Crown of Moonlight (Court of Midnight and Deception #2) - K.M. Shea Page 0,57
“You drive a hard bargain, Consort. I’ll see what I can do!”
“You could just not mention my abs—how difficult would that be?”
“I suppose you’re right. Your abs are only one of your many charms.” She winked at me, then called out in a louder, attention-grabbing voice that made everyone around us look. “I shall miss you dearly, my love! I count the moments until I get to return to you!”
The fae around us shivered, while the humans “aww”-ed and put on sappy expressions.
Leila grinned deviously at me, then turned to the humans. “I’m sorry about all of this—”
I inhaled and exhaled a little stronger than usual—which is about as expressive as I get since body language can easily be used against you.
She is an unusual queen. But somehow—with all of her strange lies, sharp intellect, and unusual manners, she’s managed to fortify the Night Court. One has to respect her.
She laughed at something one of the humans said, and I fought the very foreign urge to smile.
But respect is all I can offer, I reminded myself. Anything more is too dangerous.
Chapter Thirteen
Leila
Blue Moon jumped a fallen log—which was a bit of fun I could have done without, as I almost got flung onto his neck.
“Hey, guys, please don’t overestimate my riding skills,” I called to the herd of night mares that swarmed around me. “I didn’t even get a full year of jumping lessons, so if we could not jump that would be great!”
Blue Moon lined himself up with another fallen tree—they were everywhere in the barely functioning Night Realm—and jumped again.
“Hey!” I yelped after all four of his feet were on the ground and I’d managed to peel myself off his neck. “What did I just say?”
Twilight—who still looked sickly and underweight even though I’d been pouring every kind of food supplement I could find into his grain at night—loosened a typical night mare call that sounded like glass breaking. Due to the unusual musical tone to it, I suspected he was snickering at me.
“You guys are mean,” I grumbled.
Comet pranced next to Blue Moon and threw her head.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” I tried a dramatic sigh, but in the end I grinned at my deadly herd.
I’d just finished another magic lesson with Lord Linus—who was still proving to be a surprisingly skilled instructor—and was taking a few minutes for an early morning ride. Which was sort of disconcerting considering we were cantering around in the Night Realm where it was always night.
The alarm on my cellphone went off, and I gently tugged on the reins.
Blue Moon obediently slowed from a canter to a trot, and then a walk.
I let the reins dangle loosely from one hand as I yanked my cellphone from the front pocket of my light sweater. “Time to call Chase,” I announced to my night mares as I pressed speed dial.
That was part of the bargain: I was free to ride alone as long as I called him every fifteen minutes for a check in. The Night Realm was the only space Chase was willing to let me walk around without an escort.
I think he figured anything stupid enough to try to attack me here would get torn to pieces by the night mares, shades, and glooms.
Which was fair enough. Even the wild versions of my pets had displayed such a positive interest in me that I was fairly sure I was safe. I mean, I kind of doubted much could get past all my pets anyway, much less their wild counterparts.
I pressed my heels down in the saddle stirrups and half raised myself out of the saddle, peering around as I listened to the ringing line.
Sure enough, several wild glooms had come out to investigate us, their eyes glowing in the dim light. When I waved to them they distinctly bowed their heads, then slunk off.
One of the so-homely-they’re-almost-cute pigeon-raccoon-griffins narrowly avoided flying into Solstice’s flank. Its tiny orange pigeon front feet and racoon back paws scraped the top of Solistice’s rear before it got some more air and flew higher.
There are some weird parts about being queen—a fae queen—that I will never get used to.
The line clicked when Chase picked up. “What’s your position?” he asked.
“Uhhh, on Blue Moon’s back?” I peered around, squinting in the darkness. My eyes had adjusted, but the night mares had way better night vision than I did. “I can see the barrier over the tree tops, and we rode due east from the castle.”