“You bespelled the tea—and the food!” I shouted.
The Paragon innocently fluttered his eyelashes at me—and, I gotta say, it was creepy beyond words to have a dude who looked like he was in his eighties fluttering his eyelashes at me. “How could you accuse me of something like that?” he asked.
Next to me, Solis snored.
King Fell grabbed his russet hair and groaned. “If I trip up even once, my Court will eat me alive. They follow me only because they know the other monarchs are scared of me.”
I pointed to Fell. “That. That is how I can accuse you of this. What’s in the food—and the tea?”
“Nothing harmful,” the Paragon innocently said. “It’s only one of my stress relief tea mixes. I call it ‘Get it Off Your Chest.’ It’s a very refreshing and therapeutic mixture. Aphrodite must have chosen it because she felt everyone could use the stress relief.”
“Solis is the only one who looks remotely less stressed,” I sourly said.
“That’s because he’s a sleepy drunk,” the Paragon said. “Watch out for Verdant—she’s a sloppy drunk. Cries the whole time.”
“Drunk?”
The Paragon winced. “I wish I hadn’t said that.”
“You got themdrunk!”
“Not technically,” he said. “I didn’t add any alcohol. It’s just the spell used on these tea leaves has a similar effect to the consumption of spirits.”
Solis slumped forward and hit the table with a thump.
“Heavyspirits,” the Paragon amended.
Birch was still morosely staring into his teacup. “Someone tried to poison Flora again. Even though I’ve been so careful—they slipped it into her bathwater instead of her food. I don’t know how to keep her safe anymore.” He smashed his head into the table and groaned.
“There might also be a little bit of a social spell,” the Paragon said when I stared at him. “Just a tiny little harmless one. It’s supposed to encourage shy people to talk.”
“They’re spilling their guts!”
“They won’t remember it in the morning,” the Paragon said. “The tea leaves perhaps also have a tiny forgetfulness charm added to them.”
“You mean you’ve done this before!”
“I do it to every region, actually,” the Paragon said. “For informational purposes only, of course.”
“You’redruggingthem!”
“Yes, well, this is a much faster way of tracking their feelings and goings on than trying to send out spies to watch them,” the Paragon said. “It’s more efficient and less time consuming. Besides, Aphrodite obviously thinks it’s appropriate, or she would have chosen a different tea.”
I scooted my chair back so I was farther away from the spelled tea and drugged food. “This has certainly been illuminating.”
“What do you mean?” The Paragon absently patted Birch’s back—the Summer King was now sniffling into his finger sandwiches.
“I knew you had to be crafty to keep your spot as Paragon, but I didn’t think you’d fightthisdirty.” I pointed to Solis, who was still passed out on the table.
“I resent that remark!” The Paragon flicked his glasses off and jutted out his lower lip. “You forget, I have to deal withallthe fae Courts in North America—which means I have to deal with the bickering between all the local Courts. I wouldn’t have any time for my quest if I played nice. And besides—we’re fae. It goes against our nature to play nice.”
“Quest?” I asked.
The Paragon balefully eyed me. “If I tell you, will you refrain from running your mouth about my teatimes to anyone?”
“No way,” I said. “I’m telling Rigeleverything.”
The Paragon grunted. “I’m fairly certain he knows. I think he broke into my pocket realm once, but I have no proof—the whippersnapper.”
