Page 85 of Marked
“Of course.” I slid over in my seat to make room for her, kicking Ace’s leg under the table as a warning. Personally, I tried to antagonize the queen as little as possible. I might give a lot of snark and attitude when I received her orders, but I always watched my words in her presence.
“Where’s Odin?” I asked. Her familiar usually went everywhere with her.
“Around.”
Huh. Maybe that’s how she found us—she’d sent her raven familiar to keep an eye on our group. I’d even bet my last gale she’d spotted us in the crowd earlier, but instead of calling us out, she sent Odin to follow us. Now that sounded like something the queen would do.
A chill ran along my spine. If she had sent Odin, that meant the familiar had seen us enter and exit the Death House.
Exactly how much did the queen know?
“Nice scratch.” The queen nodded at Ace’s neck.
“Thank you,” Ace replied. He brushed his fingers along the angry red mark I’d left with my blade.
“I’m thirsty.” Queen Titania glanced at the pitcher of beer and then at Ace.
“I’ll get another glass,” he grumbled, sliding from the booth to stalk toward the bar. Tension knotted his shoulders, making his movement stiffer than normal.
“We don’t have much time,” Queen Titania said. “I assume you know of Dita and Shona’s murders?”
“Yes.”
“And I’m also assuming from your brother’s not so subtle bribes of the guards and a report of a break-in at the Death House, you’re aware an immortal is behind these murders.”
I grimaced. “Also, yes.”
“Do you know what can kill a bonded galeon descendent?”
“Up until a few days ago, I would’ve said nothing.”
The queen nodded, her body stiff, her gaze scanning the crowd. “Do you know what they used to call phaanons?”
I jerked back in my seat. That question had come out of nowhere. What did the phaanons have to do with anything these days besides starring in Sley’s fantasies and being used as a swearword?
“No, I don’t,” I said.
“The curse of immortals.”
I froze, not liking where this conversation headed. “Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”
“Phaanons were the only creatures capable of killing galeons.”
I sucked in a breath. “But they’re gone.”
“Because they were too dangerous to let live.”
“Exactly, so it can’t be a phaanon.”
The queen hummed. “Maybe, maybe not. Either someone has found a source of the weapon the phaanons once used on our kind, or the phaanons aren’t as dead as they should be. Given my husband’s absolute obsession with eradicating phaanons and chasing down any potential sighting, I’m going to assume the former.”
“But…how?”
The queen snarled. “I’m not sure and I despise not knowing. All we have are rumours and bedtime stories. The truth has been lost. Or more accurately, destroyed.”
“What do you mean?”
“Not only were the phaanons too dangerous to live, but all the information about them and how they killed us was too dangerous to keep too. So like the phaanons, we destroyed it all. I was only young, then. Too young to remember much of anything. But one thing is abundantly clear.” She stopped scanning the crowd and turned her ice-blue gaze to me. “You must find who is behind this.”