Makes things boring.”
“We are going to find her because you need a babysitter,” I growled.
“You know,” the Paragon said, surprising me because I hadn’t realized he followed us. “The day you were made queen, Killian told me you had guts, but I feel better now. You’ve got the fae spirit all right!”
Both Lord Linus and I frowned at the eccentric fae.
“You’ll do quite fine,” he predicted. “Just consider Lord Dion as your marriage partner—he’s one of the few unspoiled and good ones. Toodles!” He waved to us and disappeared in the crush of the crowd.
My head started to hurt in addition to my throat. Weak, I gave in. “Chase?”
“Yes, Queen Leila?” The werewolf stepped out of the shadows, his yellow eyes gleaming in the dim light.
“Where is Skye?”
“Right this way, Queen Leila.”
“Thanks.” I followed after my director of security, names and information tumbling through my brain with every fae I passed.
That settles it. Someone tried to kill me tonight, I’m being set up for an arranged marriage, and Lord Linus is annoying!
Tomorrow, no matter what, I’m going to get myself some coffee!
“I’m glad it went well, sweetie!”
I juggled my phone to my other hand as I peered into the stall Twilight had taken over. He was hiding in the back, but when he saw me he perked his ears and walked through a skylight sunbeam to reach me. “Yeah, me too. I thought for sure there’d be a brawl—I was kind of hoping Lord Linus would get himself punched out. But the worst anybody did was sneer at each other.”
I patted Twilight on the neck and ignored the prickle of my conscience.
I had decided not to tell Mom or Dad about the attempt on my life. It would only worry them, and for all of his sleuthing, Chase and his people hadn’t been able to figure out for certain who had bespelled the food. Apparently the buffet lay just out of range of the restaurant’s cameras, and they hadn’t been able to pin down the magic—although they did confirm the spell was customized just for me. It wasn’t dangerous for anyone else to eat.
Whoopie! Right?
“One second, honey. What?” Mom shouted directly into the phone. “Oh! Yes! Paul says you looked beautiful, and thanks for texting us the picture of you in your dress.”
“Of course!” I moved down the stable, pausing to pet Fax since he had his head draped over his stall door. “I should probably go, though. Love you, Mom.”
“Love you too, honey! Goodbye!”
The call disconnected, and I slipped my phone into a back pocket of my jeans, then stopped in front of Comet’s stall to kiss the mare on her scratchy muzzle. “Okay, I’m out. I just wanted to check on you lovelies to make sure everyone is doing good.”
I did a quick visual sweep of the stables—all of the sun stallions were gone now, except for Fax, obviously. My six night mares had claimed stalls as soon as they opened up, but mine weren’t the only night mares, because over the past few days new night mares had appeared. Now, we were up to twelve.
I made my way back up the stable aisle, pausing when Eclipse bobbed her head invitingly at me. “Chase?” I called to my director of security—he was speaking in a lowered tone with Dawn, but when I called out he swiveled to face me with very precise and crisp movements.
“Yes, Queen Leila?”
“Can we head out yet?”
To celebrate the victory of surviving my first social—and because Skye and Indigo had the day off—I was busting out of this joint to pursue the worthiest of goals: coffee.
Specifically, coffee at my favorite café in Magiford, which was human owned and human run, so I’d be safe ordering there. That’s why part two of my plan was to buy my weight’s worth in breakfast sandwiches.
I was sick of eating jerky, protein bars, and raw fruits and veggies. It got old after the second week of it.
But I couldn’t go out alone anymore, so I asked Chase to come with. I’d been hoping he was a coffee fan—no dice, I was still the sole coffee lover in my mansion—but he agreed to come with me anyway.
Chase bowed slightly. “I will notify Azure to pull the car up around the front—”
Eclipse screamed and banged on her door, making the hinges creak ominously.
“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?” I soothingly stroked her neck as she pushed her head into my chest.
Since she seemed fine, I started to walk away.
This time Eclipse and