Crown of Shadows (Court of Midnight and Deception #1) - K. M. Shea Page 0,81

whiskers.

Indigo stared at my new menagerie. “I’m assuming there is a reason why you gave the shades the most bland, human names ever, and the glooms all sound like pet cats?”

“I spent a really long time on my night mares’ names—I wanted to give them beautiful names that would make people see their beauty.” I clapped my hands together. “That didn’t work. I figured this time I should concentrate on using their names to lower their potential fear factor a little. I don’t know if it worked. What do you think, Chase?”

The werewolf rubbed his jaw as he stared down at Whiskers, who was leaning into him and purring. “I think I might prefer a higher fear factor for the sake of security.” He absently patted Whiskers’s back as he pulled out his cellphone.

“I was introducing them to Chase, so they’d know to go to him if they see anything weird or dangerous,” I said. “But I should probably introduce them to you, too.”

Indigo sucked in a deep breath that made her puff up like a hedgehog, then stiffly marched deeper into the library.

Skye took a few steps and paused—I think out of confusion and not fear based on the way she furrowed her eyebrows. “You believe they can understand such things?”

“Oh, for sure.” I nearly fell over when Kevin and Steve crowded my space, asking for more pets. “My natural magic is the one part about my fae heritage I’m confident in, and it’s a bit of a cheat code that makes whatever animals I work with smarter. But even beyond that, the fae creatures are way more intelligent than your typical pet dog. They’re a cinch to work with—once they trust you.”

Indigo was still puffed out with fear as she thrust her hand out to Steve. “Nice to meet you.”

Steve sniffed her hand, then leaned her massive head forward and licked Indigo’s cheek, her tail wagging wildly.

Indigo made a strangled noise. “Their breath is awful.” She squeaked when Whiskers—bored since Chase was busy—sniffed her back and then leaned into her. Since Indigo was smaller, the shades were taller than her, and the glooms were nearly eye height.

“Do you think they could be taught to watch for certain individuals, or pick up distinctive smells?” Chase squatted down and took Fluffy’s picture.

“Yeah, but not right away,” I said. “It’s going to take them some time to adjust to living here and not in the Night Realm.

“Living here?” Skye asked with extra politeness in her voice.

Chase nodded, then addressed the cat. “You’re Patches?”

The real Patches tapped her paw on Chase’s shoulder.

“My apologies, then you must be Fluffy?”

Fluffy purred and twitched his whiskers.

Chase tapped away on his cellphone. “I’ll make certain to send their pictures to my men.”

“Thanks, Chase.” I sat on the arm of one of the comfortable couches.

Chase bowed slightly, then moved on to taking the shades’ pictures.

“You said we needed to talk about something, Skye?” I asked.

Skye squared her shoulders. “Yes, Queen Leila.” She glided forward, stopping respectably short of the animals. She held out her hand, and both Kevin and Muffin meandered up to her.

Kevin licked her hand while Muffin twined around her like a house cat.

Apparently, they like all of my people. That’s a relief—but maybe I shouldn’t rely too much on their opinion. They liked Lord Linus a lot, which doesn’t demonstrate good judgment.

Irritated, I pushed away the memory of Lord Linus rubbing Kevin’s belly while the big shade twitched his paws in glee.

The glooms and shades opened up a little path for Skye, who took it, then set her tablet down. “We have two matters to discuss. Firstly, you must decide on your personal seal.”

I frowned. “My what?”

“Your personal seal.” Skye flipped her tablet around to show me. “The Night Court has an official seal that is used for any official statements, papers, alliances, etcetera, that need to be posted to other Courts, to the Curia Cloisters, or to other supernaturals. It stands for our Court—and by extension your will.” She tapped a picture of a seal—a crescent moon and a few stars—pressed into navy blue wax.

“However, you need a personal seal to use on all internal documents—any statements you might give specifically just in the Court, anything that needs you to bear witness like passing estates on to children, tax documents, basically anything that will stay in our Court but needs to be marked so the citizens know it comes from you.”

I plopped down in my leather office chair, which wheezed out air. “It’s