All civility left Chester’s features. His lips thinned.
My grin only grew, fangs showing blatantly.
Lord Belshazzar moved quickly, trotting down the stairs, and drawing Chester’s attention to himself. “Well, enough of the pleasantries. We have work to do.”
Chester’s crystal blue eyes flicked up at me, then back to the Overlord walking toward him. His tone was droll, as he muttered, “Yes, it was so delightful. We should get to work before your new queen decides she dislikes me even more.” He even tilted toward Lord Belshazzar when he stopped next to him like they were still best companions, and whispered, “What the fuck did I do to her? Have I killed someone she knows or some shit?”
Lord Belshazzar shook his head and placed his hand on our prisoner’s shoulder. “I’m sure it’s nothing. Let’s focus on what needs to be done, and you’ll be free to leave then.”
I stared at where my lover was touching him.
Did he really need to do that? I mean, come on.
Lord Otto placed his hand at the small of my back and started herding—gently shoving—me down the stairs so the rest of them could move down the stairs, too.
I didn’t want to go anywhere near Chester.
I might kill him. And that wouldn’t help right now.
Maybe later?Hmm.
Yes, maybe later. Then I might kill him.
We followed the procession of Lord Belshazzar, Chester, and vampire guards. My father swiftly maneuvered himself to stand by my side, cast a reprimanding glance in my direction, and looped his arm through mine—as if to keep me from doing anything else he deemed reckless.
I sniffed and looked forward.
We stopped inside a lone cavern room. The shape was flawlessly circular, crafted with care. The space was completely bare except for the many lights hanging from the black rock ceiling and the pile of ingredients in the center of the room.
Lord Belshazzar and Chester strolled to the pile of goods while the rest of the Royals fanned out against the walls in a ring around them. The guards left the room as silently as they had entered. My father still didn’t leave my side, his grip hard on my arm. The two spell-casters walked around the ingredients, inspecting them.
Chester stopped at ‘the head.’ His lips twitched, and he grumbled, “Lord Cato didn’t mention this was who I’d be working on. Surprise, surprise.”
“Will it be a problem?” Lord Belshazzar probed and squatted next to the feathers. He lifted one and examined it. “Dead is dead, right?”
“No, not a problem. I’m just happy…” His lips curved up into a smile that made him appear even more innocent. “Actually, I’m fucking thrilled that jackass is dead.”
“I thought you might be.” Lord Belshazzar lowered the feather back to the ground and straightened to tower over our prisoner. “Will you behave if I release you?”
His red eyebrows lifted. “Does it matter? No matter what, you’ll need to remove the spelled chains for the spell to work correctly.”
Chilling, ice blue eyes drilled into his gaze. “You will behave, Chester. If you try any shit, I won’t be happy with you.”
“Good God. I get it. I get it. Don’t hurt any of your precious people. Blah, blah, blah.” He lifted his hands between them. “Just remove the freaking chains and quit giving me your scary look. You know it doesn’t work on me, anyway.”
Lord Belshazzar ground his teeth together. “Behave, Chester. I mean it.”
My vampire Overlord lifted a spelled key from his pocket and jammed it into the lock at our prisoner’s wrists, twisting the key. Both sets of chains, at his wrists and ankles, magically unlatched and dropped to the floor. Lord Belshazzar kicked them away from their ingredients and tossed the key away too.
Chester rubbed at his wrists and wiggled his legs a little in place. “I hate those fucking things.”
Lord Belshazzar snorted. “Maybe you shouldn’t have killed two guards when they simply asked you what you wanted for dinner.”
Chester’s freckled nose crinkled. “It was thewaythey asked it. It wasn’t very kind.” His brows furrowed. “Speaking of that…”
Our prisoner suddenlydisappeared.
I sucked in a sharp breath. Goddamn druid shit!
