There was one more hope dashed, but I seemed to be losing them left and right today. I still couldn’t give up. “If your queen does nothing, she could be doing all of you more harm than good.”

“That’s basically what I told her.” Cosette fisted her hands in the blanket. “The battle that’s coming is about more than witches and wolves. If I step out of line now, she’ll summon me home and I’ll be no help to anyone later.”

“I see.” Except I didn’t see at all, because it sounded like she was saying she could help—she just wouldn’t where I was concerned.

“Claudia…” Cosette sat up, rubbing at her temples. “I have no intention of letting you, yours, or any of these wolves die, but I can’t act yet. And I know you well enough to know you wouldn’t ask me to if you knew what it would cost.”

I brushed my arms against the chill settling into me, trying to convince myself the feeling was just from the sunset. I understood what it was like being bound by hard rules better than anyone. Getting angry with Cosette would only make me a hypocrite.

That didn’t make her words any easier to swallow. I had a solution. Right here. But I couldn’t use it.

She glanced up at the sky and then started gathering her things. “Let’s get in before the moon comes up.”

“Right.” Cosette’s audience of wolves was finally dispersing and none of us would be allowed out here after nightfall. I brushed off my skirt as I stood. “Thank you for being as honest as you could be.” And at least she didn’t intend for any of us to die. It was a small comfort, but it was better than nothing.

“Please stop thanking me.” She let out a sad sigh. “I don’t deserve it and the habit’s going to get you in trouble if you keep looking for help from the fey.”

“What if I asked your queen for help?” I didn’t know which court Cosette was aligned with, but surely if I went to the top of the hierarchy, I could get what we needed. None of us would be able to stay neutral once Luciana started pulling demons into the world. It had to benefit the fey to help our cause.

“Don’t even suggest that.” Cosette snuck a last glance at something in the air and then grabbed my arm to hustle us both off the quad. “She might take you up on the offer, and she’d require much more than a blood oath in exchange.”

Cosette’s shudder passed through my arm and that response struck a chord. If I added up what she’d said and hadn’t said, and combined it with her aura, then I had one more question to ask and no reason not to finally let it out. “How closely are you related to your queen?”

Her long strides faltered, and that alone was enough of an answer: close enough that I wasn’t going to get a straight response out of her.