Ink Exchange (Wicked Lovely 2)

“Then you should’ve done something to protect her. Do you know what’s been done to her? How lost she’s been? How afraid? How very, very broken?”

As much as he found it touching that Aislinn cared for his girl, it wasn’t reason enough to sacrifice Leslie. They hadn’t protected her, hadn’t kept her safe, hadn’t made her happy. He would do those things. “When she adjusts to the changes—”

“What changes? You said she was still mortal. What did you do?”

Tiny storm clouds clustered around them until the club was hazy with them. The conversation wasn’t going to improve, so Irial stood and bowed. “My court deals in darker things than yours. The rest is not mine to say. Later, if she wants to, she’ll tell you.”

Then he left the Summer Queen and her retinue of scowling guards. Despite his court’s need for dissension among the denizens of Faerie, he had no patience for politics, not now. He had something—someone—more important to attend to.

CHAPTER 26

Leslie and Seth were several blocks away before she finally asked, “Do you know what’s going on?”

Without missing a step, Seth said, “They’re not human. None of them.”

“Right.” She scowled. “Thanks. Joking really helps.”

“I’m not joking, Leslie.” He glanced past her as if someone were there and smiled at the empty street. “Ask Irial for the Sight. Tell him you deserve it.”

“The Sight?” She didn’t smack him, but she wanted to. She felt utterly off-kilter, and he was mocking her.

“And guards,” he added. Then he stopped and motioned to the open space in front of her. “Show her.”

“Show me wha—”

A girl with black leathery wings appeared. She smiled in a predatory way. “Ooh, are we going to get to play?”

Niall’s voice came from behind her, “Take a walk, Cerise. She belongs to Irial now.”

“Irial took a mortal? Really? I heard rumors, but…hmm, she’s a bit plain, isn’t she?” The winged girl looked astounded, amused, and curious all at once.

Leslie stared at her: she couldn’t turn to look at Niall, couldn’t begin to get her head around what he had just said. Belong? What about us? What about everything he whispered to me? Belong? A burst of anger consumed her sadness but faded immediately. Belong? Like a trinket? I belong to myself. But she didn’t say any of it, didn’t turn to face him with confusion written plainly on her face. Instead she stepped up to the winged girl, Cerise.

Cerise flapped her wings. “They’re real.” And with her backless top, it was obvious that the wings were truly sprouting from her skin. “Oh, sweetie, you’re in for a good time. That one has stamina you wouldn’t believe—”

Then something—unseen—grabbed Cerise from behind; she started to move backward without any obvious effort on her part. Surges of loathing for Cerise rolled through the air from that unseen thing into Leslie’s skin, filling her and fleeing before they settled.

“Fine. I’m going,” Cerise snapped. Then she waved as she disappeared. Her disembodied voice called, “See you around, babe.”

Leslie slid to the sidewalk. She was trembling, shaking from whatever was wrong with her. It wasn’t just that she could tell what others were feeling: it was more now. The feelings around her were almost tactile, and they were slithering under her skin.

“She had wings,” she said.

Seth nodded.

“And vanished? She really vanished?” Leslie tried to keep her focus. Somewhere in the apartments above her, a woman was weeping with a sorrow so heavy, it made Leslie think she was swallowing copper.

Niall reached down and helped Leslie to her feet. He bent so his lips were against her face. Gently he murmured, “I’ve failed you yet again. But I’m not giving up. Just remember that: I won’t let him keep you.”

Leslie looked from him to Seth. She wanted Seth to tell her this was a joke, wanted him to tell her things hadn’t become hopelessly weird. Seth had been around as long as she’d lived in Huntsdale. If he told her it was okay…

But Seth shook his head. “Ask Irial for the Sight and guards of your own.”

“Guards? They can’t protect her from what she needs protection from, from him,” Niall snarled before looking back at her. His expression softened then, and he whispered, “Don’t forget: surviving is what matters. You can do this.”

Tish stepped from the shadows in front of them. “You shouldn’t touch Leslie.”

Leslie tried to focus on the girl. The whole world had shifted, and Leslie was starting to believe that it wouldn’t be getting stable again anytime soon. The symphony of flavors wafted from the walls around her, crept toward her from nearby rooms, and battered her skin. She closed her eyes and tried to catalogue the tastes as they ran through her. There were too many.