“Can we have a cat too?” I asked softly, and he nodded indulgently.
We were getting a cat.
“Is that why the queen changed her attitude toward Prince Rha?” Kurai asked Lucia. “Because of you?”
“Maybe,” Lucia replied with a cocky smile.
“Are you the one who convinced her to come and reconcile with him?” I asked.
“Well, we never really spoke about the prince, to be honest. But we talked a lot about love, friendship, and family. The queen is facing death, you know, and she knows that Prince Rha is the best heir to her throne. But who cares about the throne if he’s also her one and only family left, right?” Lucia spread out her arms. “ Anyway, the queen has a lot of shit to unpack. And I’m no fucking therapist. But something must have clicked in her during the time we spent together, because she decided to come here for a visit with her son.”
“Well.” Ciana perked up optimistically. “It’ll be good for them to spend some time together.”
“Meanwhile, you’ll get a break from all those therapy sessions too,” I said. “Talking about other people’s problems can be exhausting.”
“Sometimes it does get too much,” Lucia agreed. “But honestly? I really like hanging out with the queen. For one, it sure beats staying in thesarai. Two, I get the best of everything, food, clothes, jewelry, anything I ask for and more. But I also never had a grandma and never knew my mom. So it’s kind of nice to have an older, smarter woman to talk to. The queen maybe centuries old, but her mind is sharp like a knife, I tell you. So smart, it’s scary. She’s been teaching me a lot of neat things not just about Alveari, but about life in general too.”
A palace guard approached us.
“Lady Lucia,” he said. “Her Majesty Queen Abeille is worried about you and wishes to have you at her side.” He then turned to the rest of us. “All of you are also invited to join Prince Rha for the welcoming celebration meal.”
Lucia ran her hands down her pretty mint-green dress, then shook out her long red locks.
“Well, the job of queen’s favorite is a demanding one.” She smiled. “Actually, it’s the best job I’ve ever had, and I want to keep it. I should go, but we have to get together sometime, maybe later tonight?”
“How long are you staying in Teneris?” Ciana asked.
Lucia shrugged. “As long as the queen stays, I guess. Which may be for a while. She even brought her bees with her, so she’s clearly planning on sticking around. Unless she and the prince get into a fight, of course.”
“Let’s hope that doesn’t happen,” I said quickly.
I didn’t know either the prince or the queen well, but I wished them both a happy reconciliation and peace to the whole of Alveari.
After hugging Ciana and me again, and making us all promise to get together again soon, Lucia followed the guard into the palace to join her powerful royal friend.
“Alright, let’s not leave the royalty waiting then.” Ciana threaded her arm through the crook of Kurai’s elbow.
I gestured for the guards to come over to carry Timur’s chair. He groaned softly, and I assumed he disliked having to depend on other people to carry him around. Even in his old chair, when he couldn’t yet fly, he’d had more independence than this.
When I turned to him, however, I realized we had a different problem to deal with. Soft golden glow filtered through the dark material of his skirt. It tented in the front with his rising cock and undulated slightly with the feelers of his cluster coming back to life under it.
“Oh no,” Ciana gasped with alarm. “It looks like you have a situation on your hands.” She yanked Kurai’s arm. “We need to do something. Quickly.”
“It’s mating fever,” Kurai said with a knowing nod. “We’ll find you a room.”
Timur leaned back in the chair, stretching out his shoulders as if waking up from a long sleep.
“No need,” he said, opening the clasp of his cloak. “I’ll fly us back home.”
“Fly?” Ciana gaped, along with Kurai and the guards, as Timur shrugged off his cloak, straightened in the chair, and unfurled his massive wings.
“Well, um…” Kurai scratched his neck above the gold collar of the Joy Guardian, a million of unasked questions written on his handsome face.
“Timur is only partially a fae,” I gave a brief explanation. The rest could wait until we had more time to talk. “His mating fever actually started a day ago. He was just able to control it enough for us to come and show our respect for the queen.”
Kurai’s green eyes opened wider as he stared at Timur with shock and even something like reverence. “You can control it?”
Ciana looked at Timur’s face, which I had to admit would look rather striking to anyone seeing it for the first time.
