Crown of Moonlight (Court of Midnight and Deception #2) - K.M. Shea Page 0,110

that mean my original scheme to stop the Courts from playing all these stupid power games could actually solve the problem? Is it really like one of those kids shows where the answer to the quest is ‘the friends we made along the way’?

It seemed corny, but if I could bind everyone together, wouldn’t that make us too difficult a target? But I’d hoped I’d be able to accomplish that goal by the time I was a granny—could I really get anything done when I was dealing with sneaky, conniving, and selfish fae?

Maybe. But it would probably mean risking my neck more than I do already. And when I was first made queen, I promised myself I’d survive for Mom’s sake, if not my own.

“Your heartbeat remains steady—you aren’t contemplating murdering Fell, I take it?” Rigel asked.

I gawked at him. “Can you seriously hear my heartbeat over all these conversations?”

Indigo and Chase were still discussing the puzzle of my staff, but Skye and Chrysanthe had moved on to determining who should carry what when accompanying me to official situations, all while the Paragon yacked at Lord Linus and Solis about Aphrodite’s diet—which involved chicken livers and fresh fish.

Rigel tapped his finger that rested against the underside of my wrist. “No, I felt it.”

“Huh. Missed your calling as a doctor, did you?”

“Hardly.”

I laughed and studied Rigel’s profile.

The assassin did have looks that could kill—as Dad would say with his great love of dad jokes and puns.

Rigel went from assassin to consort in a matter of months. That’s a huge change. But how could I inspire a similar change in the other Courts?

When I thought of the hunt and of all the bullying Fell had done—with Rime doing zero to stop him—I was inclined to think it was impossible.

Except.

I’d remained sober at the Paragon’s tea, and heard my fellow monarchs’ deepest worries.

“Rigel, you know the monarchs—and presumably you’ve seen them at their worst with your, er, job being what it is.” I glanced at my husband. “What is your impression of them?”

Rigel let go of my wrist, but he kept holding my hand. “What in particular are you referring to?”

My gaze wandered to Chrysanthe. “I thought fae were jerks because they had a natural thirst for power, and were never satisfied. But it seems more like they’re scared.”

I’d seen it in the way Birch tried to protect Flora and his hidden daughter. I’d seen it in the way Verdant attacked me because she thought she couldn’t risk being the lowest Court in the region. And a part of me wondered, after seeing the wreckage of the Autumn Court, if Fell had come to the Night Court because he didn’t know what else to do.

“They don’t trust anyone but themselves,” I continued. “They’re too afraid to risk showing their cards for fear that they’ll be betrayed. They fight and struggle and kick one another down because they don’t think there’s another way.”

“You’re not wrong,” Rigel finally said. “There is some thirst for power among them—or they could not be rulers. But they fear a lot: the future, each other, their own demise, the demise of their Court.”

He shifted in his chair. “Fear is a powerful emotion—stronger than anger and courage. It can make a person ruthless in their objective, or spur them into inaction.”

“But how can we get them to stop being suspicious of one another when they have such a bloody history?” I asked.

Rigel shrugged—a barely visible twitch of his shoulders. “You did it with the Night Court.”

“Oh, please,” I snorted. “I scared them into obedience. Marrying you was enough to make the most deviant of them toe the line, because they knew they’d end up with an assassin king.”

“Fear is not what drove them to follow you to the market, or go to the movie theater as a Court outing,” Rigel said. “The Night Court lived in terror of Queen Nyte. But you? They have come to believe in.” Rigel flicked his eyes at Chrysanthe, then Solis.

“Huh.” I leaned back in my chair.

That trick won’t quite work for the other monarchs. But am I really sure I want to do anything? If I make a public alliance with the Drakes and House Medeis—and I could probably get something with the werewolves if I ask Chase—that alone might be enough to get my would-be-killers to back off.

If I could pull that off, I’d be able to survive, and still plan to end these stupid power games by the time I died—a much