Crown of Shadows (Court of Midnight and Deception #1) - K. M. Shea Page 0,23

of his head—was perfect despite the humidity of the morning.

Sullied? My eyebrows wanted to arch upwards, but I managed to keep them flattened and my expression relaxed.

“The vice of humanity could cripple us more,” someone else chimed in.

“The blood of humans weakens magic,” Lady Demetria squawked. “It perhaps is responsible for the decline in magic that has plagued the supernatural community and threatens to ruin us. More ruin may visit us with a half on the throne!”

It hadn’t escaped me how the fae excelled in speaking non-absolutes. Humans perhaps were responsible. My blood could cripple them. They were using vagueness as a way to get around their inability to speak outright lies.

Yes, magic was dying. It had been in decline for a long time—ever since the elves died out. But humans had nothing to do with it. These nobles were just using it as an excuse.

Do they really think they’ll be able to make me cry just by rejecting me? Please! I want to be here even less than they want me here!

“Anyone who has concerns about your new queen is perfectly free to ask the night mares to search again,” the Paragon said, his voice thundering above the outcries, silencing them with ease. “But Curia Cloisters law, the Regional Committee of Magic, and the national law are perfectly clear. There is only one Night Court in America, and Queen Leila rules over it since the night mares not only selected her, but bound her as well.”

The crowd returned to its sullen silence, lips pursed in disdain and expressions taking on that airbrushed, plastic-y appearance again.

The Paragon almost inhaled part of his mustache when he scratched his upper lip, then turned in my direction and nodded his head. “Queen Leila, do you have any words you would like to say in greeting your Court?”

Oh, would I!

“Yes.” I looked out into a crowd of seething hatred, armed with my brightest smile. “I wish I could say it’s a pleasure to be here, but it’s not, frankly.”

That shut them up—mostly because they were too surprised to speak.

“Humans are taught that fae are elegant beings of culture and refined manners, but that’s obviously not true anymore,” I blithely continued.

“How could you say such a thing?” Lady Demetria shouted.

I put a hand to my cheek in such an obvious act of surprise the whole Court had to know I was being sarcastic. “After the welcome you just gave me? Very, very easily.”

The crowd now stirred with a little concern as the fae whispered to one another.

“I suppose it’s just as well—this way, we’re all disappointed,” I concluded. “And maybe that mutual disappointment will unite us.”

I paused, and the desire to tweak their pride was too strong for me.

I don’t want to let them know that their rules don’t affect me, so I shouldn’t tell them an obvious lie. But I also want to show them that I’m not going to be a pushover.

My smile turned into a smirk, and I lowered my eyes to half mast as I addressed my Court. “Finally, please allow me as someone sullied by human blood, to say it’s the fae half of my heritage that I’m truly ashamed of,” I concluded.

The crowd was in an uproar. A few fae ladies dramatically swooned, and I saw two pixies and a naiad zip off—probably to tell others how their new queen had just insulted the Night Court nobles.

Personally, I had to fight to keep in a cackle.

Shots fired! If you want to exchange insults, you’d be better off picking fights with someone who cares!

I smirked as the murmurs grew louder and louder. Although there was more than one red face, strained jaw, or veined forehead in the crowd, none of them reached for their magical artifacts or the weapons that they carried.

The Paragon was right—I really was bound to the Night Court. The will of magic had to be keeping them in check—it must have been what kept that rando night fae from killing me, too.

“Ah. Ah-ha-ha-ha,” the Paragon uttered a canned laugh. “Isn’t she funny? Thank you for your presence this morning. I shall show Queen Leila her new lands. Good day.”

The Paragon zipped up the driveway, which curved around to the back of the house, taking us around the corner, which instantly muffled the outrage of my insulted Court.

“You are a new kind of crazy,” the Paragon grumbled. Even though he was moving at a pretty quick clip for such an old guy, I was able to keep