CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Jack and Hayley strode through Mess Hall, the clamor of the dinnertime rush rising around them. Jack rubbed his thumb and index finger together, a nervous tic he couldn’t seem to drop. A servant had informed them that the Queen of Axaria requested their presence at the head table, and Jack didn’t know whether to feel honored or petrified, so he settled for a mixture of both.

In perfect sync, they stepped up to a table set atop a raised platform and bowed to the queen. The rest of the court paid little attention to the two of them, although one man who gave Jack an extremely suggestive ogle received a glare from Hayley so vicious that he spilled wine upon himself. To the queen’s right sat General Garringsford, her steel eyes trained intently enough on them as she sliced her steak that Jack had to will himself not to shrink. Immortals, he was so glad Covington oversaw them. The man was a total hard-ass most of the time, but all of the Elites knew he had a soft spot for them. Garringsford was intimidating as hell, inside and out.

“Your Royal Majesty,” Jack said.

Queen Priscilla swirled a glass of wine in one hand, her fingernails painted in the same shade of blood red. “Elites. My apologies for stealing you away from your dinners, but I never had the chance to ask—which of the Guard did my daughter choose as companions?”

“The Eradorians, Your Majesty,” Hayley said.

“Interesting choice.” Priscilla tilted her head, waiting. When she saw that Hayley had nothing else to add, she frowned. “That only makes two.”

Jack exchanged a glance with Hayley. “The third wasn’t one of us, Your Majesty,” he said, shifting. “I—I don’t believe she was a soldier at all, actually.”

The queen’s glass halted midswirl, the liquid nearly sloshing out. “Do you remember what she looked like?”

Jack hesitated, bowing his head. “Her Highness mentioned a name … Luna.”

“Speak up, soldier,” Garringsford ordered, sharp as a whip.

“Luna,” Hayley repeated for him, her gaze as flat and unflappable as ever.

Queen Priscilla set her glass down unsteadily, hands resting on the table. “Luna? But … why?” she murmured to herself, staring into the liquid as though it might give her an answer.

Jack and Hayley stood there in silence for a long, awkward minute before Jack finally gathered the courage to break the tension. Garringsford hadn’t stopped staring at them, and it was seriously creeping him out. “Is there anything else we can help with, Your Majesty?”

The queen startled, resurfacing from her trance. “Oh my. I’m so sorry. Yes, of course. Thank you for your time.”

They bowed again before making their way back to their table. As Jack slid into his seat, he turned to Hayley, both of them ignoring Casper and Gino’s attempts to interrogate them about their little trip. He had to force himself to look away from Laurel’s pleading expression, because damn, if those wide hazel eyes weren’t irresistible. Silas flicked peas at Alicia, and one hit Hayley in the forehead. She sprang to her feet, wrestled the big man into a headlock and dumped a fistful of peas down his collar.

Jack stretched his legs beneath the table after Hayley sat back down. “So, what do you think that was about?”

Hayley glanced back up to the head table, where Queen Priscilla had stood to leave. Garringsford rose alongside her, but then the queen said something and the general lowered herself back into her seat, her eyes sullenly following the queen’s retreat. “I’m not sure.”

“Who’s Luna, again?”

Hayley shrugged. “Isn’t she Princess Asterin’s lady-in-waiting? Anyway, it hardly matters. Judging by the queen’s reaction … I doubt she’ll make it out of that forest alive.”