You’ve been undercover in the Faery Court for a while now, and although you had your doubts about the possibility of success at first, now you see: being the only one who is able to outright lie is a power to be reckoned with.
“Did you tell that human boy I was going to steal his soul and/or body?” Jani asks, hands propped on her hips. She’s not angry enough to have shed all of her human features, at least, but the fact that her large, black incisors are curling down past her chin is not a good sign. “Come on. There’s no certainty that I’ll be made if you tell me the truth.”
You and your roommate, Danu, look at each other. Jani is talking like she does to the younger fae, the ones who think that “no certainty” means that Jani won’t use her toxin to liquefy their internal organs and drink them like cheap beer just because someone tipped off her meal.
Yeah friggin’ right.
Danu’s been part of your college’s Court longer than you have, so he knows that Jani is a carnivore and knows better than to get on her bad side. Jani knows he knows, to be honest. It’s not a good sign that she’s even asking the question. It means she’s run out of other suspects and you two are the last ones.
Which means one of you had to have told the human to run, depriving the predator of her meal.
“That,” Danu says, “would be a dumb thing for me to do.” His sparkling, black eyes slide to you and away, implying that while he might not be dumb enough to do it, you are.
You’d be pissed if he weren’t right. Not that you’re going to admit that to Jani ‘no certainty’ Arachne.
Honestly, Danu should have just told her he didn’t do it. The problem with talking in riddles all the time is that, sometimes, there’s a bit too much room for interpretation.
“Wasn’t me,” you tell Jani baldly.
“You’re fucking kidding me,” Danu spits, hair flying straight up and eyes glowing with immediate panic. He turns to Jani, holding up his hands. “Wait, no, Jani, hold up, they’re not f–”
Jani lunges. Her fangs sink into the side of Danu’s neck, cutting off the damning words bubbling up from his lips. They’re not fae. Your last two roommates had realized the same thing. Only humans can lie to the fae and be believed.
It’s really not your fault that death came shortly after that particular realization.
You wonder when housing will run out of new roommates for you to go through.
“You’re alright, kid,” Jani says. She’s holding Danu’s body by the hair, blood dripping down her chin. Danu twitches. “So rare for other fae to play it straight like that. It’s refreshing.”
“I do what I do,” you say and watch her pull the body from your room and out into the hall.
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