Crown of Moonlight (Court of Midnight and Deception #2) - K.M. Shea Page 0,30
can see Chase from here.”
Kevin and Whiskers looked with me to Chase, who was about a market stand’s length away, talking on the phone as he finished organizing security for the impromptu “the Night Court Visits the Supernatural Market” excursion.
“Okay,” Skye reluctantly said.
“Or if you’re that tired, there’s a café right here on Main Street. We could get you some coffee.”
Skye made a face. “I’ll find Indigo.”
“Enjoy!” I called after the beautiful fae, but she was already gone.
“Well. This has been…something.” I adjusted my hold on Kevin’s and Whiskers’ leashes as Whiskers yawned, flashing his mouth full of glinting teeth. “You okay back there, Rigel?”
Rigel glanced in my direction. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not upset by all the Court people who showed up?”
He shrugged. “It makes no difference to me what events those from my Court decide to attend.”
“Yeah, I wanted to ask you about that,” I said. “Why did you come?”
Rigel stared at me.
“Not that I don’t want you here! You’ve just looked bored. It made me wonder why you wanted to come in the first place.”
Rigel stared at the crowd, and I waited patiently for a response.
And waited.
And waited.
We sat in silence so long Whiskers actually lay down to people watch, and Kevin tried his paw at begging for more chin scratches.
“I wanted to know,” he finally said.
I rubbed Kevin’s ears. “Wanted to know what?”
Rigel rubbed a spot on his leather bracers. “What your goal was. That’s what the point of coming was.”
“I could have told you why—it’s to have fun!” I said.
Rigel slightly tilted his head. “Fae don’t,” he paused and looked out at the crowd. “Previously fae didn’t attend something like this for fun.”
I snorted. “Yeah, well, you guys don’t exactly have me convinced that we’re the most fun supernaturals ever. No one had played mini golf before I took the Court this summer.”
“You didn’t come for the sake of showing off, or asserting your power,” Rigel said.
“Correct. Besides—even if I wanted to make this into a political statement, I don’t think I could. King Fell would die before he’d come out here—though I’d pay a lot of money to see him take a picture with the ‘King Pumpkin’.” I nodded in the general direction of the giant pumpkin we’d seen previously.
“We don’t often do anything for the sheer fun of it,” Rigel said.
“Yeah, I’ve noticed. Why not?”
Rigel shrugged. “Every event is a chance to gather more power and further your personal machinations.”
“But what’s the point? No one seems happy.”
I frowned a little when I noticed Lady Chrysanthe lingering near us. She was looking out over the crowd of people with a moodiness select to overdramatic actors, and seemed to perfectly prove my point.
Why is she standing so close? Is she trying to overhear what we’re talking about?
A flash of light caught my attention, and I realized a group of teenagers were trying to take Rigel’s and my picture, but they’d forgotten to turn the flash off.
I slapped on a smile and waved.
The teenagers took another picture, then ran off, laughing.
“Did you see she had her pets with her?”
“They’re cute!”
“Don’t worry, Whiskers and Kevin. Humans think you’re cute, even if the fussy fae don’t,” I cooed to my animals.
“It’s because fae know better,” Rigel said.
I almost stuck my tongue out at him, but realized a guy in his thirties had stopped a few feet away and was very obviously trying to get a picture of us.
Wow. I never thought I’d be picture-worthy famous.
To my amusement, a fae noble saw the guy taking a picture of us; naturally she stopped to take a picture with her cellphone.
That got the attention of a couple that were walking behind her, who then stopped to take a picture…basically, a crowd was starting to cluster around us.
“Should we maybe go to a less popular area while we wait for Chase to finish?” I asked. “I think we’re clogging up the traffic right here.”
Rigel leaned back, and when Chase happened to glance over at us, Rigel slightly tipped his head back, then stalked off, getting out of the street and sauntering onto the less populated sidewalk.
I followed him, and Chase—still on his cellphone—followed after me.
We walked a little farther, stopping when we reached a tiny city parking lot shoved between the police department and the city post office.
It was a little cooler in the shade the buildings cast on the lot, and with the strong breezes rolling off the lakes, I was thankful for my flannel shirt.