I rounded the last corner to my destination and let loose my royal firepower, instantly slaying the two elite sentinels guarding King Athon’s personal office. I waved a hand through the smoke, threw open the door, and charged inside.
My feet stopped directly inside the doorway.
I sucked in a harsh breath and quickly shut the door behind me, my narrowed gaze taking in the massive problem before me.
This…Fuck.
A groan emitted from the gorilla shifter lying directly in front of me on the floor, but I merely stepped over his waking body and focused on what needed to be done here.
I stared at my heir lying passed out on our enemy’s couch—inside a kingdom where she shouldn’t be alone. The King of Shifters was sprawled over her body, just as unconscious as my precious child, with a book dropped on the floor beside them and another tome on the coffee table. Fury built like an inferno rising inside my soul until heat waves lashed in pulsating flashes across the room.
My attention snapped to the gorilla shifter. I watched the man as he held his head and stood to his feet, swaying woozily.
I growled low and dangerously, “What in the Fae fuck is going on here, Bishop?”
He stumbled to the side and caught himself on the edge of the couch, fairly green in color as if he would vomit. “W-What?”
I snapped my fingers in front of his face. “Bishop! Focus!”
“Um…” His solid honey-brown eyes lifted to mine, stark confusion crossing his features. “King Traevon?”
“Yes, it is I, you fucking lout!” I snarled. “What is going on here?”
“That…uh.” The large shifter shook his head hard, and then he glanced down at his king where he lay prone. He blinked once. Twice. Then the gorilla shifter mumbled, “Slumber party?”
A silence made just for the idiotic filled the space after that had spewed from his mouth. And I was damned positive the Fae were having a nice laugh at my expense.
“Beloved Fae above and below! I cannot deal with any more bullshit today!” I shouted furiously into the night air rushing in through King Athon’s balcony. I jammed a pointed finger at my heir. “You see this?I am not happy!This. Shit. Stops. Now.”
Bishop blinked and wobbled on his feet, but he chuckled like he was a drunkard, mumbling, “I wish you the best of luck with that, Your Royal Highness.” The bastard even saluted me with two fingers while he swayed side-to-side.
My fangs bared at the shifter. “If I hadn’t promised your mother that I’d never kill you…” I leaned forward, directly into his space. “Your gorilla ass would be nothing but ash, just like your guards outside that door.”
His dark eyebrows puckered in confusion, clarity beginning to simmer in his shifter eyes. “When did you meet my mother, Your Royal Highness?”
“Fuck off.” I waved a dismissive hand at him, done with that eventful memory. My emerald eyes scanned over my child once more, but my attention stalled on the book lying on the floor next to them and the similar tome on the coffee table—as if they had been reading.
Silently, I tilted my head and read the spines.
My blink was slow, and my brows rose as I moved around the couch, eyeing the literature on the ground that was definitely Fae by the writing style.
Bishop miraculously came to full, coherent life and lunged at the book at the same time I did, both of us grabbing the soft leather binding simultaneously.
Together, we watched in shock as it instantly turned to white sand under our palms, the tiny granules sifting down between our fingers and scattering onto the rock floor between us. Sluggishly, our heads turned to the remaining book on the coffee table.
Bishop grabbed for it just as I shouted, “No!”
As before, the tome turned to white sand with a touch.
I groaned under my breath and rubbed at my forehead, muttering harshly, “Fucking imbecile.”
The gorilla shifter merely smirked. “Oops.”
My teeth ground together as I stared at the shifter, trying not to fry him from the balls up.I will not break my vow. I reminded myself of this for the millionth time about this shifter.
I demanded between my clenched teeth, “Move your king off my heir.Now.Or I will do it my way.”
Bishop snarled at me, but he did as ordered, maneuvering King Athon so that he could lift his king into his arms.
Swiftly, I lifted my child, holding her close to my chest inside my shielding arms. With both of us carrying valuable cargo in our hands, I marched straight to the door, yanking her satchel up at the same time with two fingers. Glancing over my shoulder, I barked harshly, “When King Athon awakes, tell him I expect him at my castle tomorrow for dinner. It’s not a damned request, either. Make it happen.”
