Crown of Moonlight (Court of Midnight and Deception #2) - K.M. Shea Page 0,25
lie. Or maybe for all their sneaking and maneuvering, they never found out that I could.
“Does the moon hang in the sky at night? Of course I love him—I adore him! He’s my Bae!”
“Bae?” King Fell repeated as if it was an infectious disease.
“Before anyone else,” I explained. “Obviously we are a true blue, love-at-first-sight pair! Besides.” I turned my trolling up a notch and blinked innocently at Birch. “Why else would I want to marry him?”
Movement behind the monarchs caught my attention, and I saw my Court members peering at me, their jaws slack and their eyes wide with horror.
Haha, the monarchs are too oblivious to recognize my outright lies, but my Court does! I considered wiggling my fingers at them, but I didn’t want to point their reactions out to the monarchs.
I glanced at Rigel, trying to gauge how he was taking this fun.
He blinked, but he didn’t seem bothered, or prone to violence.
“Wait.” Thin lines edged Queen Verdant’s eyes. “Do you mean to imply that the pair of you were a love match?”
Crap on a cracker—that was the one question I was hoping to avoid, because there’s no way Rigel is going to play along when asked something directly. I mean, he can’t lie!
I was trying to figure out how to invent a reply, when Rigel offered me his arm.
When I took it, I gaped up at him.
“If you are that eager to get home for your art, we can leave now,” he said.
I fidgeted. “Is it really okay?”
“Of course.” The edges of Rigel’s lips curved slightly. It was barely noticeable, but considering how expressionless Rigel was, it was the equivalent of a smile for him. “As our whole Court knows, your fits of inspiration are a wonder to behold.”
Oh. He is good. I’m glad he’s on my side—for trolling, anyway.
King Fell had lost that glassy, expressionless beauty the fae have due to his deeply furrowed brow, and his royal cohorts were similarly shocked.
Even King Solis was staring at us now—which was silly because he totally knew Rigel and I were the least likely “happily-ever-after” pairing ever.
“That’s how it is. It was lovely to meet you all—I do hope you call upon the Night Court soon. I’ll show you the drawing—though you have to promise not to be overcome by Rigel’s shirtless beauty,” I said.
The monarchs stared at me, and behind them my nobles looked in danger of experiencing heart attacks. A few of them slapped their hands over their faces, and I saw one fae lady plant her hand on her heart and swoon a little before her husband caught her.
I grinned—in a way better mood than I had been five minutes earlier—and winked at them. “Enjoy your night!” I trundled off—or I tried to. The mermaid skirts of my dress only let me get away at a graceful but quick sweep.
“Do you really think he loves her?” King Birch asked as we walked off.
“Impossible,” King Fell said. “He must be wielding the power in their relationship and purposely seduced her.”
His guess was so very far from the truth I couldn’t help but cackle as we fell out of hearing. “That was beautiful, Rigel. Well done!”
“I did nothing,” Rigel said, back to blandness now that the playful moment was gone.
“Sure, sure. Then thank you for doing nothing,” I said as one of our nobles, Lady Korinna—I really liked her because she owned a petfood store and dabbled more in human society than most of my nobles—and Lord Dion hurried up to us.
“Good evening, Lady Korinna, Lord Dion. I hope you are both enjoying the Summer’s End Ball?”
“Yes, indeed, my Sovereign,” Lady Korinna said with the automated perfect manners of a fae.
“Queen Leila, while your daring is to your credit, you really must be more careful not to blatantly lie to the other monarchs!” Lord Dion kept his voice to a whispered hiss. “They’ll find out the truth!”
“Nah—we’re talking about matters of the heart. They’ll never really be able to prove I’m not head over heels for Rigel. Especially when everyone knows I adore him.” I hugged Rigel’s arm to my chest and batted my eyelashes, trying to look as insipid as possible.
Lord Dion shuddered. “I pray you never do that again.”
“They’ll find out if you’ve drawn such a portrait or not,” Lady Korinna pointed out.
“What you’re trying to tell me is that I should go ahead and try to draw a picture of a shirtless Rigel to hang up in the main entrance of the mansion,”