King Athon bent and placed his face in front of mine—definitely crossing into my personal space, stepping over the line of propriety. His solid black shifter eyes stared hard into my suspicious gaze as he whispered, “I am not as young as you, Princess. I don’t often make mistakes.”
My brows snapped together.
The King of Shifters wore the tiniest of smiles at my expression, not moving his face away from mine. He rumbled quietly, “When do you think you might be gracing my bedchamber again with your presence?”
I huffed in irritation as he redirected our conversation. “Why?”
He stood up straight to his intimidating height and scrubbed his hands over his face roughly. “It has been ten days.”
“I do not understand.” I shook my head.
King Elon shouted, “What in the Fairy are you two talking about? Get your Fae asses over here. We are about to have visitors.”
I turned and started walking quickly toward the other rulers, but I glanced at the shifter king who strolled next to me—then I raised my eyebrows in silent question.
“Sex,” King Athon whispered, barely loud enough for me to hear. His solid black eyes met mine, his tiger fangs slightly peeking between his parted lips. “Iwantto fuck my soul mate. I want your tiny body under mine. Understand, elf?”
“Oh.” My eyebrows climbed high on my forehead. “You do know I’m angry with you, correct? About the flower? About another woman?” I cocked my head in thought, asking curiously, “Are we having another communication error?”
“I know you’re angry with me, elf. You don’t have to like me to cum all night long.” His tiger fangs showed more. “Ten. Days.”
“All right. I think I understand now. But try to calm yourself, shifter. Your surly attitude will not help today, and they are already looking at us oddly.” I whispered, “Think of a lie. Fast.”
“No, I won’t fuck you,” King Athon thundered—loudly. He placed his hand over his heart. “You are truly disturbed to ask me such a thing, elf. Is this the kind of behavior that happens in the Elf Kingdom?” He flashed his fangs at my father, but humor crinkled the edges of his eyes. “Your heir needsmanylessons on protocol, King Athon.”
Oh. My. Fae.
Flames lit up my eyes. I snarled, “What in the Fae fuck?”
Whatwas this behavior all about?
He tipped his head down, the hood on his cloak hiding the side of his face. “You wanted me to lie.” Then he laughed—loudly.
“Leave the lying up to me next time,” I hissed, bumping into him slightly—my right hand working. I whipped my face to the rulers who stood completely still, their expressions hovering between shocked and confused…and furious—my father. My eyes gradually turned back to their usual emerald green. “Ignore him. He is upset that I stole his crown again.”
King Traevon’s nostrils flared, his own eyes simmering with his royal firepower, flames whipping inside—losing control, which he rarely did.
This wasbad.
That deadly gaze turned to the man next to me. He stated slowly, “What in the Fae fuck?”
“I think I’ve heard that one before,” King Athon rumbled darkly as we stopped directly in front of them. The King of Shifters kept his eyes on my father—smartly—and held out his hand to me, grousing coolly, “Give me my fucking crown, elf.”
“First, apologize for speaking foully about my name,” I stated primly, lifting my chin high into the air—time for another grand performance. “That was quite uncalled for.”
The shifter king grunted. “Apologies, Princess Trixie.”
I pulled his crown out of my cloak and slapped it into his hand. “And I didn’t steal it. It dropped out of your Fae damned bag. I tried to tell you that.” I snarled. “Listen to me next time, shifter.”
“Not a chance in Fairy, elf.” King Athon grunted again, shoving his crown down into his traveling bag. With his eyes still on my father’s, he asked softly, “Are we going to have an issue here, King Traevon. If so, we should get it over with before Kera arrives.”
The King of Elves blinked. His eyes were normal once more. He stated oh, so calmly, “I think I will save this for another day.”
That…was not good. In fact, it was rather terrifying.
Father only did that when he was bloodthirsty furious.
My lips thinned. I would need Caspian to spy on him.
