Crown of Shadows (Court of Midnight and Deception #1) - K. M. Shea Page 0,80

his shirt, then shrugged. “You could ride your night mares through the mansion hallways and I wouldn’t care. I’m just pleased you’re talking to me without sneering—for once.”

What is up with this guy? I narrowed my eyes and clenched my prism tight. His airheaded ways are too real to be an act—especially because fae don’t act. They veil, cheat, and betray, but they do all of that with stoic expressions. They don’t act stupid for fun. Is he really an idiot?

Lord Linus caught me staring at him. “What?”

“Nothing.”

He grinned. “No, no, don’t retreat now! You felt it, right? Our father-daughter bond! You’re finally willing to accept all my paternal love!”

Yeah, he’s definitely an idiot—or he would know to read me better.

Lord Linus sighed happily. “I’ll have to tell Chase! I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to know our relationship is deepening!”

“No, it’s not,” I said.

“It is! It absolutely is! You just went five full minutes without insulting me or scowling! Where’s my cellphone? I should take a picture to commemorate the moment.”

Disgusted, I turned away from him.

That was when I caught sight of the gloom, standing at the base of a tree, flicking its tail.

“Hey there, beautiful. Did you want something?” I held out my hand.

The gloom bounded across the meadow, fearlessly twining itself through the night mares’ legs and rubbing its head against my hand.

Its purr was a deep, rusty sound I could feel in my fingers as it leaned into me.

Lord Linus whistled. “Your mother told me your magic made you good with animals. It was pretty obvious from the way the night mares adore you, but I confess, I didn’t think you were strong enough to bring in the glooms.”

The gloom was desperately leaning into me, as if it wanted to soak up every little bit of contact that it could.

“Good kitty.” I winced when I stroked its back, feeling its bones through its skin on the patches where it was missing hair.

An eerie howl—similar to a wolf’s but more jagged and sharp—sliced through the air.

I had to nudge Nebula aside so I could see the shade standing behind them.

It was a barely decipherable black blob—I could barely make out its outline since the Night Realm didn’t have a full moon tonight, but its head was easy to spot because its orange eyes disturbingly glowed in the dark.

“Perfect timing. Come on, kitty-cat. Guys, could you move?”

The night mares dispersed, letting me walk closer to the shade.

I stopped about halfway to it and crouched down. “Are you here to say hello?” I asked it, even as the gloom leaned into my shoulder and purred.

The shade wagged its tail, then cautiously slunk up to me. I offered it my hand, and it nosed me—its nose unnaturally dry and scratchy.

I need to get a vet out here.

I petted the shade. “You’re a good puppy, aren’t you? Yes you are!”

It sat down like a dog at an obedience class, its ears perked and tail thumping on the ground.

“But I’m glad you’re both here.” I addressed the gloom and shade together. “Because I wanted to ask—do any of you want to come live with me?”

Chapter Twenty

Leila

“Queen Leila, we need to discuss—” Skye strode into my library, but her arms shot out and she gripped the doorway when she saw the four glooms and seven shades sitting around me and Chase.

“What? What is it?” Indigo pushed her head into the space between Skye and the door with a scowl, which shifted immediately to surprise as her eyes grew as big as moons.

“Indigo, Skye—perfect timing!” I smiled. “I’d like you to meet our newest additions to the mansion!”

I waded through the shades and pointed to each animal as I named it. “We have Bob, Larry, Barbra, Mary, Tom.” The shades flicked their ears as I said their names.

I paused in front of the last two—the biggest shade of the pack, and a smaller one that had adorable gray front paws. “And this is Kevin and Steve—Steve is, in fact, a girl. I just didn’t think to check before I started naming, and now she won’t answer to anything but Steve.”

“Steve?” Skye repeated, staring at the shades in a way that said there was going to be a shopping trip for more antacids in her future.

“Yep. Then for the glooms we have Fluffy and Patches over here, and then Whiskers & Muffin.” I rested my hand on Muffin’s head—she had a cute little swirl of red fur on her forehead while Whiskers had excessively long, white