Birth mother,Luna corrected silently.
“Huh?!” Corey’s jaw hung open, her eyes wide. “I mean . . .” With a forceful cough, Corey corrected her face to a neutral expression. “I didn’t know.” She shoved Damien over with a hip check, stealing his stool. He stumbled to his feet but didn’t move to reclaim it. Taking this victory, Corey smiled and turned her attention back to Luna. “It’s just a surprise that someone so lovely could come from someone so . . . not.”
Luna rolled her eyes. Another comment on her appearance, one she’d rather not receive; she wasn’t pretty anymore.
Corey’s voice changed to a tender, sweet tone, like she was talking to a small child and didn’t want to spook her. “Nina is quite powerful. She’s going to be just fine.”
Luna tried to muster a smile, but her lips failed to move.
A loud ringing echoed through the room, saving Luna from replying.
“Oh! That’s the timer. Damien”—Corey called over to him as if he wasn’t standing three feet away—“be a dear and grab those treats out of the oven.”
With his hands crossed over his chest, he scolded Corey, “You know, I’m still technically a prince, I should be the one ordering you around.” His voice was light, speaking in a teasing manner.
Corey’s horse-like ears flattened to her skull and she gave him a vicious, lopsided smile as she said, “Try it. I dare you.”
Laughing, he obediently went to the oven.
“Yeah, I didn’t think so,” Corey said rather smugly. “Just place them over on the counter,Little Prince.”
The oven door creaked open as Damien called out, “Order me around all you want, but nothing about me is little.”
Well, he’s not wrong about that.
A cocky little smirk played on his lips when he returned with a plate of cookies. “See.” He lifted the plate into the air, causing the sleeve of his shirt to stretch tightly against the bulging muscles beneath, proving his point.
Corey threw back her head. “Ha! Big strong man can use his magic to hold cookies in the air. Please tell me how you managed such a feat.”
He placed the plate on the low black table between the couches and sank into one of them. “It took a lot of training, but I endured.”
Luna settled beside him, the cushion barely dipping beneath her weight.
Across from them, Corey dropped into the oversized armchair like she owned the room and swiped the biggest cookie off the plate. “When one has little talent,” she said, taking a bite, “they have to work twice as hard. Right, Damien?”
“You’re just jealous my horn is bigger than yours,” Damien said as he passed a plate of cookies to Luna.
“Size has nothing to do with ability,” Corey huffed. “I could kick your ass and you know it. Hold up. What’s that?” Her hand snapped out, knocking the plate out of Damien’s hand before Luna could grab it.
The porcelain shattered across the floor. “What the—” The words lodged in Luna’s throat as Corey grabbed her hand, eyes fixed on her fingers.
Dread coiled in her belly, heat flaming her cheeks. Her nail beds were exposed, marred with dried white-light blood, the scabs cracked and raw. She curled her fingers into her palm, pulling her hand into her lap. A pointless movement since Corey had clearly seen them.
A guttural snarl erupted from Corey, sending shivers down Luna’s spine. She hadn’t known a person could produce such a noise.
“You’re going to tell me who did this.” Corey’s demand sliced through the tense silence, her gaze boring into Damien with murderous intensity.
“It’s nothing,” Luna tried to explain, sinking deeper into the couch.
“It’s not nothing,” Corey spat, surging to her hooves with enough force the massive chair shifted backwards a bit. For a second, Luna thought she might march back to Ghelvina and start a full-on war. “Someone just added themselves to my list,” Corey growled. “And trust me, that’s not a list you want to be on.”
Damien leaned back, his hands folded behind his head. “Settle down, Corey. It’s all been taken care of.”
Her chest heaved, anger visibly pulsing through her. “It better have been a bloodbath.”
“It was,” Damien said matter-of-factly. Rolling his neck, his gaze found Luna’s as he added, “She took every single one of them out.” Was that pride in his voice?
Instantly, Corey’s storm of anger dissipated like mist under the morning sun. “Did you now?” she cooed, eyes glittering as she returned to her seat. “Tell me everything—and don’t you skip a single detail, sweet cheeks.”
