That had to be the reason why I was willing to support her—and play along with the little jokes she liked to make. She was a legitimately good monarch. Although, yes, I found her amusing to spend time with on a daily basis as well.
It helps that she’s clever. I don’t mind doing a few small acts if the payout is an interesting life.
There was a faint part of my mind that understood that despite the fact Leila liked to burrow like a fox, the night had been one of the most peaceful few hours I’d experienced in a long time.
But as I’d always known, those kinds of thoughts were dangerous. It was an easy thing to identify them as such and silence them, but the process was greatly aided by a giant wolf head.
One of the shades—Kevin, I think—rested his head on the mattress and soulfully watched me.
The shade wagged his tail like a dog, even though he was roughly the size of a small pony and looked capable of biting a man in half.
He whined in the back of his throat and licked his chops.
I shook my head.
Kevin set a paw on the bed and whined again.
“Youwake her up, then,” I said.
Kevin slid his paw off the mattress and sighed.
Why am I fighting with a dog?
There was a quiet knock—not on my door, but hers.
Must be Indigo or one of her people.
The door creaked when it opened, and the tap of steps crossed her room. The footsteps hurried through her room, then left as abruptly as they came.
It really must be late if someone came to look for her—though she is an early riser.
I wasn’t going to extend myself to notify them of her presence. She’d either wake up, or they’d eventually figure it out. The staff’s stress levels were hardly my concern anyway.
Whispered voices filled the hallway, but they were muffled through the doors, and I couldn’t quite make them out.
The mattress dipped as the gloom, Muffin, jumped on top and sauntered up to Leila and me.
I would have rolled away, except as I started to move, Leila popped an arm out of her cave of blankets. She grabbed on to my shirt, loosely holding it.
Yes. An interesting life.
Muffin—her mouth open and panting—breathed on me with breath that stank of fish. She licked the top of Leila’s head, arousing only the faintest noise from her victim, then turned with the clear intention of giving me the same treatment.
I stared the oversized cat down.
She flicked her tail back and forth then grumbled in her throat as she turned around and hopped off the bed, hitting the floor with a thump.
I shifted, intending to see if I could slide my shirt from Leila’s grasp. As soon as I moved, she tightened her grasp and burrowed deeper so she was almost entirely underneath me.
I was pondering my new position when footsteps pounded up the hallway.
Someone flung my door open—without evenknocking.
“We can’t find her!” the faun, Eventide, shrieked.
Indigo elbowed her way past him. “Sorry to interrupt your sleep, Consort Rigel, but the queen is missing!”
“We’ve looked everywhere—someone’s taken her!” Eventide moaned. “She’s not answering her cellphone, and Chase can’t find any trace of her leaving the premises.”
