Crown of Shadows (Court of Midnight and Deception #1) - K. M. Shea Page 0,21

I should have gotten my degree in business management instead of communications!”

The Paragon ignored my moans. “You will find that you can delegate. Your steward will be among the most important positions you fill as he or she can manage most of your house employees and act as a go-between for you and your Court officials. You’ll also need to hire a director of security to train, organize, and recruit guards, which will take most of that work from you as well.”

I opened my mouth to ask more, but the Paragon kept going, blocking me from asking any additional questions. “If you look outside, you’ll see we are now on what passes as Night Court land in the human world. While this land here is technically under your rule, the individual houses are owned by the various fae and nobles that make up your Court—though I believe the apartment buildings belong to you.”

Curious, I peered outside as we rolled down the road.

We passed a few apartment buildings that were constructed out of darkly colored bricks and dark blue siding with a fairly modern appearance. All of the apartment buildings had sprawling gardens attached, which stretched out between them. Not surprising—we were among the fae. I was a little animal crazy, but I was pretty tame compared to the rest of the fae, who were practically the hippies of the supernatural world.

A few blocks later and we were driving through what felt like a regular suburban neighborhood. The houses were cute and square with dark blue or gray siding, and an excessive amount of landscaping considering the fairly small lots.

The longer we drove, the bigger the houses and lots grew.

Soon, we were driving through McMansion-ville, and I was gawking at the beautiful houses and amazing gardens.

“The Night Court lands begin about ten minutes north of Magiford and cover a large, half circle area, with your property at the center. You, naturally, own the largest property—which includes the large amount of land that makes up the other half of the circle. Most of your personal land is contained in a wildlife preserve, a very small lake, and some sprawling gardens. You should be able to see the house shortly.”

The road plowed through a thick patch of woods, and then opened up onto a pristine lawn that stretched around a massive mansion, which looked like it was doing its best to imitate a castle.

Constructed out of deep gray brick with three turrets and at least four chimneys poking above the slanted, almost gothic-like roof, it was obvious the architect had a thing for British manors. The medieval shape of the house, however, was overshadowed by the massive windows that stretched through every floor of the house.

Guess I won’t be running around the place with bed head and my pajamas anytime soon!

The huge windows gave the home a more modern feel, as did all the fancy deck furniture placed strategically near the bits of the gardens that I could see.

But the beauty of the place was broken up by the massive crowd I saw spilling through the front doors of the house.

It seemed only the Night Court nobles were in attendance. Fae nobles appeared more humanoid, or picture-book, even, given their slender bodies, slightly tapered ears, perfect hair, and perfect skin.

While a fae Court was actually made up of a wide variety of fae—from trolls to pixies to brownies—it was usually the more humanoid fae that made up the nobles, and it was the nobles who most typically interacted with the human world because they were a whole lot easier to use for marketing and PR than a giant, wrinkly faced troll.

But the hierarchy also had to do with power. The fae nobles got their titles because they were the best at using artifacts and magic. Some of the common fae could only cast certain kinds of magic, and others were very weak.

I swallowed hard as the car rolled to a stop.

“Remember,” the Paragon muttered as Azure the chauffeur slipped out of the car and circled around to open the door for us. “Don’t show any weakness—they’re worse than vampires who have scented blood.”

The Paragon flipped his glasses back down his nose, slid across the seat, and was out of the car before I could respond.

I took a deep breath and forced myself to think of Mom and Dad.

I’m going to do this. I’m going to survive.

I put a smile on and slipped out of the car, standing next to the Paragon at the