“One step closer to being crowned!” Lucas beams. “Now you just need to mate the rest of them.” Layla nudges him in the side, and he coughs. “Uh, I mean no pressure or anything,” he mutters, and Layla rolls her eyes, but it makes me smile. I hope we end up with an amazing relationship like theirs.
“No!” The cry has me turning my attention to Archie, who is seated between his parents. He scrambles in his chair, standing up on it, and waves a hand at me. I frown when I see it’s bandaged, but before I can say anything, he shouts, “You are going to be my sidepiece, remember? I got you a ring and everything!”
My mouth drops open in shock as he digs around in the pockets of the robe he’s wearing over his pajamas. He frowns and pulls out a box. “Ha! Here it is.”
He scrambles out of his chair and, avoiding both his mom’s and dad’s arms, he rushes toward me. I push my chair back and crouch down as he approaches me, worried about how upset he is. Tears stream down his face.
“Please, Colbie, please be my sidepiece. I love you more than he will.” He holds out the box, and I gasp in shock when I find it contains a huge ass ring, one with a diamond big enough to feed a small nation. Archie glares at Liam, his eyes shining brightly, and he bares his teeth and growls.
Liam smothers a grin, but my attention returns to the ring in his hand. “Wow, Archie, that’s…” I trail off, not sure how to even describe it.
“Archie, baby, where did you get that from?” Mia asks, staring at the ring in confusion. “I’m almost certain it’s from the royal vault.” She looks at Lucas and the other two queens for confirmation.
“You know, I think you might be right,” Lucas says, frowning, but then he shakes his head. “But no, that can’t be.”
“Say yes, Colbie,” Archie pleads, ignoring his grandparents, and I take the box from him and put it on the table before pulling him into my arms, hugging him tightly. He sags against me and inhales deeply.
“You smell so nice,” he mutters, and I rub a hand over his back, trying to calm him down.
“Archie, you will always be my first friend here in the castle, but Liam is my mate, and so are Gryff, Brodie, Hunter, Gem, and our new friend, Micah.” Archie pulls away and glares at the men around the table before his gaze stops on Micah, and his eyes widen.
“I know you. You’re on Dad’s team. You’re a fish man, and you have a big weapon.” He pushes away from me, hurries around to Micah’s chair, and climbs up into his lap. “You’re going to be my new best friend. Can I see your weapon? Is it really sharp?” Archie mimes stabbing things while I gape in surprise. Archie has completely forgotten me in his awe of his new friend.
“Wow, how does it feel to be replaced by Micah’s big weapon?” Gracelin sidles up to me, and we watch with amusement as Archie, completely distracted now, talks to Micah who just blinks, a little shell-shocked.
“Can’t say I wouldn’t mind seeing Micah’s big weapon either,” I mutter to her, and she giggles while Liam, who must have heard what I said, snorts with amusement.
“Getting greedy, are we?” he asks, pulling me down to sit next to him again.
“Archie, where did you get this ring?” Mia holds it in her hand, looking perplexed, unable to let go of the issue.
“Oh, Mr. Vallen told me I could have it if I helped him with a special task,” Archie tells us, and the table falls into a loaded silence. “There were lots of rings in the big room, and he let me pick which one I wanted. That one was so big and shiny.”
“What task did you help him with?” Lucas asks, standing up, his body tight with tension. Everyone else in the room instantly becomes on edge, and goosebumps erupt across my arms as my creature reacts in kind.
“Oh, he said if I was a very brave boy and let him cut my hand and put it on the lock and say the special words, the door would open, and we could see the treasure. He was right! It was just like magic, and I said the special words, and the door opened for me. Mr. Vallen says I’m very special, and not everyone can do what I did.” Archie’s chest puffs up with pride, but Lucas growls.
“That fucking bastard. How dare he use Archie to do his dirty work?”
“What’s going on?” I hear Violet whisper to Talon, who shrugs.
“I have no idea.”
“You think he got into the royal vault?” Bryson is also on his feet now, his hands clenched into fists. Gracelin hurries around to Archie and grabs his hand, pulling the bandage off it.
“I thought it was from playing pretend with Lucy,” she tells us, but when she holds up his hand, we see a large, slightly healed cut across his hand.
“It hurt, but I was brave and didn’t cry,” Archie says, tugging his hand away from his mother and crossing his arms defensively. “I was a hero. Mr. Vallen said so.”
Gracelin scoops Archie up, tears in her eyes. “Of course you were.”
“The royal vault is keyed to our bloodline. Only someone with our blood would have been able to get in,” Evie explains, looking sadly at Archie. “How dare he con a child into helping him break into the vault?”
“But Colbie is queen now. Surely it changed to her bloodline,” Gryffin argues.
“Not until she has been crowned.” Sable shakes her head. “But what could he have wanted from the vault? Unless he was helping himself to a bonus for years of service. It’s filled with highly valuable items, but all of them are recognizable as belonging to the crown.”
Something occurs to me, and I jump to my feet. “Didn’t you say the spell book that contains the spell for humans becoming shifters is in there?” I look at Lucas, and he pales and rushes from the dining room. I hurry after him, and I hear a lot of the others following as well.
