“Thadrick saw it.” Lilly narrowed her eyes on the two females.
“Appearances can be deceiving,” Myanin said.
“And what about you?” Lilly asked Tenia.
The fae glanced at Myanin, and Lilly saw her eyes held a question.
“I think you should tell her,” Myanin said.
Tenia seemed hesitant to share whatever it was the djinn wanted her to say but after a few heartbeats she spoke. “Alston has my young. He is using him to keep me in line.”
The wind rushed out of Lilly, though she didn’t drop her hands or the power held in them. “Okay, so you’re not a willing participant of their evil acts,” she said to the fae. “But what about you?” She turned back to Myanin. “What’s your reason?”
“That’s a bit of a longer story,” Myanin said.
“Well, tomorrow I’m expecting a visit from a temperamental high fae. If you’re still here by then, she is going to attack first and ask questions later. So, whatever you have to say better be good. From where I stand, you two still look like enemies.”
“If you know Thadrick, then you know the power of the djinn. I could level this entire castle if I wished, though poor Tenia here would likely go down with it. She’s been a most capable guide, leading me to all the cotton candy I could want. And I’m beginning to like her. I don’t have a lot of friends. It would be a shame to lose her.” Though the djinn tone was bland, there was true affection in her eyes when she glanced at Tenia. She did care for the fae, though she tried to remain aloof.
“Cotton candy?” Lilly wasn’t sure she heard the djinn correctly.
Tenia shook her head. “Don’t ask.”
“And so you know,” Myanin continued as if they hadn’t spoken, “even the great Perizada of the fae is no true threat to me. It would take more than one high fae to bring me down. Nor am I a threat to you, Queen Lilly. I’ve come to talk, not fight. The earlier demonstration was simply to determine if you were worth my time. Luckily, you responded appropriately.”
Lilly shrugged. The djinn wasn’t wrong. Why would they stand and have a conversation with her if they planned to kill her? Or maybe that was the plan. To tell her their secrets because it didn’t matter since they were planning on killing her anyway.
“I give you my word, your highness,” Myanin said. “We will not hurt you.”
“Forgive me, but your word doesn’t exactly mean all that much,” Lilly huffed.
“Then I give you my word on my son’s life.” Tenia sent a look to Myanin that made it clear she’d stab the djinn herself if she broke their promise.
Lilly stared at the pair for a moment longer and then willed the power away from her hands and the rest of her body. “Fine.” She crossed her arms in front of her and tried to look more like a queen and less like a tired middle-aged woman. It was a stretch, considering she was wearing jeans and a T-shirt. “If you didn’t come here to attack the warlocks on behalf of the Order, why did you come?”
“A couple of reasons,” Myanin said and then motioned to the chairs and couch. “May we sit?”
“Why not?” Lilly laughed. “My life isn’t enough of a mess already. Might as well add ‘hanging with the enemy’ to my resume.”
“I recently had a vision of you,” Myanin said as she took one of the empty chairs and Tenia the other.
“Is that because you messed up Thad’s magic?” Lilly asked, taking a seat on the couch.
“Yes.”
Lilly again saw a strange flicker of emotion in the djinn’s eyes at the mention of Thadrick’s name. Her curiosity was piqued. “Why do I get the feeling there is more to that story than the djinn history keeper shared with us?”
“Probably because he didn’t want to go into the sordid details of my longtime obsession with him,” Myanin said without blinking. She pulled something from her pocket and Lilly started to move, but Myanin shook her head. “We have no need of weapons, your highness. I am simply retrieving a recently discovered treat, something that keeps me calm.”
Lilly watched as the djinn pulled out a package of… “cotton candy?”
“I told you not to ask,” Tenia said. “She smiles when she talks about it. It’s usually a creepy smile.”
Myanin smiled, but it wasn’t creepy. The expression was so childlike it left Lilly speechless. “This is truly the best invention humans have ever had.” Myanin tore off a piece and put it in her mouth. There was a brief look of surprise on the djinn’s face, which seemed incongruent with her love of the candy. She seemed confused that it tasted so good. But she should have already known that, because of her self-admitted obsession with it.
“Oookaay,” Lilly said slowly, feeling even more confused and wishing she had some Valium to offer the cotton-candy-addicted weirdo.
“It’s an unhealthy habit I can’t seem to break her of,” Tenia said, sounding very ashamed of herself, as if she was personally responsible for the djinn’s addiction.
“You realize that stuff is full of sugar, right? It will rot your teeth if you don’t brush really well.” Lilly immediately felt ridiculous. She was telling a supernatural creature, who was no doubt hundreds of years old, that she might get cavities.
“I have a feeling rotten teeth are the least of our worries right now,” Myanin said as she tore off a chunk of the pink, fluffy confection and shoved it in her mouth, humming in appreciation. “We digress,” she said. “I need to tell you of the mess I have gotten myself into and perhaps then you will feel less…”—she paused, seeming to think of the word she wanted to use—“shitty about your situation.”
That’s one way to put it.
“Maybe we can help each other,” the djinn continued.
“Not to be rude, but
