“Still, with everything you’re doing protecting me, putting yourself in a position to face the family who abandoned you, you don’t deserve to deal with that, too.” Eyes closed, he sighed deeply before pulling her hand to his lips and brushing a kiss across her knuckles.
“It’s not about deserving,” she murmured as she stared at their joined hands. “I appreciate the thought, though. And as much as you’d like it to, it’s never gonna change. You’re a prince, not a god.”
“That you know of,” he whispered conspiratorially with a wink and a giggle. Damn, but he just wanted to make her smile, and felt his whole body relax a bit as she returned his grin with one of her own. Leaning as he was into her space, the kiss was almost inevitable, like the polar attraction of magnets, so too were his lips drawn to hers. It was inevitable, this kiss, this first amongst many he hoped, with no secrets between them. The tiny whimper when he cupped her cheek damn near broke him, his inner wolf now fully in the driver’s seat. She tasted of wine and wanting, something dark and forbidden, something he knew he shouldn’t want and yet refused to give up.
Growling, he gathered her into his lap as she reached for him, twining her arms around his shoulders. It was difficult to reconcile her delicate softness with the razor-sharp focused intensity he normally associated with her, but the way she melted into him… in that moment he’s king of the world. The citrusy scent of her perfume filled his head as her sighs filled his ears. This was better than the kiss at the luncheon because they were alone, and he could take his time to sample each and every moan that fell from her lips.
Cora’s great heaving breath as she pulled back from his kiss made him smile. Finn’s addiction to her kisses was quite plain and clearly reciprocated. “You’re dangerous,” she exhaled softly, her voice rough velvet against his ears.
“Me? How so?” he teased as he brushed her nose with his.
“You…” She sighed, the slight curl to her lips taking on a sad cast. “You make me forget… make me wish—” A loud banging on the bedroom door cut into her thoughts and startled them apart. They had but a moment before Vasily would come bursting in, mad as a boiled hornet.
“What do you wish?” Finn inquired as he dabbed her lipstick from his mouth and straightened his clothes. He understood whatever she asked for, he would give her, without question, whether she knew it or not.
“Oh good, you’re both together,” the Night Watch Commander began as he stormed through the door clutching paper copies of the test results she’d sent him. “Saves on the yelling.”
“So?” the prince prompted her again.
Sighing, Cora filled her wine glass and moved from the table to the couch, preparing for what would surely be a lengthy brow-beating by his best friend. “I sometimes wish things were different.”
Chapter Eleven
VASILY
“I’m going to assume,” he hissed as he stalked over to where Cora sat with her legs crossed and holding her wine glass, “since you somehow managed to go to fucking Salem, without any of the Day Watch Guards being aware, you knew you were in the wrong.” He stared at her, with her Giaconde smile and her arms crossed as she held her glass, “You appreciate why that’s not fucking okay, right? Why that’s not kosher? Do you—” he turned to face Finn who was methodically working through the last pieces of his steak, “do you have any idea how many treaties you two violated in your little jaunt? Hell, it’s practically the prelude to an International Incident, capital I’s on both.”
The judgmental curl to Cora’s lips as she sipped her drink incensed him. “You think this is funny? Am I a fucking joke to you?”
“You don’t want an answer to that,” she offered blandly as she moved to stretch out in the corner of the sofa, and he was struck, again, with the urge to cheerfully strangle her.
“You know what—”
“Vasi,” Finn barked, startling him into silence. “Have a seat before you have a stroke, damn.”
“This? Right here?” She gestured with her wine glass in his general direction. “This is exactly why we didn’t tell you.”
“I swear on my mother’s wings...” Seeing that neither of them was taking him seriously, he took a seat on the far end of the sofa from her. “Overlooking that—”
“Oh, and I plan to,” she assured him.
“Overlooking that,” he sneered as he shooed her away focusing instead on his best friend, “How do you think this goes if something happens to you, Goddess forbid? In a witch town? Really?”
“It was fine. Everyone lived. It was a day trip.”
Cora’s dismissal of his concerns was both relentless and fucking annoying, so he continued appealing to what he hoped was left of Finn’s better sense. “You are the Lupine prince, and you don’t get to just go tromping into the territory of the True Coven without fucking announcing yourself prior. You wanna get cursed? Because that’s a damn easy way to make that happen.”
“We’ve been at peace with them since the Seven Years War,” she asserted, sounding bored with the whole proceeding as she folded her legs daintily off the side of the couch. “It was a quick in and out and nothing was harmed.”
“That you know of.” Vasi turned to face her, over her shit and beyond too through. “Goddammit Cora, he’s not a soldier or a spy and you can’t treat him like one. He’s not even a regular civilian. There are rules in place for a reason. Now, I know he won’t tell you otherwise, because he’s always one to overlook his own interests in favor of everyone else’s, but if you’re serving the crown, his interests are paramount. You cannot forget that.”
“I’m sitting right here,” Finn reminded them, but clearly that was as little of a concern to her as it was to Vasi in that moment.
“His interests are my only priority,” she snarled, leaning forward to face him. “Part of that is finding out who wants to kill him and taking care of that, but believe me when I say, I would not be here if I wasn’t going to look after his interests.” Draining her wine glass, she set it on the floor by her bare foot. Only a fool would think she looked relaxed and disarming, regardless of the front she put on.
Sensing he needed a different approach, Vasily held up a conciliatory hand. “And I appreciate that. We’re on the same side,” as much as it pained him to admit. “This investigation has been tough on everyone, and I just need you to be more careful in the future. And no more kidnappings. Please.” It was as close to a moratorium as they were going to get tonight.
“It hardly constituted a kidnapping. I didn’t even use a hood,” she muttered under her breath, jaw still clenched. The stare down lasted a few moments longer, then she crossed her arms and pouted, but nodded once. “Fine.”
“Fine.” He could do without her snotty tone, but at least she wasn’t arguing anymore. “How’s your investigation going? Have your people turned up anything useful?”
“Not yet,” Cora growled softly. “You know, for as dirtbag as we know him to be, he’s exceptionally good at covering his tracks. People who have knowledge and might talk are terrified of him, and people who actually might talk have an alarming habit of going ‘missing’. All the usual suspects are accounted for, and miraculously, no one has seen or heard anything. Nary a knocked up or knocked down barmaid to be found. It’s weird.”
As much as he wanted to know more about her definition of ‘usual suspects’, Vasi kept that question to himself. “Maybe it’s not him,” he offered, though just to goad her a little. He wasn’t innocent enough to have hope.
“Oh, it’s him.” She nodded gravely. “At this point, I don’t see how it could be anyone but.”
“Alright, so say it is him. What then? You get proof and then what, force him to abdicate? Blackmail?”
“Forced abdication, yes, but not because of blackmail, but because of exposure. All his dirty dealings brought to the light. And the Guard, but definitely public first. The kingdom deserves a trustworthy monarch, and neither of those words apply to the crown prince.”
&nb
sp; “That would kill him,” Finn observed from the table, and surprisingly enough did not sound all that put out by the thought.
Cora shook her head. “No, it will keep him alive. There are very few acceptable outcomes for this that leave him alive.”
Color him shocked that she drew the line at regicide. “You think your employer makes such distinctions?”
For the first time, he saw her look unsure, maybe even uncomfortable. That did not bode well. “Honestly, I doubt it. All I know is, absent a physical threat, I do.”
Okay, he could appreciate that. She wasn’t entirely amoral, just mercenary. He could work with that. “So, what are you prepared to do if this doesn’t work?”
“Like a nuclear option?” Her phrasing had Finn sitting up and playing close attention to the conversation now.
Vasi winced. “I wouldn’t call it that, but yeah.”
“So what would you call it?” she asked suspiciously.
* * *
CORA
“Knocked up.”
“I-I’m sorry?” she sputtered. One sentence and the little bit of dinner she’d eaten wanted to come back up. It took several deep breaths to regain both her composure and her control over her gag reflex. “Not this soon, no.”
The Night Watch Commander closed his eyes and braced himself like he’d been struck, and she couldn’t stifle her vicious little snicker. “Brain bleach,” he murmured, then shook his head. “Okay, so real talk. Line of succession, that’s what you think the motive is, right? Keeping Finn from threatening Brendan’s place on the throne?”
“I do.”
“Then we need to test that theory.”
“By getting pregnant.”
“By faking a pregnancy,” the owl corrected, smoothing his bangs out of his face.
“I’m not following.”
“Okay, so Brendan is the presumptive heir, the crown prince. But he’s unmarried and has no girlfriend, no heirs. What if, and just go with me on this, you come up pregnant before he ascends to the throne?”
“I fail to see how providing an heir to the spare, no offence,” she looked to Finn as sincerely as possible. They’d come too far for a flippant turn of phrase to screw them over now.
His lips twitched even as his eyes crinkled at the edges. Gods but she was gone over him. “None taken.”
“I fail to see how having Finn’s child is going to affect anything.”
“The King is the second born.”
She felt her whole face pucker in confusion. “Wait, I thought that was just because of outdated, chauvinistic rules.”
“No, surprisingly. Lady Gwen, Duchess of Wolfingham is the older sibling but Finn’s father was the one quicker on the draw, child-wise, before the abdication. Brendan is the whole reason we have a King and not a Queen. The one with the child jumps the line of succession since the crown prince’s job, aside from seeing to the welfare of all of Therantia, is to ensure the continuance of the line.”
“Even though the child won’t be fully Lupine?”
Vasi shook his head. “I’d have to do more research, but I’m pretty sure. You should be in the clear.”
“Oh damn,” she breathed as she got the lay of the land. “We… tell the king I’m pregnant. Tell the world I’m pregnant. All to force their hand.” Even as she said it, her mind went to planning and logistics, judging the feasibility and workability of his idea.
Vasi nodded. “Pretty much.”
Just thinking about it had the air smelling like copper with every inhale and she hoped to the gods she did not pop a nosebleed right then, or more awkwardly, a beak. Closing her eyes, she focused on pulling back her raging heartbeat and calming her breathing so she could think.
If Brendan thought she was knocked up, he’d think she was vulnerable. He’d be confined because of the media frenzy, but he’d be on a clock, too. This was Venus Flytrap levels of aggression on her part, lure and hopefully demolish.
“Okay.” She walked over to stand by Finn so they could present a united front. “Say I do this, then what?” His lips twitched as she tossed his words right back to him.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, say I get knocked up by Finn—” The man in question began choking on air. “Hypothetically,” she emphasized while rubbing a circle on his back. “How does this work? We have a quickie marriage? We have a full royal to-do and then I miscarry, and we get divorced? But it won’t matter because you’ll be on the throne? What does success look like here?”
“It won’t get to that. This is just a stall—”
“That’s a helluva thing to call my sex life!” Cora snorted at Finn’s mortified squawk but watched his best friend intently.
“This is just a stall,” Vasi repeated through gritted teeth, “while we draw out who wants to kill Finn. If it’s Brendan, then this is problem solved.”
“And if it isn’t?”
“You’re doubting yourself now?” He smirked, but it wasn’t nearly as antagonistic as it had been in the past.
“No, but there’s no harm in having contingency plans and in this case lots of them.”
“If Brendan is innocent…” Vasi stared out into the middle distance as he trailed off, jaw clenching and unclenching as he thought about it. Finally, he said, “If he’s innocent, then the culprit will be caught, you’ll be on the throne, Cora will be queen, and we will work the rest out from there. Best case scenario.”
There were holes in Vasi’s thinking, she knew. Assumptions that Brendan would take Finn’s usurpation of the throne in stride. Like this wouldn’t cause a war that hadn’t been seen since the Yorks and Lancasters or worse, the ongoing skirmish between the Winter and Summer Courts of the Fae. Of course, there was always another option, an extinction-level option as it were, but she didn’t want to bring it up until she had to. She could and would protect herself and Finn if she had to, by whatever means available. “Alright.”
A warm hand in hers pulled her from her musings as Finn stood in front of her, blue eyes full of sincerity and affection. “You don’t have to do this.”
“There are many worse fates in this world than being your consort,” she replied softly, petting his hand with her thumb, and meaning every single word. “This’ll force their hand in a major way. The blowback will be immense, but they won’t be able to hide, and they will have to act quickly.”
“I’m sure whatever you’re being paid, it doesn’t cover this.” He spoke in the direction of their toes as he seemed focused on their joined hands.
Tilting his chin up, she gazed at him, hoping to impart some of the growing confidence she felt in the situation. Unorthodox, yes, but this was exactly the kind of job at which she excelled. “I’m paid to keep you safe, however that looks.”
“What we’re proposing is treason.”
“Only if we get caught.” She couldn’t resist her cheeky grin at his dire expression. “Eh, at best, it’s fraud.”
Brows drawn down in a scowl, he captured her hand in both of his to keep her still. “The punishment for which, in this case, would very likely involve a quick drop and a sudden stop.”
Cora favored Finn with a fond smile as she cupped his bearded cheek in her hand. “I’m aware of the stakes, and I’m gonna do it anyway.”
“I can’t—won’t ask you to do this for me.” His tone was nothing short of pleading, that he backed up with some luminously blue weapons’ grade puppy-dog eyes.
“I appreciate that, but I need you to understand something.” Her eyes fell to his lips, like they often did, and it was hard not to imagine sampling them right then, especially as he worried over them with his tongue and teeth. There was nothing in the world she wanted more in that moment than to comfort him and ease his mind. “I wouldn’t do this for anyone else.”
Chapter Twelve
VASI
Maybe it was what she said. Maybe it was the way she said it. Maybe it was the way he looked at her like she was first ray of warm sunshine after a long, c
old winter. Regardless, Vasi suddenly felt like he was intruding on something extremely intimate. They startled apart when he cleared his throat, and he was grateful for the reprieve.
“The first thing we need is a doctor willing to sign off on this charade.” He looked directly at Cora, who smirked as she poured her coffee.
“Doctor is handled. What’s next?”
“Need to inform the king.”
“Privately and with his advisors,” Finn supplied. “Preferably before the next full moon.”
“And you’ll need to pass more than just a blood test, but a scent test, too. A room full of wolves will be difficult to fool.”
Her confident grin was reassuring as she twisted her hair up into a bun and secured it with a sharpened, silver chopstick she produced from who the hell knew where. “Don’t worry about me. Let’s walk through the political fallout, physical stuff will be handled on my end.”
The mood lightened considerably as they hammered out the finer points of the drastic contingency plan. None of them expected it to get that far, but it was a good play to have just in case. That was the kind of thing that almost always ensured it would not be needed.
Turning back to Finn, he sighed. “I read the email. You doin’ alright?”
“Much as I can be.” Nodding in Cora’s direction with a puckish grin, he added, “She promised I’d glow in the dark, so I’m sorely disappointed on that score.”
She rolled her eyes. “Bitch, bitch, bitch. You got to keep both your kidneys, damn. I don’t know what more you want.”
Vasi looked between them, staunchly ignoring the blood-pressure-related twitch in his eyelid. Leaving these two alone together had clearly been a terrible idea. Temples suddenly aching, he asked, “Were you dropped on your head as a chick? Is that what your problem is? Just kicked out of the nest and landed on what passes for your brain?”
“Is he always this grouchy, or is this just a reaction to me?”
“Duceţi-va dracului, to both of you assholes.” He was on his feet, unable to decide if he was going to punch Finn for being so goddamn cavalier about his safety or take a shot at Cora and see who bled out on the Persian rug first. He was saved, though, by his phone buzzing in his pocket and a message that he was needed at the Guard house regarding some unaccounted-for staff members. “I have neither the time, not the inclination to fight with you two right now. I’ll be back in the morning and hopefully by then we can have an actual conversation that doesn’t sound like you’ve been marinating in pinot.”
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