Crown of Moonlight (Court of Midnight and Deception #2) - K.M. Shea Page 0,109
really bad at tactics?” I asked.
“I would not say that,” Rigel said.
“Is there a chance the perpetrator is from your Night Court?” the Paragon asked.
“No,” Rigel, Indigo, Skye, and Chase all chorused as one.
“The Court is loyal to Leila,” Lord Linus said. “Even the few that dislike her are too loyal to step out of line in this way.”
How does he know that?
“Maybe the original attacker worked together with the Paragon’s shady group?” Indigo asked. “It would explain why the attacks have that unknown magic in them.”
“But why attack separately?” Skye asked. “Surely if they just teamed up they would be stronger?”
“I don’t know that the original attacker would want to team up.” Chase moved his emptied clay teacup out of the way so he could spread his notes out. “Given the respect to life they’ve shown thus far. Whoever made that skull monster was going for maximum damage. As Rigel said, it’s a very different strategy.”
“We’ll have to put our investigation on hold for now,” I reluctantly said. “We need to stop whoever created the skull monster first—and maybe if we scare them off, the original guy will stop coming after me, too,” I said.
Chase tapped his pen on his pad of paper. “I agree we should prioritize the organization since it seems they have the power to take out a realm, but I still want us to be prepared in case the original traitor tries his hand again. That’s going to make preparing for future encounters much more difficult.”
“I think any of us who accompany our queen on her adventures need to start carrying kits,” Indigo said. “Some health potions, maybe a backup artifact or two.”
A rattle of a tin announced Skye had finally broken out the antacids. “We’ll need to figure out a discreet way to transport the Original King’s staff—or, as it is now, Leila’s artifact.”
“Yeah, she can’t put it in her pocket like she’s been doing,” Lord Linus said.
“Maybe we could just remove the metal topper—that’s what the actual artifact is, right?” I asked.
Indigo, Skye, and Chrysanthe stared at me, as if I’d just asked them to surrender their first-born child.
“We cannot behead the staff of the Original King.” Skye had been in the process of putting her tin back, but now she flipped it open and grabbed another chalky tablet. “That would be utterly disrespectful!”
“Indeed,” Chrysanthe added.
“Sorry for offending you,” I muttered.
“It was an understandable idea,” Indigo said. “But even if you did only take the top, that would be pretty unwieldy to use. Perhaps we could put a shrinking spell on it?”
Skye audibly gasped.
Indigo rolled her eyes, and again proved why she and I were in tune. “Be scandalized, but the fact of the matter is I’m not hauling that thing around—it’s twice my size! And Leila obviously can’t carry it into the middle of meetings. King Fell will purposely construe it as she’s declaring war.”
“The staff does present a problem,” Chase agreed.
I glanced at the staff—which was leaning against my chair—but I’d gotten distracted when Indigo had mentioned Fell and a possible war.
That’s right. The Paragon said gathering allies is the fastest way to make these people back off. But while I’m highly motivated to get them to stop coming after me, what if they just switch their target to Verdant? Or one of the seelie or unseelie Courts that are too small to defend themselves?
I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes, tuning out the conversation as they discussed the possibility of getting me a staff bearer—whatever that was.
If I’m reading the situation right, they’re targeting us fae because they see us as the weakest. Not physically, but emotionally. There’s already a ton of infighting. If they can tip the scale just a little, we’ll finish ourselves off.
I didn’t so much feel as sense something was near my leg. I opened my eyes, expecting to see Kevin or Steve had crawled under the table, but I was surprised to see Rigel’s thigh near mine.
When I looked quizzically at him, he held out his hand.
Acting like a complete teenager, I shyly put my hand in his. I hoped I wasn’t blushing when Rigel curled the fingers of his free hand around my wrist.
Stop it. No fussing, I told myself. I just chatted with a hydra. I’m pretty sure I can handle holding someone’s hand—even if it happens to be the hand of the guy I like.