Queen of Night

19. Her Confused Heart

"Well, His Royal Brattiness is in a very poor mood right now."

Iyan glanced up from her book as Esen strode into the library. The Faerie flopped onto a sofa, letting her wings sprawl over the side of it. "Cut him some slack. He's having a bad day."

She blushed briefly, recalling the way he'd looked at her before. I'm finding that I trust you more than anyone right now. Esen groaned, drawing her out of her thoughts.

"Everyone is in a bad mood." She pulled out her braid and began to comb through her snowy hair. "More humans have disappeared and the summit is only two weeks away."

Iyan stiffened slightly. "Is Arius leaving again?"

"Not this time. Uncle thinks it's best to call off any further searching until the summit. We don't want the Day Faeries to realize we suspect anything before Uncle and Arius confront them."

"I suppose that makes sense."

Esen sighed again and sat up. "I'm tired of sitting around this manor. I need to go somewhere and do something unusual."

"You do unusual things all the time."

"Ok, something unroutine, then." She tapped a finger against her chin. "I've got it!" Esen leaped to her feet and grabbed Iyan's hand. Iyan didn't have a chance to protest before they were running down the hall and outside.

Gabriel and Arius were in the middle of sparring when they arrived. Asena was leaning against the wooden fence posts, watching intently. Iyan couldn't blame her, as her own gaze drifted towards the two Faeries.

They were moving impossibly fast. She could barely see their movements. Both males were breathing hard, sweat running down their bare chests despite the coolness of the afternoon.

"Don't look too long," Esen snickered and Iyan pulled her gaze away.

After a few more minutes, Arius and Gabriel broke apart. Annoyance flashed in Arius' blue eyes. Iyan wondered if it was because he wasn't out tracking the new missing humans, or if he was still upset from earlier.

"Did you need something?" Gabriel called. He grabbed his tunic and slid it on. Iyan tilted her head, watching curiously as he fitted it over his wings. He stuck his wings through their slits first, then pulled the rest of the tunic over his head and situated it.

I wondered how that worked, she thought. They almost treat their wings like an extra set of arms.

"I want to spend the night near Ruinas again," Esen said. "We haven't in ages and Asena and Iyan haven't been there yet. Besides, it would be good for some of us to get away for a little while." She cast a pointed glance towards Arius.

He rolled his eyes and grabbed his own shirt. "What's Ruinas?" Iyan asked, making sure her gaze remained fixed on Esen.

"They're the ruins of an old castle a good distance from here," Gabriel explained. "Stories say that the first Night Faeries lived there, but no one really knows where the ruins came from."

"They're supposedly haunted," Esen laughed. "We've never experienced anything to support that claim, though."

"I'll go," Asena said. "I love old architecture."

"You do?" Gabriel's eyes lit up.

Esen hid a smirk with her hand and leaned towards Iyan. "I'm surprised he didn't bring up architecture with her before. Gabriel loves to look at old structures of any kind."

"I didn't know Asena admired architecture," Iyan admitted. "I suppose it never came up, since there weren't any unique buildings in Sparrowhaven."