To Catch a Queen Read Online Free PDF Page A

in pretty good shape, but the first few weeks were brutal. It’s getting easier, though, and I’ve had a couple of people talk to me about auditioning for companies. There’s even a choreographer who wants me for a showcase he’s doing.”
    “That’s awesome! You should do that.”
    “I’m not sure I could take a job here without looking too suspicious. Surely Mama would notice if I quit my job and was still gone every night.”
    “You have got to get out of that house, Soph. Seriously.”
    Sophie set out cash for the bill and gathered her belongings. “I can’t quite yet, but there are times I consider staying in the palace overnight. What do you think Mama would say if I told her I had a boyfriend in Shreveport and was spending the night with him?”
    “What’s she gonna do, kick you out so she’s stuck taking care of Nana by herself?”
    “It is tempting to test her.”
    They walked together out to the street. “I’d better get back to the theater,” Emily said. “It was great seeing you.”
    Much to her surprise, Sophie stood on tiptoes to hug her. Sophie wasn’t usually much of a hugger. “Be good,” she said, releasing Emily somewhat reluctantly and waving as Emily walked away. Emily felt a great sense of relief when she rounded the corner and her sister couldn’t study her any longer. She had no idea how well she’d pulled that off. Was she safe a little longer, or would Sophie be on her case?

 
Five
     
    The Theater District
    6:15 p.m.
     
    Sophie normally preferred to walk such a short distance, but she didn’t have a lot of time, so she raised her hand and added a tiny extra dose of intention. A second later, a cab stopped for her. She got out at the park entrance on Columbus Circle. The instant her feet hit grass in a place that wasn’t surrounded by people, she created a gateway and stepped through, coming out in front of what looked like a small forest hut. She pounded urgently on the front door.
    A moment later, a tall, silver-haired fairy opened it. “Your majesty,” he said.
    “Sophie,” she corrected, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. She might be in the throes of a crush and had her mother questioning her comings and goings, but she didn’t have to act like a teenager. “May I come in, Eamon?”
    He stepped back. “It’s your Realm. You don’t need to ask.”
    “I’m being polite.” She followed him into a library that couldn’t possibly have fit into the small hut. He gestured her toward an overstuffed chair in front of a blazing fire. She didn’t wait for him to sit before she asked, “Have you seen Emily lately?”
    He sat and leaned back in his chair like he was relaxing, but he gripped the chair’s arms. “I have seen her,” he confirmed, “but I do not know if it has been lately.”
    She held back an exasperated sigh. Fairies and their inability to perceive time were enough to drive someone who lived by a rigid schedule mad. “How does she seem to you?”
    “I’ve never been around a human returned from the Realm, so I do not know how to judge.”
    “Does she seem better, worse, strange?”
    He narrowed silvery eyes in thought. “I thought she was getting better. That is why I have seen her less often. Our plan was for me to help wean her from all things fae, including myself.”
    “Yes, that was the plan,” Sophie said. “But I don’t know if it worked. She may be worse now than right after she got back. It seems to me that she’s craving sensation, that our world is losing color and flavor to her. I think she’s under a kind of thrall. There’s a trace of magic on Emily, and I think it’s holding her to the Realm.”
    “Maeve must have put chains on her to keep her bound,” Eamon said. Sophie was a little alarmed at how worried he looked, as though he truly cared. She still hadn’t reconciled herself to the idea that her sister had formed a friendship with a fairy—never mind that she and her sister had some fairy blood,