Crown of Shadows (Court of Midnight and Deception #1) - K. M. Shea Page 0,79

out a greeting—which they enthusiastically returned.

Eventide yipped and scurried backwards as the night mares charged down the driveway, tossing their heads.

Only Lord Linus stayed with me and Bagel as the night mares circled around us, affectionately sniffing and wheezing at us.

Bagel brayed happily as Blue Moon nosed his cheek.

“I can see your night mares love him,” Lord Linus mildly observed.

I was pretty shocked when he nonchalantly reached up and patted Blue Moon’s neck once he stood up.

“Come on, Bagel. Let’s get you over to the stables.”

Bagel hee-hawed. His loud, booming bray echoed across the mansion grounds.

“Your nobles are going to love that noise,” Indigo said.

I tossed a grin at her over my shoulder. “Oh, I really hope so!”

I rolled my prism around my palm, practicing pulling magic through it and pushing it into the magic wards that were about a car length away. “Right,” I shouted.

There was some scuffling before my six night mares turned to the right as one long line.

“Good boys and girls—you’re so smart!” I cooed to them.

I cast one last look at the ward and tried to pull more magic through my prism—I was having a hard time figuring out how much power it could handle—but when I pulled enough to physically feel it in my hands, I cut off my connection and shoved it into the ward.

The ward rippled, but gave me no indication if my magical boost was at all useful. I was guessing not—when I had asked Skye about the ward, she mentioned I’d be able to visibly see my magic spread across the ward, and I didn’t think she was talking about a puddle-sized amount like I was looking at right now.

I need to get better at this. But there is something about my artifact—I can’t feel it quite like I can my charm bracelet.

Brushing my hands off on my breeches, I crossed the field—tripping on a root poking out of the ground that I didn’t see due to the Night Realm’s perpetual darkness.

“Whoever decided the Night Realm should be dark all the time was incredibly short sighted,” I grumbled.

“Historically the Night Realm has regular day cycles—if the Court is balanced,” Lord Linus said.

I glanced curiously at him. “Have you ever witnessed it in daytime?”

“Yeah, when I was a kid—but even back then our days were pretty short. Once the new monarchs were crowned about twenty years ago, the sun never rose in here again.” Lord Linus had managed to grub his way into a tiny bit of my good graces because he seemed to genuinely like Bagel, and he didn’t whimper whenever the night mares surrounded him.

Today, he’d wormed his way into coming to the Night Realm with me by offering to hold Bagel’s lead rope as I practiced magic.

But I still didn’t like the guy all that much.

I gave the fae a sharp nod, then turned my back to him and squinted through the darkness. “Right again.”

The night mares, still moving as one, turned again.

“Now left!”

The night mares turned accordingly.

“You’re so good! Come on in!”

The night mares trotted up to me, encircling me so I could easily pat each of their necks and kiss their muzzles.

Lord Linus watched us as he rubbed at an itchy spot on Bagel’s neck, making the donkey melt into him. “I get why you’re practicing with the ward. But what’s up with the night mares?”

“Why am I teaching them verbal commands?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

I smiled and rubbed Twilight’s forehead. “Because I like them, and I’ve decided I’m going to make them a bigger part of my Court—because I want to.”

And because maybe, just maybe, I’m thinking about entering the Magiford Midsummer Derby with one of them.

I expected Lord Linus to protest—maybe trot a complaint out about tradition or something—but he just nodded. “Okay, then.”

“You’re not going to protest?”

“Why would I?”

I smiled when Blue Moon rested his chin on my shoulder. “Because it goes against tradition?”

“You’re Queen of the Night Court,” he said. “You don’t have to follow tradition. I don’t think you should even have to get married to be crowned, but does anyone listen to me? No!”

I waited for a deeper explanation, but it seemed he was content to partially sidestep the issue. “Technically I’m not even training them right—I’m supposed to use the words gee and haw for turning, but I couldn’t ever keep those terms straight, and it seems stupid when the night mares can understand most of what I say anyways.”

“So?” Lord Linus frowned a little when Bagel smeared green spit on