by Lexi Blake
He rolled his eyes and contorted his face to let me know I’d said something distasteful. “No. Ewww. He’s like…”
My heart warmed because I knew what he was thinking. For the first time in his life, Neil had wolves around who didn’t hurt him or make him feel less. He had a small pack and it made him happy. “…a brother?”
“A real, actual one,” Neil said with a shrug, trying not to get too emotional. “I guess Zack is what I thought a brother should be like. He annoys me with his butt kissing and his perfect obedience. Most of the time, I want to throttle him. But then I know he has my back. I like hanging out with him. We might not have a ton in common, but that’s okay. I’m totally going to get him back for the arrow thing, though.”
I nodded. Revenge was important in our world. I turned and looked at Bibi, who only reached my shoulders, or she would if she stood up straight. Bibi seemed to be trying to shrink into herself. Still, she had a job to do, and it was time she learned how to do it. “Please inform Mara that I will be sleeping with my husband. She can either move my luggage or I will move it myself. Daniel will also be joining us in whatever room Prince Devinshea has been given. They might not recognize my marriage to Daniel, but Dev certainly does.”
Without a doubt, Dev would have the best room. He was a prince, after all.
“You want me to tell her?” Bibi asked, her dark eyes wide with fear. “You want me to speak to her?”
I walked back toward the troll. It was time to start making the best of things. If Mara thought I was going to bitch and complain and beg for a better assistant, then she was wrong. I sat down on the bed so I was at eye level with Bibi. “Yes, Bibi, I want you to tell Mara that she has made a dreadful error and must fix it right away. You tell her your mistress is insulted and will probably do something terrible if she doesn’t get her way.”
Bibi shrank back. Her whole body shook. “I will carry the luggage myself. Please don’t harm me.”
“No, sweetie.” Neil knelt down beside her. He was sincere as he dealt with the frightened girl who was probably older than all of us combined. “You aren’t getting it. She isn’t going to hurt you. You’re part of the team now. Zoey here is loyal to her crew. She might yank out that hair of Mara’s though.”
“What is a crew?” Bibi asked, shyly smiling at Neil. Her eyes were big as she took in Neil’s blond hair and light blue eyes. She sighed as he smiled at her.
Trolls have no gaydar.
“It means you’re with us now,” Neil explained. “You work for Zoey, so you’re one of the gang. If someone messes with you, then we handle it.”
Bibi thought about this for a moment. Big tears shone in her eyes as she looked up at me. “But I am a gardener and a troll. It is an insult to you. They meant to shame you by placing me in your household.”
“Then they did a terrible job, Bibi.” They hadn’t done their research on me. “Would you like to know a secret? I was practically raised by trolls. They were Huldrefolk, like you. Daniel and I spent many summers walking the bridges. You are not an insult to me. You’re a cherished reminder of my home.” Just the day before we left for Faery, I’d gone to say good-bye to my adoptive summer parents, Ingrid and Halle. They had been filled with advice on how to survive Faery.
“She told the others you would be upset by me,” Bibi told me. “She said I would be awful and you would come begging for her help.”
I was going to have to have a little talk with Mara. It sucked because my plan coming in was to try to blend in as much as possible. I was going to try to be what Devinshea needed me to be. I planned on learning how to be a member of this family, but it was looking more and more like I was going to have to be me. If terrifying trolls and going all mean girl on the new kid was what passed for family here, then they were going to get the full Zoey Wharton Donovan Quinn treatment.
“I think you’ll make a fine social secretary once we figure out what you’re supposed to do,” I assured the troll. “That will be the real challenge because I have never been a member of a royal court before. We’ll just have to learn together.”
I hoped not to have to learn too much, though. I had more to do than learn royal protocols. We had a war to deal with at home, and the truth was I was anxious to get back to it. I needed to find the stone for Marini and then figure out how I could screw him over with it.
“I have a schedule,” Bibi offered. “Tonight you have the meeting with the queen. I am supposed to make sure you are dressed properly. Prince Declan selected a gown for you.”
There was a large closet across the room. I decided to have a look at what Declan considered “proper.” I just hoped the damn dress actually had a bodice. I wouldn’t put it past him to give me something that showed off way too much of me. I stared at the dress that hung alone in the massive closet.
This was what I was supposed to wear to dinner with the queen tonight? I laughed because it was blatantly obvious someone had switched it out. Declan might be a complete dick, but he had no desire to humiliate me. Declan would never have picked out that bland color or the hideous cut of the dress. He considered himself a fashionable prince. The person who had swapped the dresses must have thought I was an idiot or didn’t know Declan. The prince would never in a million years have selected something that didn’t leave my boobs hanging out. I wondered where the real one was but decided it was long gone.
“Ewww, Z. Did Declan lose his mind?” Neil pulled at the mucky brown fabric.
Bibi walked up, shaking her head. “That is not the right gown. The one the prince ordered was beautiful. It was made of fine fabric and the color was a lovely green. This is terribly old-fashioned. It is a gown an elderly country woman would wear, certainly not the wife of a high priest.”
I giggled. I couldn’t help it. I was back in junior high. I should watch out because someone was going to try to steal my boyfriend next.
Bibi looked close to tears. “It is not funny, my mistress. You will be a laughingstock. Appearances are important here. There is no time to make another and I am afraid you will not fit into the other women’s dresses. They are much taller than you. This is a disaster.”
But Neil was already working on it. He had pulled open the oversized wardrobe Dev himself had packed for the three of us. It had designer wear in case we got tired of the middle ages. It was a mini closet and I felt bad for whoever had been forced to lug it from the sithein door all the way to the palace. I’d argued with Dev that there was no way we needed designer dresses and suits and now I would have to eat my words.
“I think the candy-red Vivienne Westwood,” he pronounced, pulling out the stunner with a heart-shaped bodice. “It’s both hot and haute!”
“Works for me.” If the mean girls thought they could get me down, they could think again. I might not fit in exactly, but in that dress I was going to stand out and not in a bad way. I hadn’t worn it yet but I expected Dev and Danny would like it. Besides, the flowy styles they preferred here were for tall, lithe women. I have curves and the Westwood would hug those curves in all the right places. And it would allow me to dump the slippers in favor of heels. I was tired of being the munchkin in the room. “Shoes?”
“Oh, there’s no question,” Neil said as though the answer was staring me in the face. “The gold d’Orsay pumps. The Manolos. They’re the perfect counterpoint to the Goddess Chain.” He opened the trunk that housed my shoes, and I watched Bibi’s mouth drop open.
“They are so beautiful,” Bibi breathed, looking at the shoes like she was an art student getting her first glimpse of a da Vinci. She looked at me for permission and I nodded. She pulled out my purple peep-toe Louboutins. She had a good eye.
“I think she’s having a shoegasm,” Neil said with a smile.
“Hey, she has small feet,” I noted. “She might be able to wear my shoes.”
Bibi looked startled. “You would let me wear your footwear?”
“Yes, but you have to practice first.” I didn’t want to be responsibl
e for her broken ankle. “Those are four- to five-inch heels. They take some getting used to.”
“Yes, I remember several times my mistress almost broke an ankle trying to walk in her shoes,” a deep voice intoned. “It was then I knew she truly loved my master because it seemed like torture to me, yet she did it to please him.”
I smiled at Albert, who stood in the doorway holding a tray. The seven-foot demon looked stately in his white dress shirt and slacks. Our butler had traveled ahead to the palace days before. Albert had insisted he needed the time to whip the palace into shape.
“I have brought you afternoon tea, mistress,” Albert announced with a smile. “It is a lovely Darjeeling with freshly baked madeleines.”
My stomach reminded me I hadn’t eaten earlier, and I took a seat on the couch in the sitting area while Albert served. This morning, food had just completely lost its appeal, but I was getting my appetite back. Neil looked at the cookies, trying not to salivate.
“Is there a reason you’re not sharing a room with the masters?” Albert asked, his tone one of grave disappointment. Albert was a romantic. He believed married couples should cohabitate, even when the couple was a trio.
“Don’t blame me,” I shot back, taking a sip of the tea. It was, as always, perfect. Everything Albert did was sheer perfection. “I just went to the room I was assigned to. I’m working on remedying it right away. If I stay here, Dev and Danny will crawl into that little bed with me and I’ll get smooshed in the middle.”
Bibi moved from the shoes and was looking at the delicate cookies. I could hear her stomach rumble and wondered if anyone had thought to give the troll lunch. I held one out for her and she took it shyly.
“Bibi, this is Albert.” I made the introductions. “Albert runs our household. Albert, Bibi is my new secretary.”
Albert bowed deeply. “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, miss. Please, if there is anything I can do to help you, let me know. I am here to serve.”
That was when Bibi burst into tears. Neil and I exchanged looks. I told him wordlessly that he could take this one. She responded well to him.
Neil looked at the little troll. “Don’t let Al scare you. He’s big but he’s a pussy cat.”
She shook her head vigorously. “No, he is nice. You are all so nice. I just wish they weren’t so mean.”
Neil’s light eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Bibi, you’re a small creature. Sometimes people don’t even notice you’re around, do they? They talk around you and pretend you don’t exist.”
Bibi nodded, sniffling slightly. “Yes, they don’t care that I am there. It is like they think I do not have ears, but I do.”
“Do you know what Mara is planning?”
The troll stopped, and for a moment I thought she would let her fear keep her silent. I couldn’t blame her. She’d been trained to fear her “betters.” After a long moment, she came to a decision, and I watched as she steeled herself for what was likely her first foray into rebellion.
“It is not Mara who is plotting,” she exclaimed. “It is her cousin. She is vile. She doesn’t like my new mistress and has sworn to ruin her in the eyes of the nobles.”
I sighed because I could guess what was coming. “Is Mara’s cousin’s name Gilliana?”
Bibi’s eyes widened. “Yes, and she was the one who put you in separate rooms so she could enchant the prince. She wants to force him to give her a babe. She was angry he took another wife. She thinks he will take her back if she carries his child.”
I calmly set the tea down and was proud of myself because my head didn’t explode, though it threatened to. Blood was pulsing through my body, and I wondered briefly if that maddening rage was what Danny felt when his beast came out. I took control of my intense, crazy-bitch rage and managed to speak to Bibi in something close to a calm tone. “Bibi, sweetie, this is important. Where is Gilliana now?”
“She is in Prince Dev’s room. She is lying in wait with a spell to entrance him.”
I stood, fury oozing from my every pore. Neil smiled because he knew the scene I was about to cause would stand the test of time. It was going to be legendary, and he wasn’t about to miss it. I was sure he thought about getting Sarah, but I wasn’t waiting on an audience.
“I’ll need…” I began.
“Cold iron,” Albert supplied helpfully. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small but lethal-looking knife. It was made from cold forged iron, the true weapon to use against a Fae. “I try to be prepared for your every need. On entering the palace, I realized you would need to maim or kill someone in order to take your rightful place. These are truly dreadful people, mistress. They will not respect you until they fear you. I pulled the knife out of the luggage early this morning.”
“Thank you, Albert,” I managed around my volcanic rage. “Bibi, take me to my husband’s room.”
As we walked out, Albert was already cleaning up. “I’ll have your luggage delivered to Prince Dev’s room and Master Daniel’s as well. Call me if you need someone to clean up the blood, mistress. I’m always ready to help.”
I walked calmly through the halls of the palace, holding my cold iron knife carefully against my thigh. I didn’t want anyone to raise the alarm.
When dealing with backstabbing, man-stealing, spell-using bitches, it helps to have the element of surprise. I had this with Gilliana on several fronts. First, she thought I was somewhere on the other side of the palace, far away from my probably horny husband. I was supposed to be dealing with my completely inappropriate social secretary. There should have been much time lost as I dealt with Mara, who was undoubtedly ready to take one for the team. While I handled both the room situation and the problems with staff, Gilliana would have time to pull whatever she needed to pull.
The second of her misconceptions was about me. She more than likely thought she was dealing with a lovely airhead since I’d been told over and over that was Dev’s preferred type. Lovely airhead—even if she managed to figure out the plot—would just sit around and cry. She would not march into her husband’s room and confront the big, scary, spell-wielding woman.
Albert was right. It was time to let these people know I wasn’t an easy mark. It was my responsibility to stake a claim. This court ran on intrigue and the constant fear of someone using you as a stepping stone. After I brought my own personal stone down on a couple of their heads, they would learn not to step on me.
“This is the prince’s wing,” Bibi explained.
Of course he had his own wing, but Danny and I had been shoved to another part of the palace entirely. This wing of Dev’s was huge with many rooms. It was obviously for his family, but Mara had chosen to leave him here alone and vulnerable to her cousin’s plots. Mara didn’t know it yet, but she’d been fired.
“The last room is Prince Dev’s bedroom.” Bibi pointed to the closed door at the end of the hall.
I looked down at the troll and thought I should probably warn her. “Look here, Bibi,” I said, amazed at how calm my voice was. On the inside, I was already beating the shit out of my husband’s ex. “I’m going in there and there’s probably going to be some bloodshed. I intend to make quite the impression on Gilliana. If this frightens you, then you should go back and wait with Albert. I’ll return as soon as Gilliana knows who the boss is.”
Bibi’s brown eyes lit with a happy bloodlust. “I do not mind blood, mistress. Well, so long as it is not my own.”
“See, you fit right in,” Neil noted. He would enjoy the fight as well.
“Then feel free to watch,” I said, hearing the coldness in my own voice. “Tell everyone what you see.”
I strode down the hallway and kicked the door open for maximum surprise. I walked into my husband’s bed chamber and sure enough it was pretty damn awesome. It was also empty.
“This is way better than our room.” Neil shook his head as he took in the enormous suite.
“Neil, focus.” We were in what could only be described as a sitting
room. This was where the prince would entertain friends. I needed to know where the prince would entertain special guests.
Neil took a deep whiff of the air and immediately pointed to a door on the far wall. I started toward it when Neil warned, “They’re in there, both of them. Z, you better hurry. He’s aroused.”
“Tell me something I don’t know, Neil.” I slowed down. I had an idea of what was likely happening behind that door, but I didn’t know what kind of magic she was using. I was running on adrenaline, and it suddenly occurred to me that I should have waited for Sarah.
“Baby, you look so good. You’re going to feel even better. Do you want what I have for you?” I heard Dev say in that voice that told me he was just about to start his happy dance.
Yeah, I wasn’t going to wait. That happy dance belonged to me. I opened the heavy door and made my way inside. Afternoon sunlight streamed in through the big windows. A massive bed dominated the room. Declan had told me Miria herself had ordered the bed as a peace offering to her son. The bed was a testament to decadence and came complete with sexy curtains to shield Daniel from the sun. They’d been drawn for privacy and there was no way Dev had done that himself. He didn’t give a crap about privacy. He’d screw me in the middle of a crowd if I let him.
“Give me a kiss,” Dev said, his voice low and sexy.
I pulled the curtains open with one strong tug of my hand. If she hit me with a magical fireball or some shit, at least I’d stop that freaking kiss.
The two people on the bed froze like an erotic tableau. Dev was naked, his lean muscular body on display. I got the best look at his backside. He had an amazing ass. He’d stopped in the act of climbing on top of someone who looked just freaking like me. I flashed back to earlier in the day when Mara had commented on how we would have to tame my hair. She’d complained about the waviness. I’d thought it was weird when she ran her hand across my hair, but now I knew why. They needed a strand of hair to make the spell work.