High Times in the Low Parliament by Kelly Robson

Author:Kelly Robson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tor Publishing Group

10

Eloquentia was late.

“Did I imagine it?” Lana asked her fairy friend.

“You imagine lots of things.”

The shirt Lana had changed into was clean and fresh, but not her best. Ink dotted its ruffled cuffs. Lana tucked them into the sleeves of her tailcoat, then thought the better of it. She took off her coat and draped it over her shoulders, then rolled up her sleeves to better display her attractive forearms. She pulled her hair loose and rumpled it to achieve a just - rolled - out - of - bed effect.

“How do I look?”

“You’ve got mossy teeth.” Bugbite was in a mood, but she wasn’t wrong. Lana had grabbed a stem of mint from one of the kitchen’s windowsill pots and chewed it to freshen her breath. The pulped mint caked Lana’s mouth, and she had nothing to rinse with. She spat into her handkerchief and swabbed her teeth as best she could. But that was a mistake, too. If Eloquentia became teary, she would have nothing to offer, no returning-your-handkerchief excuse for another meeting.

A rookie mistake. She ought to know enough to carry two handkerchiefs. One for common use, one for seductions.

But now: footsteps. Eloquentia appeared, cloaked in midnight-blue folds, her lovely face shaded under a hood.

Lana staggered as if bowled over by the sight of the dancer crossing the courtyard.

“Where is the fairy?” Eloquentia said. Hardly the proper form for such a meeting, but perhaps they did things differently in her part of France.

“Shy in the face of your beauty,” Lana began, voice low, “she has drawn back into the shadows. As I myself—”

“Where?” Eloquentia squinted into the courtyard’s shadows. “Ah,” she said. “Come out. Join us.”

Bugbite yelped. The dancer crossed her hands over her breast.

“S’il vous plait?”

Slowly, Bugbite crossed the courtyard. She hovered just behind Lana’s shoulder as if for protection.

“You two seem friendly. What do you call yourselves?”

“I am Lana, Lana Baker, and this is Beauty Bugbite.”

“I meant, what are you to each other?”

“We’re friends,” said Lana. “Fast friends forever, right, BB?”

The fairy nodded vigorously.

“That’s rare,” said Eloquentia.

“Not rare in your experience, I’m certain.” Lana returned to her slow, seductive tone. “A woman like you must make friends wherever—”

“No, I mean friendship between human and fairy is rare. Not unheard of, but conditions mostly don’t allow it.”

“Conditions?” Lana asked.

“Let’s not waste time with generalities. Tell me about yourselves.”

Lana was glad to answer.

“I came to Parliament a few weeks ago, homesick, and missing my mother and sisters most desperately.” That was a massive exaggeration, but if Eloquentia wanted to take the upper hand, Lana was not above playing the ingénue. “When Bugbite and I watched you dance, my heart healed.”

“You’ve only known each other a brief time? I was mistaken, then. Good night.” She walked away.

“Wait,” Lana called softly. “The length of a friendship is no proof of its strength. Bugbite and I have been tried and tested, have we not, BB?”

“Just this morning, in fact,” Bugbite said.

“Ours is a true, loving friendship,” Lana insisted.

“Is it indeed?” Eloquentia rubbed her chin between thumb and forefinger.

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