Crown of Moonlight (Court of Midnight and Deception #2) - K.M. Shea Page 0,55
rejoined Leila.
Chrysanthe did not seem like a threat. I didn’t really care what she was up to—or how she felt. But I did want to see how Leila was handling this latest attempt on her life.
Chase was already at her side, barking into his earpiece. “Sweep the area—Team Gloom, I want you checking on the theaters—turn on the lights if you have to.”
Leila was speaking with Indigo, her hands clasped together tightly enough to make her fingers white. “—thank you, Indigo. Though I would have been happier if you stayed behind the barrier.”
“I haven’t the arm—or the aim—to throw anything over a wall like that.” Indigo frowned up at Leila. “Are you okay?”
“Yep. It’s fine,” Leila said.
“Do you need anything?”
Leila gave a gurgle of laughter. “No. If we could just figure out which of those nutcase monarchs is doing this…” She sighed, then forced herself to smile when she saw me.
“Do you want a coffee?” Indigo asked.
Shocked, Leila gaped at her friend. When she recovered, her smile held a hint of its usual sparkle. “A coffee would be great. Thanks, Indigo. And thanks, Rigel, for taking out that first snake.” She and Indigo turned to me.
I shrugged.
They stared at me, clearly expecting words, but I wasn’t going to say anything.
I wasn’t wholly certain how I felt about Leila.
She amused me, and I’d come to appreciate the chaotic but clever way she lived her life. She’d made more progress with our Court than I thought possible. I married her because I’d been concerned she’d be our unending, but—as today had proven—she’d turned into a rally point for us fae.
But it wasn’t her success in ending the game of power in the Night Court that had me seeing her differently—and it wasn’t her friendly personality. I looked at her differently from how I did Dion, after all.
There was something else there—and whatever it was, it drove me to protect her without thinking. I wasn’t sure how I liked that. I had lived my life with rigid control. It would be dangerous to lose that.
“So, is it just me, or can you teleport?” Leila asked, apparently having decided to nudge the conversation along.
Indigo looked like she was about to march off to order that coffee, but she stopped at that question. “What?”
Leila took a step closer to me, and we almost brushed arms when I fixed one of my bracers. “Yeah, Rigel can teleport—or something like that. I thought it was just my slow human eyes, but today I saw him disappear in the shadows and pop out behind the snakes.”
“Teleporting is impossible magic,” Indigo said. “It can only be done by creatures—like your night mares.”
“Then what is it that you do, Rigel?” Leila and Indigo looked expectantly at me.
I shrugged. Everyone who hired me knew what I was capable of. There was no harm in telling them as I wasn’t trying to hide my abilities.
“Shadow jumping,” I said. “It’s my natural magic.”
Leila’s purple eyes widened in interest. “You can jump from shadow to shadow?”
“For short distances, yes,” I said. “It has to be a shadow in my immediate surroundings.”
“No jumping to a mountain shadow that’s miles away—got it,” Leila said.
Not knowing any better, Leila accepted my magic. Indigo—being raised in the Night Court—had a better idea just how rare and deadly that particular strain of magic could be.
She stared at me, her eyes slightly magnified by the lenses of her glasses.
I met her gaze, and she hurriedly looked away.
She cleared her throat, then did her best to cheerfully smile at Leila. “I better go rustle up a coffee for you.”
“Thanks, Indigo,” Leila said. “Oh—and—”
“Ahem.”
Indigo and Leila turned to Lady Chrysanthe.
She had positioned herself between the pair—notably as far away as she could get from me while still being part of the circle—and held her folded hands at her waist.
“Good afternoon, Queen Leila. Companion Indigo,” she said.
I had noticed Lady Chrysanthe approaching us from the corner of my eye, but I didn’t think she’d actually speak up—that wasn’t the style of most fae nobles. They were too important to make the first move.
“Hello…Lady Chrysanthe,” Leila slowly said.
“You appear to be uninjured,” Lady Chrysanthe said.
“Yes. Everyone moved so fast, no one was hurt. Though I don’t know if the theater is ever going to let us rent from them again.” Leila laughed, trailing off when no one joined her.
“I see.” Lady Chrysanthe nodded slightly. Eventually she peered in the direction of the concession stands, but she didn’t move on.