“Good. Krystin’s single and planning to be eaten by cats. Bella’s saving TikTok videos for divorce leverage. Daphne’s as nervous about tonight as I am.”
“You will be magnificent tonight.” He took my hand, lacing our fingers together. “You are always magnificent.”
“Now you’re just flattering me.”
“Is it working?”
It always did.
I squeezed his hand and started walking, pulling him toward our chambers. We had a banquet to prepare for, seventy werewolfroyals to impress, political alliances to navigate. But right now, with Mal’s hand warm in mine and honey footprints visible on the castle floors, everything felt manageable.
“Did you deal with the sugar crash?” I asked.
Mal’s expression said everything.
“That bad?”
“He threw a toy at Torin’s head, cried for twenty minutes, and then fell asleep in a potted plant.”
I stopped walking. “A potted plant?”
“In the hallway. I do not know how he got there. Torin found him curled around a fern.”
“A fern.”
“He was hugging it.”
I laughed so hard I had to lean against the wall. My life was insane, but I wouldn’t change a single thing.
2
— • —
Mal
Seven kingdoms in one room for the first time in decades. The potential for disaster was astronomical.
Also the potential for Killian to discover something else he should not. The honey was just this morning. What would he find by tonight? The wine cellar? The armory? My personal stash of Wen’s Earth chocolate that she thought was hidden?
I paced the length of my study, adjusting the weapons hidden in my formal clothes for the third time. Knife in my boot. Another at my hip, concealed by the ridiculous vest Wen had finally managed to button. A third strapped to my forearm under the sleeve. Paranoid? Maybe. But my mother was still alive after hundreds of years, which meant the paranoia she had taught me was well-earned.
“Stop pacing,” Aurion said from where he was sprawled in my chair, looking completely unhelpful. “You are making me anxious.”
“This gathering is unprecedented. Anything could happen.”
“Relax.” He waved his hand dismissively. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
I stopped pacing to stare at him. “War. Assassination. Killian discovering the wine cellar.”
“Only one of those is likely.”
“Exactly. The wine cellar is very accessible.”
“Which is why you have guards everywhere.”
“Not enough guards in the world to stop a determined four-year-old.”
Daphne, who was perched on the arm of the chair beside him, rolled her eyes at both of us. “Are you expecting trouble?”
