Crown of Shadows (Court of Midnight and Deception #1) - K. M. Shea Page 0,18

grunted in pain when he tried to pull his hands free and instead yanked his head forward.

“I’m sure they’ll welcome her with open arms,” Killian said in a voice sharp enough to cut through cement as he stared Suits and Lady Demetria down.

That suitably cowed the pair, and brought another sort of stillness to the pasture.

“Right,” the Paragon said. “Well, then, Killian—what say we retire and each get a pint?”

Killian pointedly glanced at the sky—which was still cloudy, but showed patches of bright blue. “I did not peg you as a day drinker.”

“You thought I was referring to alcohol? Gross—no.” The Paragon shivered in revulsion. “I meant ice cream! We can go to my private study—I have a pint of Sinfully Dark Chocolate and Caramel Peanut Cluster. Hazel, if you like I can have Aphrodite pick out a tea for you.”

“No thank you,” Hazel firmly said.

The Paragon jutted his lower lip out in a pout. “You never let me serve you tea anymore.”

“That’s because you drugged me the last time I did!” Hazel said.

Suits turned to the night mares. “Shall we attempt to bring them back—”

The closest horse—Nebula—trumpeted her glass-shattering scream at him and reared up. I swear the red hairs mixed in her black coat glowed as she tossed her head.

“It seems the night mares shall remain with the queen.” Suits rapidly backed up, stopping only when his back hit the fence. “We shall leave and begin preparations.”

“I’m sure you will,” Hazel scoffed. She peered up at me, concern darkening her usually bright face. “Are you okay?”

“No,” I admitted as the Paragon continued to bicker with Killian, and the other fae cleared out. “But I’ll have to be. Before these guys showed up, I had a face off with another fae.”

“What?”

I tightened my ponytail, just to give my hands something to do. “Yeah, he tried to kill me, but magic seemed to stop him. I’d assume that’s probably the magic that keeps a fae from harming their monarch, right? And now that I think of it, when my first night mare showed up that was when the giant spider spawned in the pasture. Do you think that was a coincidence, or could it have been someone trying to kill me?”

Hazel stared up at me, her face white. “Killian!”

Killian and the Paragon had me recite the scenes in excruciating detail—the fae hung around in the background, openly eavesdropping. They did, however, make a lot of squawking noises when I described the fae, weirdly enough.

In the end, Killian (read: Hazel) decided I needed guards, and they were going to include my parents’ property in the vampires’ patrols—even after I left. Just in case the fae decided to get creative.

I honestly wasn’t as bothered by it as I should have been. But with all of these very sudden and unexpected swerves—which were going to take me the opposite direction from what I had planned all my life—I was having a little bit of a difficult time coping with it all.

“If you need anything, just call me,” Hazel said, once I’d been thoroughly cross examined.

“Thanks. Actually, I do want to ask you about getting a sidearm refresher from the Drakes, but that can wait until tomorrow.” It was hard to swallow when I looked away from Hazel and glanced at my parents.

Hazel stood on her tip toes to hug me. “I understand. I’ll call you in the morning.”

She was gone before I even thought to hug her back, vampires flanking her as she marched up to the waiting SUV.

Killian followed her, and the Paragon trailed after him.

My unwanted fae invaders seemed inclined to hang around, until they realized that none of the vampires had left with Killian, and all of them were stationed in the driveway, bearing weapons of different sorts.

That got the fae piled into their cars awfully quickly, and as soon as they disappeared down the driveway and hit the road, the vampires bowed to me and then streaked off, returning to their land and leaving me, Mom, and Dad alone.

It had taken seconds to change my life forever. It seemed weird that “normal” could return so quickly…even if it was only temporarily.

“Oh, sweetie,” Mom said, her voice crackling.

She and Dad swept me up in a hug, as if they could hold me together while my world fell apart.

“I don’t think I can do this,” I whispered. “Can I run?”

“You’re the queen; they’ll find you wherever you go,” Mom sighed.

“You’ll make it, Leila,” Dad said with a confidence I wished I