The Overlord in question started pacing again.
“You want to move up the trip to Cape Argent, don’t you?” I queried. “That makes sense.”
No vampires could even enter the stronghold without an invitation from Master Niallan. The Original druid amulet wouldn’t allow it thanks to a spell he put on it years ago.
Lord Otto shrugged his shoulders. “It’s only a day early, but it would work to keep him safe.”
“Master Niallan won’t like the change of plans,” Lord Belshazzar mumbled, still working on his phone, his gaze on his screen. “So my vote is for it.”
Lord Xenon snorted. “Who’s going to tell him the news?”
I blinked. “Harmony will.”
“What?” she hissed.
I held her gaze, unflinching in my intensity. “Call it your punishment, instead of me firing you on your first day. If you had contacted us as soon as you knew about Athena’s plans, this situation could have been averted. I know you’re used to working on your own, but you fucked up. You need to know when you’re beaten and when to call in reinforcements.”
Harmony’s eyes were large behind her glasses.
“Do you understand?” I asked patiently.
The killer-spy nodded her head. Stunned.
I pointed a finger at my door. “You can go. Take care of business with Master Niallan. I’ll send you a scan of my notes as soon as I’m done with them.”
Harmony left much quieter than she’d arrived.
Absently, Lord Pippin muttered, “You handled that well.” His feet kept moving as he paced and stared down at his shoes. Though, he detoured and sat down on my desk, his back to everyone else. His troubled brown eyes captured mine. He rumbled, “This is a damn mess.”
I patted his knee. “You obviously knew what you were getting yourself into.” I wiggled my fingers at him. “Black Widow and all.”
Lord Pippin snorted. “Yeah. Yeah, I did know what I was getting in to.” He ran his fingers through his red hair. “Didn’t stop me though, did it?”
“You didn’t stand a chance.” I waved a hand up and down my body, fluttering my lashes at him like a minx. “No one can resist my charm.”
His lips trembled. “You forget I’ve seen you knee deep in shit before. You reeked for a week.”
I laughed outright, my amusement booming inside the room. “Oh, my god! I’d forgotten about that. That wanderer can come into town—”
“Are you two positive you’re not starting your relationship back up?” Lord Xenon cut me off, his voice raised. I peeked around Lord Pippin’s body to look at our questioner. His black eyes didn’t blink. “This is something we need to know.”
“No, we aren’t,” I stated immediately.
“She’s correct. We aren’t,” Lord Pippen remarked, still keeping his back to their group. His brown eyes lowered to mine, and he spoke softly, “But we’ll eventually be friends again. It’ll take time.”
I stared, my smile small. “Yes, it will.”
Lord Belshazzar flicked a finger between the two of us, his eyes still on his screen. “You two should probably cut that shit out then. It could be construed as flirting. If you do that in front of the media, they’ll eat you alive, and the press conference will be for nothing.”
I scratched my nose. “All right.”
Lord Belshazzar’s ice blue eyes peeked up from his phone, hard and cold. He lifted a black brow. He tossed his gaze to the Overlord’s back, then back at me. “Practice makes perfect.”
My eyelashes hooded my gaze. I spoke sweetly, “Of course, my lord.” I turned my attention away from him and placed my hand on Lord Pippin’s knee again. “Go on and sit in your chair. Or keep pacing. I think we’re done walking down memory lane right now.”
The Overlordwasupset.
He was just an expert at hiding it.
