Last week, Moira had shown me a Joy Springs gossip blog where speculation about me and the Shifter Lord ran rampant. They even had a wedding countdown clock.
Caelan asked me if I wanted him to have the writer take it down, but I declined. If we gave it any attention, people would double down and make it worse. I was all about ignoring my problems in hopes they’d go away. One thing we hadn’t done was show off as a couple in town. To my surprise, Caelan was completely content to hang out at my house or the Keep, though I suspected he might like my place better.
Less demands on his time. Every once in a while, he’d smuggle Fee and Poe in, letting the raven and phoenix explore the territory to see if there was anything new to check out since the last time they’d been, though they had to keep relatively low to the canopy to avoid detection.
Fee was almost fully grown, in bird years at least. She glowed with a ferocious power that made her difficult to look at head on, though she dimmed her natural fiery glow when she wanted to be stroked.
Barrett grinned at my discomfited look. “All I want is for you to be more involved in diplomatic relations for our kind.”
I blinked. “That’s worse than marriage,” I blurted. “Are you insane?”
“Not at all. It’s time for our people to have a seat at the table.”
I stared at him like he’d grown a second and third head. “Do you want me to die?”
He chuckled. “No one is going to die, Miss Quinn. Chimeras are far too powerful to die easily.”
“Says you,” I muttered. I’d almost died a few times since the Chimeras had come into Joy Springs. “We’re the stuff of nightmares. Others use us as their bogeymen in bedtime stories.”
Barrett’s easy smile made me nervous. “Perhaps. But you know how we fix it?”
Moira had wandered over from the worktable and perched on the edge of the couch beside me. “If you say public relations,” she drawled, “I’m going to punch you right in your pretty mouth.”
A flash of teeth. “Feisty,” Barrett murmured, his eyes heating as he stared at my friend.
Oh boy. Soren, the Shifter Lord currently sniffing around Moira, was going to love this development.
And I knew he’d blame me for this development.
“It’s true,” Barrett said after looking away from Moira. “Good PR can turn the devil into a saint.”
Moira scoffed. “What about you?” She waved her hand in his direction. “You’ve got the look. Tall. Blond hair, blue eyes, sharp jaw. Television would love you.”
“I’m a stranger to everyone here. Evie is well known.”
I snorted. “Not really. Evie keeps her head down and tries to stay under the radar.”
Moira patted me on the shoulder. “Tries is the right word.”
“Shut it,” I said under my breath.
“Everyone in this town knows you’re dating the local Shifter Lord.”
I shook my head. “No. They suspect. That’s not the same as us popping downtown for dinner.”
Barrett pierced me with his bright gaze. “Then why don’t you?”
“She’s shy,” Moira said.
I sighed. “I’m not interested in being the face of anything, much less the Chimera awakening or whatever it is you’re trying to do with your people.”
“Our people,” Barrett said. “And just because you don’t want to doesn’t mean it isn’t necessary. We’ve been in the shadows for far too long. It’s time we get a seat at the table.”
It finally clicked. “You want to take power from the Lords.”
Moira sucked air through her teeth.
“No,” Barrett said immediately. “I’m not interested in taking power away from anyone. A single Chimera can devastate a city. We are our own power.”
