smiled at him. Her lipstick was the color of blood and her dark eyes were filled with fury, despite her smile. “Apparently, it’s true that if you want something done, you need to do it yourself.”
He had a very bad feeling about this visit, but there was exactly nothing he could do about it. That made him feel even worse.
She picked up the Fae sword, balancing it on her hands. Her lips tightened as she glanced down at the blade. It had changed even more since Hadrian had last looked at it. The blade was completely clear, like it was made of ice, and the hilt had turned from silver to cloudy white. Water dripped from the tip of the blade, which had become much shorter, and Hadrian realized that the weapon was melting.
Was it because he’d killed the Fae warrior entrusted with it?
“This is your fault,” she said accusingly, which didn’t exactly answer his question. The Dark Queen grimaced and offered what was left of the sword to her warrior. “It’ll ruin my skirt,” she said and he took it, bowing low to her afterward. He placed the blade on a different table, then stood at attention between the Dark Queen and the melting weapon.
Maeve considered Hadrian and her eyes glinted with what might have been amusement. The apparent change in her mood did nothing to reassure him. “You should know that the Others are concerned that I don’t seem to hunt the Pyr. They think there’s something special about you dragon shifters, and some have concluded that you’ve made a bargain with me to ensure your own survival.” She arched a brow. “The truth, of course, is much simpler. You fall lower on my list since you’re not a native species, so to speak.”
Hadrian didn’t understand what that meant.
Maeve chuckled, as if she’d read his thoughts, and he remembered her reputation. He tried to keep his thoughts simple. “There were no dragon shifters on Earth,” she informed him. “Not originally. No divinity created dragon shifters here either. You’re all aliens who arrived out of the blue and mingled with the local inhabitants. You’ve been here a long time, but that doesn’t make you native.” Her voice hardened, even as Hadrian wondered whether that was true. “You’re still mutants and you still taint the planet with your presence, but you’re foreigners. Immigrants. I’ll get to you after the Others who originated here.” She swung her foot a little more and smiled at him. “I didn’t plan for the other shifters to turn against the Pyr, but it might work out quite well. The Others could do some of the work for me. There could be fewer of you to slaughter by the time my main quest is complete.”
That wasn’t the most reassuring thing she could have said. How could Hadrian save his fellow Pyr? The gloves were closer to completion but not done, and that annoyed him.
Maeve raised a hand and shook a finger at him. “You know, I didn’t think much of it when Rania chose you as her Pyr victim. I gave her that assignment to worry you all a bit and it’s a bonus that it’s sowing some dissent amongst the Others. But she has an instinct, that one, and she chose very, very well.”
Maeve slipped off the table and moved past the Fae warrior to look down at the weapon again. It was even smaller than it had been and the hilt was beginning to melt now. “You know I can’t tolerate this. My warriors must be armed, and that means you must die now.”
She would kill him before he could finish the gloves for the other Pyr.
She would kill him before he could have the same effect on the entire Fae armory. If Hadrian had been breathing, that realization would have made his breath catch. As it was, his thoughts spun. The Dark Queen had a vulnerability and he’d learned about it only when it was too late to do anything about it.
Maeve laughed. “Exactly,” she said with approval. She snapped her fingers and a slit of silver light appeared. Someone stepped through the gap before it was closed. Hadrian was surprised to see that it was Kade, the Pyr who had betrayed him.
Hadrian had admitted Kade to Rhys’ apartment when Kade had lied to him. Kade had then stolen the stylus Maeve had originally given to him, the one that let him enter Fae at will. He’d been forced to surrender it to