Black Queen (Shifters Among Us #3) - Lidiya Foxglove Page 0,1

lose control. Considering the crazy life I'd had, even though I didn't trust him, I also thought, I'm not going to die on his watch. He would never let that happen. I can just tell.

If he is really a consort...does that mean I'm going to sleep with him? What would it be like to get naked with someone who reveals so little of himself?

I was both turned on and unsettled, and decided to just sit by the window and enjoy the wine.

After a minute, Ansel sat by me, with his own brand of reassuring presence. He felt like so much less of a stranger, maybe being a fellow bird. Or maybe...could it be more than that?

"Hey, chickadee," he said. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm fine. I'm used to getting dragged around," I said with a slight eye roll.

"I suppose we're both getting dragged around," he said. "I'm sure Waylon and Frankie can take care of themselves, but..." He ruffled his hair, dyed an artificial but low-key red. Ansel, stylish right up to the point of flashy, looked great in Viktor’s plane. His clothes looked cobbled from vintage markets or thrift stores, but fit him to perfection. He had quick eyes and beautiful hands. Or maybe the other way around. "What a crazy day."

"Who is Waylon? Al said he was researching the queens. Is he Frankie's consort?"

"Oh, yeah," Ansel said. "But he's also my best friend and I don't like leaving him to his own devices. I'm not sure what's more dangerous, his disability or his own stubborn-ass ideas, but I save him from himself a lot."

I was completely intrigued by this idea of male friendship and loyalty, because Alistair was always alone and would never lean on anyone. "How did you meet?"

"Waylon found me at a workhouse. So I owe him too. But he probably owes me more,” he said breezily in a way that made me feel that Waylon and Ansel had a friendly competition about who benefited the other more. “Frankie is way too similar to him. Those two would go over a cliff together without me."

"Oh, you're that important?"

"You might need me still more than Waylon does," Ansel said, after a moment of reflecting on my face. His voice was kind, but serious. I was starting to feel a little funny as I lingered on his face. He was a very pretty man, almost too pretty, but his personality had enough weight to ground his good looks.

"I'm okay," I said, flustered. "Like I said, I'm used to this."

"You shouldn't be though, huh? Anyway, one of my superpowers is making a bad situation fun. I got Waylon out of the house, made him stop hiding out in dark rooms all day. I'm sure we can explore Istanbul a little or something."

"If Viktor lets us go."

"Eh, fuck Viktor," Ansel said.

I grinned at how easily he dismissed the president of Istara. "Okay. What sort of things did you do with Waylon?" Alistair wasn't much for leisure time in general.

"Oh, you know, just...going out stuff. Hit a food truck, then we'd go to the punk club. Dance, or just slam into people, more like. Pull Waylon out of some stupid fight with a drunk guy. Then go to the diner and maybe wander around Wal-Mart making asses of ourselves." Ansel laughed and I got this feeling that whatever he thought was making an ass of himself was actually kind of cute.

“Oh? Is there something to do at Wal-Mart? I thought it was just where hick humans shop."

"We have one back home in Portland," Ansel said. "We shop there, mostly because it's open at four am. But yes, it is also where the wolves with weird beards and the most skanky cats shop. Especially the four am crowd, let me tell you."

I was relaxing now. "That sounds pretty awesome."

"It's stupid. But you know how to be stupid, roller girl."

"I forgot you saw that..." I groaned, looking to the window.

"It's okay. I found it pretty charming. Like something I would do." He leaned in closer to me, getting a more conspiratorial whisper. "So what do you think of Viktor?"

"Well, I read an article about him in Vanity Fair and it sounded to me like he had a terrible life, like the kind that would turn out a super-villain, so I'm wary."

"Smart take. But he says he's your consort."

I chewed on my fingernail a minute while watching Viktor working on a laptop. "Well, what about you?"

"What about me?" Ansel asked, extending an arm behind