Bishop instantlysnarledat the Fae, flashing the tips of his gorilla fangs. “You’d do well to forget what you heard, Fae.”
The dragon shifter tugged at his ear and grumbled, “Try to keep him quiet in the future, and mayhap it’ll be possible.”
“Holy fuck,” I mumbled and tossed my silverware on my half-eaten plate. “May we all return to our normal propriety and simply ignore what happened?”
“The entire city of Gatlin Grove will not forget what happened today,” King Traevon said wryly. “The city folk are running wild with rumors and gossip.”
“Then lie,” I hissed, entirely done with this conversation. “You are good at that, Your Royal Highness. Tell them it was an experiment for castle fortification. I do not care, but…lie.” I pointed a finger hard on the table and griped, “No one else needs to know why itoccurred.It is embarrassing enough.”
King Traevon lifted a haughty red eyebrow, his mouth opening for, surely, a cutting rebuke, except a royal guard raced into the room, hurriedly declaring, “The Fae comes from the direction Marlon scouted. He’s almost here.”
King Traevon lowered his knife and wiped his mouth with his red napery, stating calmly, “Thank you. Please tell the guards to hold their positions. I’ll be there shortly.”
“Yes, Your Royal Highness.” The royal guard bowed deeply and turned to leave as fast as he’d come, disappearing out of the dining room.
Tossing the napery on the table, my king looked straight at the dragon shifter—a quiet seriousness in his emerald gaze. “Are you ready to handle the punisher should I fail?”
The Fae stared with a bored air. “Just stay out of my way, as I’ve told you. You will not be able to best him. Your royal firepower will not hurt him. A fever runs deeper than any inferno you can muster, and if you attack him, he will have due cause to retaliate against you.”
My king’s jaws clenched, and he snarled, “I do not like your plan,as I have told you.”
The dragon shifter snorted. “You are to be bait. Do your job right, and I may be able to kill the beast.” He ran his fingers through his golden hair in a distressing manner. “I cannot be worried about you while I am fighting him. He’s actually more powerful than me. I will need my wits about me to defeat him.”
My lips thinned as I glanced back and forth between them. “If the royal firepower is useless against the punisher, then perhaps I can be of service to—”
“No,” Father snapped instantly, flashing his fangs in my direction. “You will stay far away from this fight. He took you down with a damnable howl. You are no match for him.” His violet eyes lashed at my soul mate. “If you care for him, keep him away from the punisher.”
In the ugly silence, Bishop held my father’s intense gaze—and nodded his head deeply once in a silent agreement.
I sighed hard and peered at my king. “Thank you for being the bait, Your Royal Highness.”
He chuckled quietly as he stood from his chair. “Let us hope the predator does not catch said bait. My soul mate might be a little cross if that happens.”
Minnie grunted and gulped the rest of her wine.
* * *
“This is not exactlywhat I had in mind when I said you could visit my soul mate,” King Athon snarled furiously,growlingdeep in his throat. “The punisher’s hunting the two of you down. It’s not wise to put us all in one location.”
I kept my eyes outside the large, fourth floor windows of my cousin’s bedchamber, the lights off so we could see out into the night. “It’s actually the perfect location. The beast has only attacked at ground level, and from here, we can watch what’s happening—and aid them from afar if need be.”
Bishop wrapped his arms around me from behind and placed his chin atop my head. His honey-brown eyes were steadfast on King Traevon. My king stood between the two castles in the middle of the field, staring at the sky as if he didn’t know the punisher was stalking death on his land. The shifter grunted and said, “Caspian’s right, my king. This location is perfect for aiding the fight—from a safe distance.”
The King of Shifters peered back at my slumbering cousin, his lips pinching with evident distress. “I still do not like it.”
“He could come for you next,” Bishop reminded him. “Taking the punisher down now keeps Princess Trixie safe.”
King Athonsnarledquietly before he started prowling and pacing the bedchamber like the tiger shifter he was. “And that is why I didn’t kick your asses out of here when you knocked.”
I snorted softly. “Exactly. We knocked. Try to remember that in the future.”
“Please, icicle man.” King Athon chuckled under his breath. “There were fucking ice dicks hanging all over King Traevon’s castle. No one even needed to barge into the room to know what was happening.” A finger flick at my soul mate’s lower region. “I’ve seen his dick enough to know what was sculpted en masse for all to see.”
Horrified even more, my eyes widened at the implication. “There is no way that I—”
“Trust me, elf,” my king muttered, cutting me off as he continued to pace the bedchamber as if he were caged. “King Traevon may not have figured it out. But the likeness wasuncanny.”
I blinked slowly, shoving aside the extreme embarrassment I still felt—because there was a bigger issue to deal with. My brows puckered as I said slowly, “Mayhap you should stop looking so closely at my soul mate’s cock then, Your Royal Highness.”
