hand, making her black wizard mark appear. The swirls of her mark crawled up the side of her face and down her neck.
The exact same mark appeared on the vampire’s skin, telling the fae who they were dealing with.
Even if they had never seen this famous couple—unlikely, considering the Night Court’s dodgy history with them—there was only one vampire/wizard pair in the Midwest: Killian Drake—Eminent of the Midwest Vampires—and Hazel Medeis—Adept of the wizards of House Medeis.
The tension and fear that had been building in my gut left me with one great whoosh. “Thanks for coming.”
“Absolutely.” Hazel wriggled until Killian let her go, but even when she landed she didn’t release her fizzing magic.
“It’s the neighborly thing to do,” Killian said.
“Neighbor?” the older fae, Lady Demetria, apparently, croaked.
Killian raised an eyebrow. “Did you really come here to terrorize Leila, not knowing this land is next door to Drake Hall?”
The wobble in Suits’s knees said they hadn’t known at all.
“Now, let’s get something straight,” Hazel said. “You’re going to explain what you’re doing here and why you’re manhandling our friend in the most unembellished way possible. Understood?” Her ball of magic stretched out, forming a sword made of magic.
Killian almost lazily withdrew a pistol from his suitcoat jacket, turning off the safety and wracking the top of the gun, loading a bullet. Behind him, at least a dozen vampires—all dressed in black suits and every last one of them carrying a bare blade or a gun—lingered around the fae’s cars.
Suits cleared his throat. “Understood.” He glanced at Lady Demetria, but she was petrified and unable to do more than quiver. Reluctantly, Suits faced me. “Er, it is as we started to say—you’re our new queen. The Queen of the Night Court.”
“How?” I asked.
Suits gestured to the night mares. “After a monarch and their partner die, the night mares are released to search through all members of the Night Court and find the next ruler.”
“It’s not inherited by children?” Hazel asked.
“No.” Suits deeply bowed to Hazel after quaking under Killian’s red eyes. “In each new cycle, the night mares choose the next ruler. That ruler chooses their spouse, who may co-rule if allowed, and otherwise will rule if the monarch passes away before them. Their children do not inherit the title. Each time a royal couple dies, the cycle starts anew and the night mares find the next monarch.”
“There are a few problems with that.” I held up a finger as I started my list. “First of all, I’m not a member of the Night Court. I’m Unpledged. Secondly, as I said earlier, I’m half human. I don’t ever recall a half human half fae ruler—in any Court.”
“One does not strictly have to belong to the Night Court to be considered a candidate.” Suits nervously eyed Eclipse as she pawed at the ground and gnashed her teeth together. “As long as you have blood from the Night Court, it’s allowable. As for you being half fae…”
Comet snorted and reared up.
Suits flinched. “It seems it does not matter,” he said lamely.
“Yeah, there’s a third problem. I don’t want to be your queen.” I wriggled three fingers at him for emphasis.
Suits studied the ground with great care.
“Did you not hear her?” Killian asked with a dangerously pleasant voice.
“It’s just…I’m not…it’s not…” Suits gulped, then bent over in a bow to Killian. “She’s already our queen.”
Chapter Five
Leila
No. No way. I dreamed of being a Responsible Adult—not a flippin’ queen!
“That’s impossible,” I said, my voice hardening fast. “You can’t just arbitrarily decide to make me your queen without giving me any say!”
“It’s the night mares,” Suits insisted. “They bound you…” He trailed off when Blue Moon snorted and pawed at the ground.
“Is the Paragon aware of your little expedition?” Killian asked.
The Paragon was the most powerful fae in all of America. He didn’t belong to a specific Court, and he was considered the national representative for all fae. Recently, he’d been hanging around in the Midwest.
“Ahh, to an extent,” Suits said. “It was he who finally corralled the night mares, so we could prepare them to choose the next monarch. He is aware we would soon be conducting the search, but we did not specifically inform him that the night mares had found a candidate and we were coming to find her.”
“Call him,” Killian ordered in a tone that offered no alternative.
“Ahh, yes. Yes, we should.” Suits frantically patted his suitcoat, eventually finding his cellphone. He tried to smile at us as he fumbled, searching through