“We’re fine,” I whispered back to Killian. “Momoko is doubling up with me in my bedroom, but Celestina had plenty of guest rooms for everyone else.”

King Solis’s smile didn’t budge, but a second fine line appeared on his forehead. “It seems you share a friendship. How commendable.”

The Paragon snorted and looked to the side like a jaded teenager. “What?” he said when King Solis stared at him. “Are you really that innocent that you think they’re just friends? Hah!”

King Solis’s smile sputtered out, and he glanced behind him at one of his courtiers.

The tallest of the three whipped out a cellphone and started typing furiously on it.

It seemed our message was received.

I was a little surprised the Paragon joined in on our act—it was a pretty big indicator of just how concerned he was about those shadowy backers he told us about.

“I see.” The king’s smile was back, and his voice crackled with the warmth of a bonfire. “What a good omen for the vampires and wizards. But it seems I’ve taken up enough of your time. If you’ll excuse me.”

The Paragon was focused on scratching his drooping mustache. “Yeah, bye.”

Killian smiled, flashing his pronounced fangs. “Please alert me if there is anything in the party not to your liking. I hope you enjoy the remainder of your time here.”

Rather than answer and bind himself to Killian’s promise, King Solis smiled and slightly inclined his head, then drifted off.

When he was about halfway across the room he kicked his pace up a few notches and booked it over to the fae queen of the Winter Court—who was easy to pick out because she was dressed entirely in white with shades of light blue and gray.

The two tipped their heads together as they spoke, and soon courtiers from the Winter Court were typing away furiously on their phones.

I had to purse my lips slightly so my smile wasn’t gleeful. “I’d say that’s a checkmate?”

“Checkmate, bingo, and goal,” the Paragon cackled.

“Well done, Hazel,” Killian whispered into my ear.

I rolled my shoulders, trying to push him into giving me space. “Now we just wait and see if the Night Court takes the bait, right? Do you think we’ll find out by the end of the week?”

“Good heavens, no,” the Paragon snorted. “You’ll find out by the end of the night!”

Chapter Twenty

Hazel

I was ready to tap out around 3:30 am, but the night was still young for the fae, werewolves, and vampires.

Most of the wizard guests were in the process of leaving, and about half of my family had retired. (Great Aunt Marraine, of course, was still going strong.)

I was forcing myself to stay awake, because I didn’t know when I’d be needed as a prop, and if the Paragon was right and the Night Court made their move tonight I was going to be awake for it!

I retreated to the kitchens for a bit of peace and quiet and—most importantly—coffee.

The kitchens were quiet—most of the food had been served. The catering staff were only offering desserts and tea, which they prepared in a parlor room closer to the ballroom for convenience, so it was pretty abandoned.

The only noise was the gurgle of the coffee machine. I held a white mug with great zeal as I patiently waited.

Hopefully this will perk me up a bit.

“If you wanted an iced coffee to cool you down, I’m sure one of the staff members could make one.”

I muffled a yawn. “Hey, Killian. And nah, this is fine. I just need to get some caffeine in my bloodstream if I want to make it.”

I felt him stand behind me. He was off a little bit to the side, and he leaned forward to rest his palms on the kitchen counter.

I gave him a hard stare. “This is not going to be the gardens version 2.0.”

“Of course not,” Killian said. “We’re in the kitchen. Kissing you here would be a very different experience, particularly because anyone stupid enough to try and follow me here who is not a member of my Family will be disemboweled.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re so romantic.”

“That is not a no.”

I laughed a little, but the coffee machine beeped. I happily filled my cup and dumped in triple the creamer I normally used, then took a deep sniff.

Ahh. Heaven.

Killian watched me, his dark eyes glowing a faint red.

My coffee was too hot to drink, so I set it on the counter. “Why do you keep trying?” I asked.

Killian blinked. “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

“We agreed in the Paragon’s study that we’d talk about this after everything was over with the Night Court. Why are you still hinting and flirting?”

He popped one eyebrow up and smirked slightly. “You might think the Night Court is an all-consuming worry, but I’ve lived a lot longer than you. I am well aware that when it comes to my priorities, you top the list.”

I wanted to rub my eyes, but I’d horribly smear my makeup, so I settled for awkwardly rolling my shoulders. “But I’m a wizard.”

“And that is precisely why the notion that I am as…fond of you as I am makes this, as you would say, a big deal.” He stood up straight and twined a piece of my curled blond hair around his finger. “I recognize that you have chosen to focus on the Night Court for now. I’ll respect that decision, but I’m going to take every opportunity I can to remind you of what comes next.”

He was too close.

My heart was rattling around my chest again, smashing into my lungs so it was kind of hard to breathe.

Killian’s wide smirk softened into more of a hint, and he leaned down.

I settled my hands against his chest and my eyes drifted shut, and just as his lips touched mine I heard the kitchen door slam open.

“Your Eminence—I, er, forgive me, but—”

Killian sighed—the noise almost snake-like. “Naturally.” He abruptly straightened, then smoothly turned to face the door, tugging me along so I was pressed into his side when we faced Gavino together. “I could have him killed,” he said conversationally.

I scooped up my mug of coffee and took a loud slurp. “You can’t,” I said. “You’re lending him out to me and House Medeis, and we wizards happen to like him.”

Killian narrowed his eyes. “Then at the very least I could shoot him.”

Gavino—always pale—turned snow white. “I’m sorry, Your Eminence, but the First Knight said this couldn’t wait.”

My heart—which had previously been doing cartwheels—froze. I gulped. “The Night Court?”

Gavino nodded. “A Night Court noblewoman is here with a message for you, Your Eminence.”

Killian’s eyes glowed blood red. “In that case, we can’t keep them waiting, can we?”

“Not this time.” I took another slug of my coffee as I remembered Leila’s warning—our best bet was to catch them off guard. “I’m coming with, but I think I’d rather have them believe our relationship is unequal.”

Both of Killian’s eyebrows shot up. “That ship sailed when you and a small team of your wizards massacred them.”

“Maybe not,” I said. “They know we’re powerful, but they might think that we’re just your henchmen.”

Killian thought for a moment, then nodded. “It won’t hurt to try. At the very least it might be amusing to see how it plays out. Let’s go.”

A final sip of my coffee and I abandoned my mug on the kitchen counter, slipping out of the kitchen after Killian.

Gavino waited by the door until I had passed through and brought up the back end. “The messenger is at the main entrance. The Drakes on patrol escorted her to the front door, but I believe the First and Second Knights are with her now.”

Killian nodded, and stalked through his house. Supernaturals cleared out of his way, driven by the pressure even I could feel oozing off him.

I made sure I walked just a little behind Killian, my shoes clicking whenever we left a rug and marched across tile, hopefully looking not very intimidating.

We reached the foyer where, as Gavino had said, Celestina and Josh stood with the Night Court fae. Josh had a sword out and pointed at the representative, but Celestina looked deceptively benign in her gorgeous dress with her pretty smile and no visible weapons.

The fae delivering the notice was obviously from the Night Court—she had their coppery skin, and her hair was an ashy blond hue. She was wearing a dark blue tunic and held a thick sheaf of paper sealed with a glob of black wax, and was doing considerably well at hiding her nervousness. (Her expression was blank—it was her tendency to flick her eyes at Josh’s sword that gave it away.)

When she saw Killian she bowed. “Eminence,” she murmured.

“You have a message for me?” Killian asked.

“I do.” She handed over the papers, keeping her eyes downcast as Killian ripped through the seal.

It grew suspiciously quiet around us, so I glanced back, confirming that a few of the fae kings and queens—including the Day King and the Winter Queen—had drawn closer to the entrance and were watching carefully.

Killian read the letter, then handed it over to me.

I only glanced at it and struggled between a sigh of relief and tensing in anticipation. It was one of our best-case scenarios. Queen Nyte challenged us to a certamen.

I won’t bore you with the details—because of their tendency to tell half-truths and leave out important pieces of information, fae tend to be very detailed and long winded. (Seriously, they’re worse than lawyers.)

Queen Nyte went on and on about how she was requesting a duel because Killian had dishonored her in accusing her of killing her husband—never mind that he’d been right—and since he had no honor this was the only possible outcome unless he accepted her terms of surrender, blah, blah, blah.

Her terms of surrender were a joke—she wanted a certain amount of money that ranked in the millions, as well as Killian to step down from his role of Eminence, and a bunch of other stuff that was never going to happen.