“What the fuck was that?” I yelled. They stared at me. “No. What the fuck was that?” Neither appeared to fully comprehend my agitation. “Did he just pull silver out of the air?”
They reacted to my words then, eyes landing first on my arm, which was now wet with blood, and then to the floor behind them.
A flat shard of metal lay on the stone. Chevelle’s gaze returned to me, but Steed’s went back to the chair. Rhys and Rider were suddenly there, struggling to take in whatever had happened.
Chevelle moved toward me and I became aware I was near panting. I straightened and slowed my breathing, hands and thighs still tingling with adrenaline. He examined my arm as I watched Steed pick up the sword at the feet of the corpse. He appeared thoroughly confused and his gaze returned to the blade on the floor behind him.
Feeling returned swiftly to my arm and I jerked, but Chevelle had a tight grip. “It is a clean wound,” he informed me. He bound a strip of fabric around it to stop the bleeding and instructed Rhys to find Ruby.
Chevelle turned. “Rider, this was an attempt on Elfreda.” No one missed that he’d used my official name and each in the room tensed at the severity, myself included. “We know nothing, but can assume he did not travel alone.” Chevelle’s tone deepened to something resembling an animal. “Find them.”
Rider disappeared from the room without another word and then Ruby was in the doorway. She had some choice words for the scene, but hurriedly attended my injury.
Steed was standing over the offending blade and now that I was taken care of, Chevelle joined him. They didn’t seem to want to touch it. Ruby was pestering me with questions and poking at the gash in my arm, so I didn’t catch what they were saying. I stood and walked over to join them. My head spun a little and Ruby protested like a wild monkey, but she followed me, working as we went.
Steed glanced at me. “It doesn’t seem to be of the same metal.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“He didn’t pull the element from anything on him. I checked his person myself. If it wasn’t the sword...” He trailed off.
“How is that possible?” Ruby asked.
No one answered. There was no answer.
Chevelle straightened to face me. “What did it look like?”
I was confused for a moment, but realized neither he nor Steed would have been able to see it from from their vantage point. I had a feeling neither was happy that I’d pushed past them and stuck my nose in the attacker’s face. “It was quick. Smooth but not liquid. His eyes were connected with mine and he never lost focus. There was nothing, and then silver.” I sighed. “I’m not even sure I realized it was a blade until I was moving.”
Ruby glanced at the chair. “Who bashed his skull?”
Steed and I gave Chevelle matching accusatory glares. He didn’t budge.
“Well, we’ll never find anything out now,” she complained. “What do you suppose he wanted?” Her gaze flicked to my shoulder. “Aside from Frey.”
Chevelle really didn’t like fairies. I answered to save her. “He must have been put up to it.”
“He snuck through the kitchens,” Steed put in. “There’s no way anyone with knowledge of the castle would have sent him that route.”
“Did he say anything else?” I asked. “When you found him, what did we miss?”
Steed shrugged. “He immediately demanded to see you, sword drawn.” He met my gaze with a kind of apology. “I had no idea he was a threat. He seemed so weak.”
I waved it off and looked back at his lifeless form. It didn’t seem possible. “He’s just a boy.”
“No one of note helped him,” Chevelle said.
“You seem sure,” I answered.
“They would have waited.”
The banquet. Why hadn’t he attacked tonight, when I would have been vulnerable? He could have walked right up to me and had done with it in front of every clan leader. “Was he a warning?” Unease filtered through the group. “Maybe he was never meant to succeed?”
“But the silver,” Steed said, shaking his head.
“Maybe he thought he was strong enough to do it. The talent made him special where he was from so he decided he would just raid the castle,” Ruby suggested. “Where is he from, by the way? He doesn’t look right.”
“We didn’t find out,” I answered, and we all looked at Chevelle again.
Still nothing.
Grey came in, a wild energy lighting his face. I’d seen him quick before, but never on task. It made a difference. “Witnesses saw a similar youth matching the description come in with the deliveries. He seems to have been working alone, as he was unaware of a few customs and didn’t appear to have a defined purpose. No one accosted him, they presumed it was merely due to inexperience,” he reported. “We would like to confirm the identity with the witnesses.”
Chevelle nodded. “Very well, but keep him from anyone else’s sight. Resume the search within the castle and surrounding the gates but only until the guests begin to arrive. I want no one to know what has happened here.”
Chapter Six
Banquet