King Athon lowered his bloody claws, uncaring that blood dripped off them onto his bed. He grunted quietly, glaring at the gremlin’s dead eyes. “Holy Fairy, he was a fucking idiot.”
I eyed the decapitated body on the bed. “Is he starting to sparkle? Does that mean he’s still alive?”
“No, they do that.” King Athon shoved off his bed, and his claws disappeared. “I need to inform the other rulers what Bortia said, and you need to leave. Why did you spend the night, anyway? You knew that was unwise.”
My eyes bulged. I barked in amazement, “Because you bloody well fucked me all night long!”
“I suppose I did.” King Athon grunted and scanned the floor, horribly naked in the center of his room. He rumbled sternly, “Where did you throw my crown?”
“Probably over the balcony if you can’t find it down there,” I groused,fallingout of his bed. I landed hard on my ass, jarring my spine up to my skull. “Ow! Get a Fae damned stool for this bed, shifter! Dammit.”
“Learn to land better.” The King of Shifters stood on the balcony, bending far over the edge and peering down. His rounded, muscled butt was high in the air. He snarled over his shoulder. “I do see it down there. How in the realm did you manage that?”
I shoved up to my feet and dusted off my own naked ass. I shrugged. “I have not one inkling. Maybe it rolled?”
He bared his blunt teeth and then resumed looking over the balcony. “I’ll need to fly Axel to reach that.”
I yanked on my underwear and pulled on my bra. I left my elf’s merchant attire on the floor. The blood would never come out of that. “My bag is downstairs in your office. Are you coming with me?”
King Athon turned back around. He halted in place and stared. “You are not wearing that out in my kingdom, Princess. Have you lost your Fae damned marbles this morning?”
“I am not putting those disgusting clothes back on.” I sniffed. “My bag has my regular clothing in it. Including a cloak.”
The King of Shifters ground his teeth together, glaring his wrath through his solid black eyes. “I suppose that will do. I’ll go down with you and make sure no one is there. But you need to take a shower before you go. You smell like me.”
I picked up a lock of my disheveled red hair and sniffed it. I cringed, honeysuckle overpowering my nostrils. “Gross.”
King Athon grabbed a pair of leather pants from his closet and stuffed his legs down into them, pulling them up over his hips, thankfully covering his revolting nether region. He motioned for me to follow, so I walked down the stairs behind him. The shifter king held his hand back to stop me, gripping my shoulder as he stuck his head through the passageway.
He froze for a heartbeat. Then his shoulder started shaking.
King Athon leaned his head back into the passageway, laughter bubbling past his lips. “I believe your Fae-gift is upset with you.”
My blink was slow. “Oh my Fae. Did she break anything in there?”
“No, but she is waiting.” King Athon walked into his office, pulling me along behind him. He scrutinized my Fae-gift. “She is much smaller than your father’s.”
Penelope stood not a foot away, facing the hidden passageway. The strap of my bag hung from her mouth, and her blood-red hooves beat at the stone ground. She pranced side to side in her aggravation.
“Penelope is perfect just as she is.” I stepped forward and placed my hands on either side of her face, pulling her down to kiss her sweet nose. “Thank you for finding me, my beautiful girl.”
She shoved her nose against my neck, rubbing her cheek against mine, her way of saying she was happy I was unharmed.
I chuckled and pulled my bag from her mouth. I rifled through it and quickly dressed. I peered up at my dratted soul mate while I put on my slippers. “How did the gremlin get in?”
“My chambers are not spelled against Fae. No caster can do that, Princess.” He shook his head in admonishment. “You know so much yet so little.”
I stood up and sniffed. “I am only thirty.”
“You still should have known that,” King Athon griped. He marched across the room and ran his fingers over the tomes on the high shelf. He stopped on one and pulled it down. He tossed it through the air right at me. “That is the tiger book. Now go before anyone comes in.”
I caught it quickly and stuffed it in my bag.
I did not bother with a farewell. I would not miss him.
Penelope leapt off the balcony, with me on her back, spread her wings wide in the descent, and caught air. I would be back here at the shifter king’s castle tomorrow at daybreak—the claws of the Shifter Kingdom not yet releasing me. But first, I wanted to evaluate that ice ridge…
I wouldnotlook a fool climbing it tomorrow.
