“Didn’t mean to crash the party,” Aultyr noted, in a tone that lacked apology.
Talia, diminutive and unimpressed by the wall of barghest and lurking cu-sith, studied first the pair, then the breakfast table.“Do you guys like waffles?”
The corner of Aultyr’s mouth kicked up.Just a little.“Yeah.”
“Then you can stay.They’rebuttermilk,” she said, in tones one might use saying ‘yes, they’re real diamonds.’All triumphant pride, dimples on her cheeks when she swung that gaze to Declan and Antonio.“That’s not just butter and milk.It’s its own thing.”
“You could teach my niece Mara a thing or two.She burns juice,” Antonio said, moving to sit and taking Declan with him.
Talia preened at the compliment.That, and Aultyr unhesitatingly starting to fill his plate, brought the conversation firmly to breakfast.To makingbuttermilk, of all things, once they settled in to eat.
“Used to be a couple different kinds.Butter and milk was one.”Aultyr only looked bigger outside of Faerie, especially holding human-sized silverware with Talia watching him in anticipation.A tiny, hoodied flower in the shadow of a mountain.“When it got made at home.”
“You’ve made it?With a butter churn and everything and you milked the cow yourself?”Talia asked.“I bet you had to wear a hat to keep the sun from your eyes.”
Harke snickered into his coffee.He’d settled himself a good step away from the table, out of arm’s reach of anyone.Sociable sort.Aultyr ignored him.
“Made it, yeah.Old glass jar with some paddles inside,” the barghest replied.“Amma kept it on the table.”
Declan focused on his food, on the press of Antonio’s leg to his, radiating warmth and surety.Solid, the way they were, together, even when thrown into a surreal world where a tracker-mercenary changeling and fledgling Gate talked about bloodybuttermilk.
“Maybe we give them the news before you start talkingLittle House on the Prairie.”Harke’s voice rang with the metallic hum of a blade unsheathed, for all he spoke quietly."Unless they’d rather have your aunty’s dahi recipe.”
“Can have both.”Aultyr glanced at Everil, studying him a moment.“Got the name of who put out the hit.”
“This would be more exciting if you had a twin brother, Declan,” Talia complained before either could continue.“Or a child raised in secret to defeat you.”She sighed, resting her chin in her hand.“Instead it’s going to be someone you accidentally insulted at a party.”
“Nonsense.”Everil’s voice was cool, and he shifted toward Bo under Aultyr’s regard.“Declan would neveraccidentallyinsult someone.”
Aultyr might’ve smiled, or might have just been his face when he ate.Declan didn’t have it in him to think on it too hard, not with Aultyr turning to Talia, eyeing the girl with the same level study he’d shown Everil.
“Settle for the spurned former bond of his longtime companion?”Aultyr asked, sounding as curious as a rock could.“One newly bonded and seated on the Council, with a noted disdain for humanity.Can spin it however you want.”
Declan heard them from a distance.The world went quiet and narrow as those words fit together, knitting themselves into something he ought to have guessed from the first.What he ought to haveexpected.
BloodyNimai.
Bo sucked in a sharp breath, pressing against Everil’s side.Declan forced himself to look to his friend, concern for Everil overriding his own ringing disbelief and self-deprecation for that disbelief.
“That’s bullshit,” Bo snapped.“The fuck kind of rich bitch did he hook up with, to go around offering an allotment to kill his ex’s best friend?”
“It wouldn’t be Kylan,” Everil said, soft and thin.“But it wouldn’t need to be.Nimai has powerful friends.”He looked to Declan, expression bleak.“Forgive me, Declan, but many of them would mislike you achieving a Council seat.”
“Wait,” Antonio said, all ferocity and confusion.“I’m losing the plot.Is this politics or a stalker ex thing?”
“It’s a vindictive piece of shit thing.”Bo took Everil’s hand, their fingers lacing together tenderly despite the thundercloud writ across his face.
Declan looked away, once Bo had Everil in hand.He found solace in his own bond, Antonio and his bright feelings.His anchor.Everything but Antonio felt distant.
“The animosity you witnessed between Nimai and myself wasn’t new.I’ve done nothing to dissuade his hatred in recent years.I made a point to tell him of Everil’s new bond before his most prestigious friends and used connections to be placed as a judge for their trials.Threatened him, in front of Calloway and a fellow Council member, for treating you rudely.”He tried to smile.He failed, but the attempt was made.“So, yes to all three.”
“And he’s a prick,” added Bo, still sharp.“All that aside, he’d get a bug up his butt because you’re human and Declan’s unseelie.Besmirching the Council seat with your ass or something.”
Always so charming.
“No word who’s paying.”Waffle gone, Aultyr turned to the fruit.“Not safe to admit to.”
“Not until it’s done, anyway,” Harke growled, the metal absent.Back again, nails and iron, when next he spoke.“Sparkly fucking cowards.”
