But that might have had something to do with our upbringing.
Skye grew up among the fae, living with her fae mother’s family. I lived with my human mom and dad—or step-dad, really, but he practically raised me. To me he would always be Dad.
Fae are pretty vicious supernaturals. They play all sorts of games—mental and political. And even though they can use magic and have certain limitations that youthinkwould improve their personalities—like the inability to lie—they’re all about power. Both obtaining and keeping it.
“You can’t tease Skye like that,” I told Indigo. “You’ll give her ulcers.”
Indigo kept scratching Whiskers’ chin, eliciting a deep purr from him. “I wasn’t teasing.”
I made a noise of dissatisfaction. “I see how it is around here. There’s no respect!”
“Probably because you’re the most disrespectful person I know,” Indigo said.
A brownie, Indigo was short and bird-like with her thin legs and arms. Her hair was a wild mess of the most glorious russet red color I’d seen—though today she wore it shoved up in a ponytail.
She wrinkled her slightly up-turned nose as Whiskers rubbed his head on her shoulder. “Stop it,” she fussed. “You’re going to get black hair all over this shirt.”
Today’s t-shirt was bright white and spattered with several superhero insignias. Indigo was something of a closet nerd. She’d applied for her role as my companion—which was basically a fancy title the fae used for personal assistant—because she wanted the hefty salary to buy more movie, book, and TV show merch.
“We may as well get this over with…” I trailed off and curiously peered around the expansive, half-dead gardens when I heard heavy footfalls.
Kevin, his shoulder pushed against my hips, lifted his head and scented the air. He didn’t seem worried, and neither did Whiskers—who was half draped over Indigo by now—so I didn’t think whatever was approaching me was bad.
But I didn’t expect the creature that trundled around a corner of the castle and marched straight toward us.
Even though I’d never seen one before, I knew what it was on sight because of all its heads. It was a hydra.
With four wedge shaped heads sitting on four arched necks and a thick, sturdy body, the hydra was a mixture of a flightless dragon and a water serpent.
This one was a little bigger than my truck. Its plated scales were a dark blue mottled with watery gray—I had a feeling it could effortlessly blend in with water or rock, its primary territories.
Indigo stiffened and dug her hands into Whiskers’ fur, and Skye took a step closer to me. “Queen Leila,” she whispered.
I slipped my glass prism—the royal magical artifact I used to channel magic—out of the pocket of my blue jeans, but I smiled as the creature approached.
“Hey there, cutie,” I greeted.
Indigo made a high-pitched squeak, like a balloon losing air.
The hydra stopped just short of me, tilting its four heads as it studied me with yellow eyes.
I stepped forward, offering my hand. “How are you?”
No, I’m not an idiot. I know wild animals are dangerous. But fae have natural magic that effortlessly oozes out of them. Typically it’s something that makes them extra beautiful or graceful, but I was lucky enough to get something useful—I have natural magic that makes animals like me, and any creature I work with long enough gets smarter.
Plus, as Night Queen, I had dominion over the Night Court and Realm. While Skye reminded me frequently that my subjects’ inability to kill me—locked in by the magic that made the foundation of the Court—didn’t extend to the creatures of the Night Realm, I was pretty sure it was what had attracted the glooms and shades to me—and now possibly a hydra.
I wasn’t too surprised when one of the hydra heads inched forward enough to sniff my hand, and then the creature thumped its massive tail on the ground like a happy dog.
A second head invaded my space, resting its large chin on my hand, before a third head slammed into it, knocking it out of the way, making room for the fourth head to stretch out and lick my hair.
“I’m glad you approve,” I said.
The soft sensation of my natural magic flowed around me as I patted large, stone-like scales.
All four of the hydra heads settled down to sniff me, which—not gonna lie—was pretty intimidating. Having four serpent heads—accented with glittering teeth that I couldseebecause the fangs poked past the hydra’s lips—sniffing my shoulders, waist, and legs was enough to make my belly flop around in my gut.
I wasn’t sad when all but one of the heads retreated. I fondly patted the last head. “Do you need something?”
