a good idea how the healing occurred, but none will share the speculation with anyone outside my contingent.”
I wondered about that, because he’d had absolute faith in Maddox too. And that hadn’t turned out so well for me.
Bahlin snorted, apparently as concerned as I was at Tarrek’s blind trust of his people. I squeezed his arm, hard, and he looked down at me. His eyes glittered in the muted light and it was disconcerting. There shouldn’t have been enough light for that type of reflection. He continued to stare at me, and I stared back until Tarrek cleared his throat.
“We’ve arrived,” Tarrek said. And the guards drew open the huge wooden doors. Showtime.
The room we were led into was cavernous. Carved out of the subterranean stone and floored with the continuing theme of marble, the room was structured like a Roman amphitheater. Hopefully the entertainment venue wouldn’t be the same. Seats and tables went up three sides, the seats filled with what I could only assume were the residents of the sithen. I was surprised at the number of fae, which I estimated to be around two thousand. Who knew? As Bahlin walked in I heard the murmur, “Dragon!” and “Niteclif!” over and over so that it sounded like wind speaking through the dry leaves of a tree: soft, whispering, persistent. Bahlin never visibly faltered, and I did my best to follow his lead.
Deep breaths, I reminded myself.
Straight across from the great doors was a huge dais, and on it were two thrones made of giant carved tree trunks polished to a glass-like shine. Jewels were set in recess into the wood and the value of each had to be enough that it could have provided Greece’s financial bailout several times over. The thrones were empty. Across the floor of the amphitheater and in front of the thrones, a large table had been set up and covered with a diaphanous cloth. Refreshments sat scattered across the table, but I couldn’t have told you what was on the menu. I was too absorbed with the beings sitting behind the table to notice.
Sitting at the center of the table was one of the most imposing men I’d ever seen. It was hard to tell how tall he was because he was seated, but his upper half was impressive. He was well muscled like a Mac truck is large, and his skin was very lightly tanned as if he worked in a garden regularly. His hair hung down to the middle of his back and was that blond that’s graced with darker and lighter colors. His eyes were pitch black, like his pupils had eaten the iris and left nothing behind. It was scary as hell. The power radiating off of him made me stop in my tracks, causing the others around me to stop awkwardly. There was a shift somewhere inside me and I felt like my soul reached out to him, as if we’d somehow known each other before, yet this had to be our first meeting. I would have remembered him, if not for the fact that his eyes scared me then surely because I inexplicably yearned for him from somewhere deep inside.
“Hellion, that’s enough,” said a soft, rich voice, thus breaking the spell. My eyes shifted over to the left, and I was suddenly looking at one of the most striking women I’d ever seen. I could tell that she was petite even though she was sitting, but she was no wallflower. Her hair was as dark as Hellion’s was light, her eyes equally dark, and she had the same mild tan he had. Her power was immense. It felt like a weight pressing against my whole body. I could tell she was holding it in check, almost as if she was waiting to see how I would respond to Hellion. I relaxed a bit, and felt the fingers of invasion in my mind. I thought, “No.” Just like that the mental door was shut. She smiled a genuine smile and revealed perfect white teeth. I wondered what these two were to each other. I looked up at Bahlin and raised my eyebrows in question.
“Mates,” Bahlin whispered. I didn’t think he was talking about them being best buddies, either.
“Who’s on the council?”
He squeezed my hand in warning and said, “Hellion is our Council member. He requested special permission to bring Gretta for this single meeting.” His implication was clear. She was a guest, and her crap wouldn’t be tolerated.