popping us out in a grassy field just next to the dilapidated castle.
Think of King’s Court Café, think of King’s Court Café!
I hurriedly turned my thoughts to the pleasant and cute café—taking care to picture the café’s building and drive through, because I did not want the night mares dumping us inside the café.
King’s Court was pet friendly, but I was pretty sure that invitation didn’t extend to horses inside the café.
Eclipse gave me about two seconds to breathe in the cool but stale night air of the Night Realm before snapping another stone archway in place in front of us.
More stars and clouds, and we were out, stepping into the parking lot King’s Court Café shared with the nearby buildings.
“Wow.” I blinked—my eyes were struggling to adjust from the craziness of moving from light to dark and back to light again. “That was a ride.”
I turned Eclipse in a circle and craned my neck while looking around.
Yep, we were downtown all right.
King’s Court was named after the little side street it crouched on, King’s Court Drive. It was just around the corner from Main Street, which was the heart and soul of Magiford. From this angle, you could see Royal Beach—a small greenspace and a tiny public beach the city maintained along with the boardwalk that encircled almost all of the two lakes that rested along Main Street.
The closest lake, Fairy Lake—and no I’m not making this up, that’s really the lake’s name—sparkled extra under the intense summer sun.
I could smell the pastries from the French-style bakery just a few doors down, and even though it was mid-morning, the gelato store had a steady stream of customers coming in and out.
A car with a paddleboard tied to the roof slowed to a crawl when it saw Eclipse and me.
I waved and tried to look as nonchalant as possible—which I realized might not be convincing considering I was sitting on top of a murderous-looking fae horse.
I heard the totally-not-a-lightsaber-hum behind me, and turned Eclipse in a circle just in time to see Chase, Fax, and Solstice emerge from the gate, which sputtered shut behind them and disappeared with magic.
“What do you think?” I asked Chase.
He surveyed our surroundings. “I don’t believe there are any threats, but I will remain vigilant.”
“No—I meant of Magiford!”
“Oh. It’s sufficiently tourist-y to maintain a healthy local economy.”
I was about to slap my hand to my face, but the serious werewolf continued.
“Back at home we had to invest heavily in making our town a popular tourist destination to maintain a healthy and happy city. I am glad Magiford has done the same. Their efforts show—the city is quite adorable.”
“Yeah—I’ve always loved living near Magiford,” I agreed. “But I’ll be the first to admit there is some manipulation at play. Since it’s the supernatural center of the Midwest, the Curia Cloisters spends a lot of money helping maintain downtown—I think it’s so they can manipulate things a little and show how beautiful and picture-perfect things are when humans live with supernaturals. But it’s a fun place to live.”
Two cars almost collided in front of us because the drivers were gawking at Solstice, Eclipse, and Fax. Pedestrians had stopped and had their cellphones out—most likely taking pictures of us.
I better get going—I’m not really sure I’m cleared by the Curia Cloisters to parade the night mares downtown, anyway.
“Okay, I’ll go get my coffee. Are you sure you don’t want anything, Chase?”
Chase somehow managed to bow, even from on Fax’s back. “Yes, Queen Leila.”
“Okay, great. I’ll be right back—come on, Solstice!”
King’s Court Drive was thankfully empty, so Eclipse and Solstice were able to walk shoulder to shoulder, their silver shod hooves clattering on the pavement.
I stood up briefly in the stirrups to fish my wallet out of my jeans, then stopped the night mares at a speaker.
The speaker crackled, before a voice greeted me. “Welcome to King’s Court—what the!”
The voice cut out briefly, but continued, slightly muffled.
“Rhonda! Rhonda, we’ve got a rider of the apocalypse in the drive through!”
Oohhh, that’s right—I forgot they have a camera pointed at the drive through.
“Actually, they’re really rare fae horses called night mares!” I tried to sound extra friendly as I waved to the little camera that was pointed at us.
“Calling them night mares doesn’t sound much better than a rider of the apocalypse. It sounds like they could kill you in your sleep,” the café employee said suspiciously.
“Uhhh…”
“Are your buddies Pestilence, War, and Famine getting ice cream up the street?”
“My friend is