughts…yes. How stupid of me to forget. I will still need a distraction so I can slip away undetected, but after that, slip into the trial and find out whatever you can.

Another green light to behave badly. And even though I was a real asshole, I’d still lent Charity status! I was with Steve—this place was amazing!

I wondered if I could get anyone to lose their temper with me…

Tomorrow I would find out.





Seventeen





“This is making me uncomfortable. I want to leave, except there’s a castle full of elves out there who want to capture you and kill Emery, so now my stomach is in knots and there is nothing I can do about it.” Penny wrung her hands beside Reagan, pressed against the wall and trying not to crush the flowers.

“What is the difference between doing this and rummaging around in people’s yards for pet rocks?” Reagan asked as she stood in someone’s window, watching the occupants eat a late breakfast.

“I was inconspicuous. You are not.”

“You were not. You mutter to yourself constantly. If they didn’t see you, they certainly heard you.”

“What are you girls up to?” Steve asked from the edge of the garden. He had clothes on, thank goodness.

“Just trying to make people uncomfortable,” Reagan said, finally peeling away and allowing Penny a sigh of relief. “It’s working, I think, but damn, they’re really good at ignoring things. Which you know, obviously. Why you guys are bent out of shape about it, I don’t know. Look what fun I’m having.”

Steve laughed. “I don’t think normal people get a kick out of being ignored.”

“It’s not being ignored so much as the effort behind it. Like…” She tromped through the flowers. A glance back saw no reaction from the people whose garden she was ruining. “They are conveying the message that we don’t belong in the most passive-aggressive way possible. Doesn’t that tickle your funny bone? Why didn’t you guys just randomly trip people or something when you were here last time? Or barge into their houses and just take a bed if you didn’t like your setup?”

“We were trying to play nice for Charity’s sake. Still are, actually, though Romulus is trying to pave the way for Roger to gain more status. They are defrosting to us a little. Given your…lineage, I would expect they’d do the same for you.”

“Meh.” Batting a hand through the air, she stepped away from the crushed flowers and started down the little pathway further into town. Steve walked with her, and Penny followed, resisting the urge to apologize. “I couldn’t be bothered. I’ve never fit in before. Why should I try now? It’s much more fun trying to pick fights. They will crack first, believe me. Someone will punch me by the end of the day.”

“It’ll be me,” Penny said, lagging behind just a little, hunching for all she was worth. She was so annoyed that Emery was the political one between them. While he got to be invisible and attend the hearing of the First—the warrior fae called it something different, but she couldn’t remember the term—she was stuck following Reagan around, a party to crazy antics that were so against the social norms of this place. “I’ll be the one punching her in the face.”

Reagan nodded with her lips turned down in a duck bill. “Quite possibly.”

“You gave ol’ Cole a good wallop yesterday,” Steve said, falling back just a little so he could talk to Penny.

She shrugged. She’d tried to explain that she hadn’t actually meant the ball-to-his-head situation as an insult, merely as a way to show Reagan up. She’d figured he might understand that. But he’d persisted until it got dangerous, and then she’d had to react. Everyone knew she went overboard when she was reacting. She didn’t know what he was expecting.

“And then you rang the Second’s bell. I don’t think he expected that. He had you on the run.” Steve smiled with a twinkle in his deep blue eyes.

She shrugged again.

“Never get Penny on the run,” Reagan said as she waved at someone coming from the opposite direction. “Your fly is down.” The man didn’t glance over. “Hey, bro, your dick is hanging out.” He looked straight ahead, realizing, of course, that his robe thing lacked a fly (if he even knew what that was) and his dangly bits wouldn’t hang out if he tried. Which Steve probably had at some point. “Here, I’ll get it.”