He shut the door behind him.
This day was only getting shittier.
I would like to flush it away and be free of it.
King Athon walked out of the bathroom, now as fully clothed as a shifter gets, sniffing at his right arm in revulsion. He shook his head hard and lowered his limb, his solid black eyes targeting me. The malicious wit was not lost on me, when the shifter king stated, “I knew your father killed him, despite him never admitting to it. I suppose hiding in your bathroom like a child did have some perks.”
I lifted my red brows. “Are you going to tattle on him?”
“Absolutely not. I hated that fucker, too.” He tipped his head and sniffed at his left shoulder this time. “By the Fae, I smell like jasmine. This is sickening.”
I snorted. “That’s better than honeysuckle.”
“Not in the slightest.” He marched to my windows and peeked out the edge of a curtain, his solid black eyes perusing the terrain. “I need to leave and get back to High Pointe. I’ll be able to take a shower there.”
I blinked slowly. “What about your provisions for the Blood Forest. I’m not sharing any of my stuff with you.”
“Bishop is bringing it.” His eyes were still scanning.
“Bishop,” I stated thoughtfully. I crossed my arms, and hedged, “He is an interesting shifter.”
King Athon snorted. “Pitiful attempt to obtain the workings of my inner staff, Princess. You’ll have to try harder than that.”
I shrugged a shoulder. “I’ll just ask my father.”
“If he survives King Elon in the Blood Forest.” He peered over at me. “I wish your father the best of luck without his power behind him. King Elon is not someone you would want for an enemy. He is far too old and has seen much.”
“Most assuredly, I would agree.” I jerked my head at my bedchamber door. “You need to leave, and I need to get ready.”
“Go do your damned elf business. I can’t leave yet.”
Irritation straightened my spine. I growled, “Why in the Fairy can’t you?”
“Because your father is standing in the middle of the field sniffing the air like he has a shifter’s nose.”
“What?” I quickly walked to the other side of my windows and peeked around the curtain. My father was standing there with his nose in the air and walking in a slow circle. He moved a foot over and repeated the action. I muttered, “What in the realm? Has he been doing that the whole time?”
King Athon growled in annoyance. “Yes. What do you suppose the fool is doing?”
“He is no fool.” I cleared my throat, and I mumbled, “He’s merely eccentric. And get back. I’m going to ask him.”
This was a smidge odd, even for my father.
I moved behind the curtain and opened the rolling windows. The tips of my toes hung over the side of the castle, and the wind battered my red hair. I shouted, “Father, what in the Fairy are you doing?”
King Traevon tilted his head back, and yelled, “I smell a fire somewhere. Can you see smoke from up there?”
My eyes roamed the horizon, and my nostrils flared, sniffing as he had done. I wasn’t as powerful as my father. I couldn’t smell the fire, but my eyes snagged on a thin wisp of gray smoke in the distance. I pointed to the right, and yelled, “Over there! I think it’s near the orchard!”
Father scowled and stomped in that direction. “I knew I shouldn’t have hired that idiot!”
“You’re welcome!” I rolled the window closed and latched it, and then batted the curtain away. I glared where the shifter king had retreated further down the wall. “Now, you can bloody well leave.”
“Nice windows, Princess.” King Athon sauntered toward my door, his hatred burning in his eyes. “I should have pushed you.”
“Hesitation kills.” I smirked.
While holding my door open, King Athon sneered. “I can’t believe you fucking sneezed.” He slammed the door behind him.
“It was your hair, by all the Fae!” I shouted in vehemence, knowing he could still hear me fine. “Get a damned haircut, you lout!”
* * *
Father and I walked over the white marble entrance of High Pointe, the colors of the rainbow spotlighting our way every so often. The building was, once again, empty of any travelers. The other four rulers were already here, even though we weren’t late. They stood near the center of the structure, on the gorgon side, in a heated argument of some sort.
I grumbled under my breath, “This is going to be an amazing adventure.”
Father snorted.
While we strode toward our fate, I sighed and tipped my head back to stare at the wonder of the ceiling. “Father, do you think we’ll find the artifact?”
King Traevon’s lips quirked up on one side. “I bet it is you who finds this one.”
I dropped my head to stare at his profile. “Why?”
“Because only my daughter would enter the Blood Forest and come out with a prize instead of her death. You are a very clever and resourceful young woman. You always have been.”
I grunted and turned my attention back to the quarreling rulers. “If I were that clever and resourceful, I would figure out a way to not enter the Blood Forest for the prize. But here we are, about to enter the Fae damned place.”
Father laughed quietly and flicked a glance down to me. “I suppose you could just wait out here and steal it afterward.”
I pointed a finger at him and raised my eyebrows. “That is a grand idea. I think I’ll try that.”
I started to turn away and laughed hard when Father grabbed my arm and hauled me back, making me walk again with a kick in the ass.
“You are ridiculous, my daughter.” Father chuckled.
I fanned my face with my right hand, trying to calm my amusement, and whispered, “It shut them up, at least.”
The four rulers had turned in our direction, witnessing our pranks. Most stared at Father in a very peculiar way. A few even ogled him like he had grown a second head.
I snorted. “You should probably let them know you’re not a complete ass all the time, Father.”
“I am. To them. And that won’t change.” King Traevon lifted his arms wide when we finally hoofed it the rest of the way. “So what did I miss? How may I be of service?”
Queen Mikko explained quietly, “We cannot decide where we are supposed to enter the Blood Forest. The Misfits didn’t tell us this, and they aren’t here to help.”
King Elon hissed, “It is obvious. We should all enter in different locations closest to our own kingdoms.”
“How in the Fae fuck did you get that from what the Misfits said?” King Athon’s black eyes widened in disbelief, his tone brutal and sharp. “Are you trying to make this mission fail?”
“I would never.” The red, vertical slits inside King Elon’s green eyes narrowed. “I believe we would be granted easier access if we stayed closer to our own kingdoms.”
“So you believe the Blood Forest is continuous then?” Queen Alora asked curiously, her multi-hued hair pulled up into a high ponytail again today. “That no one would be separated by doing as you’re suggesting?”
King Elon flipped his long, shamrock green braids over his shoulders. “I’m not positive, but I think it is.”
Queen Mikko shook her head of chestnut brown, tree bark hair. “That is absurd. It clearly breaks here at High Pointe at all four sections. We would be alone, except for one section. Wherever Queen Alora enters, there would be two rulers.”
King Traevon’s voice was unimpressed. “Allow me to guess where you’d wish Queen Alora to enter, King Elon. Possibly with you?”
“That does make sense, does it not?” King Elon shrugged.
King Athon snarled. “Not happening. Try thinking of another way to kill us off. I’ll be sure to cut that one down, too.”
I nibbled my bottom lip, not wanting to interrupt the rulers.
“Really, King Elon, bad form.” Queen Mikko glared, her brown mist eyes swirling
. “If it isn’t as you predict, rulers would be stuck there. We all know that—”
“It is continuous,” I said in a fast burst, cutting her off.
I swallowed hard as all eyes swung to me. I honestly did not like all that hostility thrown my way from the most powerful in the realm. I needed to explain this quickly before they tried to put me in my place when I actually needed to say this.
In a rush, I expounded, “Grandmother Isabella taught me that. High Pointe, the ivy lying over it? It’s part of the Blood Forest. It protects the structure from any one kingdom trying to destroy the building. So, yes, it is continuous.”
The white sparkles of Queen Alora’s solid sky-blue eyes narrowed down to one large starburst in each eyeball, completely homing in on me as she would do with prey in the ocean. “What else did she tell you about the Blood Forest? And why did you not mention this before?”
“You didn’t ask for my opinion. You cut the meeting off yesterday before anyone could really discuss their thoughts, Your Royal Highness. But I will give you my thoughts now of where we enter. If we arrive at different points, that would be an utter disaster. We don’t know what is in there. We might not be able to find one another again, and, if that happens, people will die needlessly.”
I shook my head and decided to throw them all a bone. “Grandmother Isabella didn’t tell me anything else about it, other than it gets cold at night.”
Five sets of eyes looked down to the enormous, black fur coat I was wearing—definitely odd attire for this time of year—the coat so long it brushed the tops of my black boots.
As one, their eyes started evaluating everyone else’s clothes, frowns quickly appearing on their faces. They may be dressed for a forest in rugged, practical wear, but their clothes weren’t nearly warm enough for a cold night. The swords sheathed against their backs would not help them with this issue.
“It appears we must go upstairs to grab our coats.” King Traevon slid his emerald green eyes to my identical ones. “Is that why you asked on our flight home yesterday if we had winter clothing in our royal bedchambers at High Pointe?”
“Yes.” I shrugged my shoulders, maybe a wee bit sheepish in the face of my father’s hard expression. “I didn’t want to repeat myself though, so I waited to say it here with everyone.”
“How very kind of you, my daughter,” he stated dryly.
All right. My resulting smile was sheepish.
Perhaps, I had made them all look foolish.
And, perhaps I had done it on purpose.
Because I did need to show I was capable of being as ruthless and as intelligent as my own father. If I knew more than they did on certain matters, then I would use it to my full advantage—just as they would do.
Queen Mikko snorted softly. “It will be a Fae miracle if we get out of the Blood Forest alive if even the heir is trying to harm us.”
Father’s eyes narrowed to thin slits. On me.
I sighed heavily and patted my bag that hung down to my right hip. “Don’t be upset, Father. I packed yours just in case I forgot to tell everyone.”
King Athon snorted. “I’m going to get my coat. And, as I said before everyone started designing each other’s murders, we should all enter together, and it doesn’t matter where we do so. If anyone tries to do something else, that Fae shit isn’t flying. I will stop you.”
The rest of us watched him stalk away.
Queen Alora muttered, “Well, we have a plan, at least.”
The other three walked to get their own coats.
Father’s lips curled into a cruel smile. He peered down his nose at me. “Did you steal my black coat or my blue coat?”
“Your black one.” I winked. “So we would match.”
“Of course. Whatever was I thinking?”
“Quite.” I tipped my head down in a subtle bow. “You also have a few extra sweaters, long underwear, mittens, and a stocking cap in your bag.”
“Well played, my daughter. Well played.”
While Father and I waited, I roamed the space, perhaps snooping behind the elven registration desk. Father allowed me to do as I pleased…even when I slipped behind the gorgon’s registration desk—the forms there were all terribly boring.
King Athon stormed out of the central door, a scowl on his face. He stalked toward my father, his dark brows puckering and his white hair flying out behind him. He snarled, “Where did your heir go? If she is out—”
“Trixie,” Father barked, effectively shutting him up. “Get back over here!”
I peeked far from behind the roof-wall covering the gorgon’s registration desk—caught.
King Athon’s black eyes narrowed to ominous slits. He muttered under his breath, “Good fuck, she is like a damned babe playing with a pack of rabid wolves.”
Father snapped his fingers at me. “Come on.”
I cleared my throat and lifted my chin. I walked at a sedate pace, not giving in and sprinting like I wanted to. I grumbled, “There was nothing back there of importance, anyway.”
King Traevon leaned toward me, whispering, “Let’s not tell King Elon you were back there.”
“Of course not.” I sniffed.
King Athon growled softly, bending far down to stare directly into my face. “What else aren’t you telling us about the Blood Forest, Princess Trixie?”
“I have already stated what was told to me.” I shrugged. “If you don’t believe that, I don’t particularly give a damn.”
King Athon continued to stare into my eyes, not moving away. “King Traevon, I might just strangle your heir.”
“King Athon, I might just chop off your head,” Father responded. “Get away from her at once. I won’t repeat myself.”
“All right. I’ll get away from her.” King Athon’s lips curved into a wicked sneer. “I don’t apologize for this. I just wanted you to know that, Princess Trixie.”
I snorted. “Apologize for what—”
The strap of my bag was off my shoulder before I even realized he had moved.
King Athon stood five feet away from us. My bag was in the crook of one of his arms while he untied it with his other hand. He muttered, “If either of you wants this badly enough, come and get it.”
I snapped my mouth shut and mumbled in disbelief, “He just took my bag, Father.”
“That he did.” King Traevon crossed his arms over his chest. “Is there anything in there worth fighting him for?”
I thought hard about that. Then I shook my head. “Nothing worth a king dying over.”
King Athon rifled through my bag with one brusque hand, ruining my precious packing job. He shook his head, rumbling, “How many pairs of socks does a person need? Holy fucking Fae, this is bizarre. Even for a royal.”
“I don’t like wet feet,” I mumbled in my defense.
His head cocked to the side in thought, and then he started going slower, squeezing each of the socks I had rolled up.
“Fuck,” I breathed quietly.
Father peeked at me from the corner of his eye.
King Athon stopped on a red pair of socks and gripped them harder. He didn’t say a word but brought them up to his nose and inhaled deeply. A moment later, he tossed them back in and kept searching.
Thank the Fae. That was my new bottle of drugs.
I didn’t change my posture, even as relief rained down.
Father tensed. “What was that? What did you find?”
“Nothing of importance, nosy father,” King Athon stated brusquely, not glancing up from his exploration. “If she wanted to tell you her personal business, I’m sure she would. I am trying to give your daughter a modicum of privacy while I do this.”
Father grunted and crossed his arms.
I would have to hide those soul mate pills elsewhere.
My father was not one to give up.
King Athon stopped on a green pair of mittens that were balled up and brought those up to his nose for a grand sniff. Solid black eyes lifted to mine slowly
, and he muttered dryly, “Really, Princess Trixie?”
I shrugged a shoulder. “You never know when you’ll need it. I’ve found it comes in handy more than you’d expect.”
He snorted and tossed it back in and went back to messing up my bag. The shifter king blinked slowly and gradually lifted his hand from my bag, one finger pointed to hold a dangling pair of steel shackles.
King Athon simply looked at me.
I pointed at my father. “His idea. Not mine.”
The shackles dropped back into my bag, and he was searching once more. He stopped on another object and brought it out for all to see—a black lace bra.
Father barked, “What in the Fae fuck are you doing?”
King Athon brought it up to his nose slowly, sniffing at the clasp, his brows crinkling in confusion…and then in understanding. Those black eyes narrowed at me. He snarled, “Gareeisha poison? Where in the realm did anyone in your position even get this?”
“I know people,” I stated bluntly.
Father stared in surprise. “That is found under the farthest rock in the ocean right near the edge! Who do you know that would sell that to you?”
“He didn’t sell it. I stole it from him.” I lifted a bored eyebrow at both of them. “Can we finish this before the other rulers come down, please?”
King Athon stared at the bra, debating…
“Put it back in there, King Athon,” I growled, flashing my fangs. “We may need that.”
Father sniffed and turned his regard to the other king. “My daughter is correct. We may need it. We don’t know what will be in the forest.”
King Athon’s straight nose scrunched, but he did drop it back into the bag. His large hand went back into action, searching deeper now, even while he asked evenly, “The man you stole it from, does he know who took it from him?”
“He’s not an issue, anymore,” I stated elusively. “There will be no repercussions from the theft.”
Father grunted. Then patted me on top of my head.
King Athon peeked at my father. “She was there that night, wasn’t she?”
King Traevon simply stated, “You would have to ask Princess Trixie if she was there when your people burned.”
Marvels and Misfits Page 13