Lord Xenon threw his hands up into the air, cutting off my righteous tirade. “Enough. Just…enough.”
Lord Otto snorted, sneering right at me. “Actually, let’s allow them to continue. We should all hear about the great chicken debacle while our people are going crazy believing their new Queen was crowned because she spread her legs for our resident ginger playboy.”
My mouth snapped shut. Asshole.
Harmony snickered softly, utterly tickled.
I cast a glance at her. She shut up.
Lord Pippin stiffened. “I really don’t appreciate the way you’re talking about us. Our relationship was not like that. We’ve already said as much.”
“This is going to be a PR nightmare and undermine the Queen’s authority until it’s handled—if we can even handle it,” Lord Otto shot back. “And really, do you expect me to believe you, of all people, were actually committed to someone? You’d fuck any hole if it were lubricated properly.”
My eyebrows snapped together. “You. Are. An. Asshole.”
Lord Pippin charged him, his fangs bared.
Lord Xenon slid between them, pressing his hands against Lord Pippin’s chest and shoving him back. “Not the time. Control yourself.”
I picked up a book on my desk and chucked it right at the back of Lord Otto’s head. Lord Pippin might be detained but I sure as hell wasn’t. The projectile smacked Lord Otto’s head with a satisfyingthump.
The room went mute.
Oh. Oh…
Shit.
I had struck an Overlord.
It might not have been exactly legal.
Lord Otto deliberately swiveled around and bent at the knees, picking up my book from the floor. He straightened and lifted the volume in front of his face. He grunted. “It’s a lot heavier than it looks.”
The Overlord tossed it onto my desk.
I stared down at it and cleared my throat. I pushed the book back into place where it had been. “I think we need to focus.”
With a smirk gracing his lips, Lord Otto questioned, “And not throw shit like a child?”
I cleared my throat again. “Yes, that too.”
He snorted. “Apology accepted, your majesty.”
Lord Belshazzar typed on his phone, yawning as he spoke. “I’m scheduling a press conference for tonight. We’ll all need to be there backing the two ex-love bunnies, but Lord Pippin and the Queen need to speak on the facts. We want to face this head on before it gets out of control.”
“Good plan,” Lord Cato stated.
“Harmony, you need to draft a speech for me,” I stated, already pulling out a piece of paper and a pencil. “I’ll give you the details of where we lived and how long we were together.”
“And why you two ended things,” she added quietly, keeping her tone respectful, yet kind. “The press will want to know that too.”
My lips thinned, but I nodded. I tossed her my phone, muttering, “Put your contact info in there. I have other assignments I want to give you.”
She nodded, doing as I’d ordered.
I started writing the pertinent facts down.
Lord Otto coughed loudly, gaining everyone’s attention. “I know I’m the dick of the group, but I’d like to keep everyone alive. The Queenisknown as the Black Widow, and, if whoever is killing off her ex-lovers doesn’t handle this news well, it would be better to be in a location where they can’t immediately reach Lord Pippin.”
