28. Zoey

Zoey

“Do you want to go out to the courtyard?” Sophia asks after Aurora and Victoria leave the dining room. “To see Jake?”

“Do you know where Matt is?” I ask her instead.

“Um…” She fidgets uncomfortably, tugging at the ends of her sleeves. “You’d have to ask either Elijah or Henry. The queen’s other pets.”

“Can we call each other something else?” I snap, although I immediately feel bad about my tone, so I shift it back to friendly. “‘Pets just sounds so…” I pause, searching for the right word. “Dehumanizing.”

“That’s sort of the point,” she says, pity shining in her eyes. “But words won’t change what this place is. What we are. At least, not to them.”

As much as I hate it, I suppose she’s right.

Besides, no matter how demoralizing it is to be called someone’s pet, I have more important things to focus on than semantics.

“Where are Elijah and Henry now?” I ask, since what matters the most right now is talking to Matt. Really talking with him, where no one else can hear.

“Elijah’s been secluding himself recently,” she says. “He’s probably in their suite.”

“Then take me to their suite,” I say, quickly adding, “please?”

Her frown deepens, but after a moment, she sighs. “Fine,” she gives in. “But you saw how Matt was earlier. He’s… entranced by her. By the queen.”

“I understand. But entranced or not, I want to see him,” I say, and she leads me through the maze of corridors, past other doors that lead to suites like ours.

Finally, we stop in front of a large wooden door carved with intricate designs of moons and stars, embossed with gold paint, with marble columns on each side. It’s far fancier than the doors to our suite. As if the queen’s declaring that her pets are more important than the others.

“Go on,” Sophia says, motioning for me to knock.

I do, and after a moment, Elijah opens the door.

His expression clouds when he sees me.

“Matt’s not here,” he says before I can ask.

“Where is he?”

“With the queen.” His voice is flat. “In her quarters.”

I frown and glance at Sophia, who won’t look at me.

There’s no need to ask what Matt’s doing in the queen’s quarters. I’ve been getting a decent idea of what goes on around here, and judging by the look in Matt’s eyes when he spoke about the queen, she’s doing more than just drinking his blood.

“When will he be back?” I ask instead.

“Don’t know.” Something bitter creeps into his tone. “He’s been sleeping there every day since he arrived.”

“Sleeping—” I cut myself off, processing this. “Wait. What about the king? Doesn’t that… bother him to have someone else in there with them?”

Elijah’s laugh is hollow. “The royals don’t share quarters.”

“Oh.” I frown again, since I’ve never heard of a husband and wife who don’t share a room. “So, Matt will be back tomorrow night?”

This nocturnal schedule is going to take a while to get my mind around. And I hope I’m not here for long enough for it to start feeling normal.

“Sometimes she keeps them longer,” he says simply.

“Them?”

“Her favorites.” His eyes are distant, like he’s remembering something he’d rather forget. “She always gets attached to the new ones. For a while.”

“And then what happens?” I ask.

“Then they end up here.” He gestures to the suite behind him. “With the rest of us. Until she finds someone new to obsess over, and to eventually replace one of us. But look—if you want to talk to Matt, come back tomorrow night. Just don’t expect him to be the person you remember. None of us are. Although, he’s changed faster than most. She really did a number on him.”

I remember how quickly Matt fell for Sapphire—basically at first sight. Obviously, it’s happened all over again, but this time, with the queen of the Night Court.

Hopefully when I see him, I can talk some sense into him.

“Thanks for the help,” I say to Elijah, since clearly, there’s nothing more he can do for me. “When Matt comes back, tell him I need to talk to him.”

He shrugs noncommittally and closes the door, leaving me standing there in the hall with Sophia.

“Do you still want to go to the courtyard?” she asks. “To see Jake?”

I hesitate. Because after everything with Matt, I’m not sure I’m in the mood for company.

Then again, maybe that’s exactly what I need right now. Something to take my mind off all of this.

Well, more like some one.

“Yes,” I decide. “Show me the way?”

She brightens immediately. “Come on. It’s through here.”

We wind through more halls until we reach a set of glass doors that lead outside.

The courtyard beyond is beautiful, but in an eerie way. It’s all black and red flowers and twisted trees, with paths made of black stone, marble picnic tables scattered throughout, and blood-tinged water flowing from the multi-tiered fountains.

But, most noticeably of all is the tall, solid, concrete fence lining it on all sides. The one I saw from my original guest room.

The walls of our prison. It feels like it’s buzzing with magic, which I suppose makes it more of an electric fence.

Second most noticeable is that Jake isn’t here.

I recognize a few of the others, though. Nathanial—Princess Mirena’s sole pet—who’s writing in what looks to be a journal. All three of Prince Malakai’s are playing a card game at one of the far tables. They whisper something to each other, look up at me, give me small glares, then return to their game. Lastly, there’s Aurora, whose head is buried in a book.

I also can’t help but notice that it’s warmer out here.

Maybe from the fence?

I have no idea, but I have no complaints about it.

“I have to head back,” Sophia says, giving me a knowing smile. “Don’t worry. He’ll be here.”

“What do you have to do?” I ask.

“Oh, you know.” She waves vaguely. “Things.”

Then she’s gone, leaving me alone with the others, who clearly don’t want to be sociable.

But I don’t want to leave without giving Jake a fair chance.

So, needing something to do in the meantime, I walk to the far end of the path where it meets the fence, since there are some small sparkly rocks along the side of it. When I was younger, I loved hunting for interesting stones. Their shapes, their textures… there’s something grounding about them.

I also really enjoyed that moment in the third trial when I made that awful woman in the forest stop screaming by throwing a rock at her throat.

Her scream was so shrill that I swear it’ll haunt me until the end of time.

I kneel and pick up one of the rocks, turning it over in my hands. It looks normal on the outside, but given that this is another realm, maybe there could be something different about it. Something hidden beneath the surface.

“What are you doing?”

I jump at Jake’s voice, nearly dropping the stone.

“Sorry,” he says quickly. “Didn’t mean to startle you while you’re…”

He trails off, waiting for me to continue.

“Looking at the crystals,” I explain.

“Those are rocks.”

“They could be crystals.” I shrug. “If they were smoothed over.”

Jake raises an eyebrow, his expression caught somewhere between amusement and genuine curiosity. “Interesting,” he says, although given that he’s looking at me instead of the rock in my hand, I don’t think he’s referring to the rock.

“Crystals have different energies,” I explain. “Like, if this is quartz, it could help with clarity. Or if it’s amethyst, it might help with peace of mind.” I turn it over, examining it. “I’m trying to gather whatever positive energy I can find in this place.”

“And you think these rocks are going to change anything?” he asks, crouching down next to me.

“It can’t hurt,” I say, gathering two more stones. “Besides, we need all the help we can get in this place.”

“We?” There’s a hopeful note in his voice that makes my chest tighten.

“Well, yeah. I mean, look at Victoria. She’s so bitter, but I get it. I’d be scared too, if I was in her position.” I examine another stone, avoiding his gaze, hoping he’ll be receptive of what I’m going to say next. “If we work together instead of against each other, maybe we’ll have a better chance.”

“Better chance of what?”

“Getting through this.” I glance up at him to clarify. “Getting out of here.”

His expression falls, and he touches my hand, stopping me from picking up another stone. “There’s no ‘getting out of here,’” he says sadly. “But we can find ways to be happy. To make the best of what we have.”

The way he says it—with the gentle emphasis on we —makes my heart skip. Because he’s offering something. A connection. Maybe even more.

And I’m tempted. Especially because he looks so much like Patrick that it hurts.

At the same time, there’s no way in Hell I’m going down without a fight.

“Did you know that penguins search for pebbles for each other?” he continues before I can reply.

I blink at the sudden change in topic. “Penguins?”

“Yes. Penguins,” he repeats, picking up one of the smoother stones. “When they’re courting, the male penguin searches the beach for the perfect pebble to give to the female he’s interested in. If she accepts the pebble, she’s accepting him as her mate.”

Despite myself, I’m intrigued. I’ve always enjoyed learning random facts.

“How do they know which pebble is perfect?” I ask.

“They look for the smoothest, roundest ones they can find.” His fingers trace the edge of the stone he’s holding. “Sometimes they’ll spend hours searching. And if another male finds a better pebble, they might even try to steal it.”

I can’t help but laugh. “Penguin pebble theft?”

“It’s serious business.” He picks up a smooth, pale stone and holds it out to me, his eyes meeting mine. “Here. For clarity. Or whatever else you need.”

It’s a sweet gesture. So, I take it, letting my fingers brush against his as I do.

“It’s beautiful,” I say softly.

“Yeah,” he says, although he’s not looking at the stone anymore. “It is.”

We sit in silence for a moment, the weight of the Night Court’s suffocating rules fading just enough to feel normal.

At least, as normal as we can get here.

“Zoey,” he says, soft and hesitant.

I glance up, and before I can process what’s happening, he leans in.

I let him.

His lips are soft and gentle. Nothing like the urgent way Patrick used to kiss me. And while it doesn’t send the spark through me, it feels like a silent promise.

I’m here.

You’re not alone.

And right now, that’s exactly the sort of promise I need.