“Aye, my lady.”
That could only be the whore’s sister that he’d been forever droning and whining about.
“Now there’s a face for radio. Who pissed in your Wheaties, Narishka?”
Narishka turned a cold, harsh stare from the Adoni before her to the exceptionally tall blond man approaching them. Dressed in green and gold armor like the three Adoni who’d been reporting to her, Arador Pendragon still carried himself as a thief, and spoke in a peasant’s vernacular. As Morgen’s latest paramour and the king of her fey court and Circle, he thought himself the most lethal and capable warrior in all the world.
But he paled in comparison to the once-great Kerrigan, who’d ruled here before him. And not just because Kerrigan was the keeper of the sword Caliburn.
Nay, there had been much about Kerrigan’s dark powers that few surpassed. And no one could touch the skills of her own treacherous son, Varian duFey. While Arador’s merlin powers were impressive, they had a long, long way to go before he could ever begin to challenge some of the more ferocious members of the Lords of Avalon who opposed them.
Or her.
While she might not possess Arador’s Stone of Taranis that could enchant any blade it touched and coat it with a poison so lethal it would bring instant death to anyone it scratched, she was no less dangerous. Indeed, she’d laid many men and women in their graves with a single kiss.
And a knife to their gullets.
Giving him a bow that galled her to the core of her being, she offered him a cold smile. “I didn’t realize you’d returned… Majesty.”
“Careful. That lack of vigilance here could cost you. Your beauty. Your position.” He paused and raked a cool smirk over her body. “Your life.”
She narrowed her gaze on him as that threat made her seethe. Yet she refused to let him know it. Instead, she smiled as if his words didn’t bother her in the least. Because while they angered her, she didn’t see him as a threat. No more than one would a buzzing gnat. “So what brings our king to our counsel?”
“Morgen summoned me.”
“Ah.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Unlike her, he didn’t have the wisdom to keep the anger from his tone.
She bit back a true smile. What it meant was that he was nowhere near the man Kerrigan had been. That rank bastard had never come at Morgen’s behest. Rather, he’d driven her niece to distraction with his endless defiance. And it was one of the reasons why Kerrigan had lasted longer than any other in his reign here.
But Narishka had no interest in helping Arador hold on to his power. Not when it was in her best interest to dethrone Arador before he learned any more of his merlin’s skills and grew strong enough to strike out at them. “’Tis naught. You’ll find her in her bedchamber with Apollo.”
A strange light came into his eyes before he swept past her.
“Arador?”
He paused to glance at her.
“To answer your question… yes, Apollo would love a threesome, and Morgen wouldn’t mind it either.”
His face went stark white. “How did you know what I was thinking?”
“You have your skills. I have mine.” And he shouldneverunderestimate hers. “Now, run along. Morgen doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”
Turning, he headed off.
The moment he was out of sight, she grabbed the Adoni knight behind her and snatched him closer so that she could whisper in his ear. “Fetch me Maddor. I don’t care what whore you have to pry him off, bring him to me within the quarter hour or it’s your balls I’ll be dining on!” She shoved him away from her. “I’ll be awaiting him in the study.”
With those words spoken, she went to gather her own agents to plan her strategy for this next round.
The Adoni turned on his companions with a hiss. “You heard her! Fetch the mandrake!”
“Fuck you.” Varian duFey slid his knife straight into the lung of the bastard in front of him and held him upright until he stopped struggling. Only then did he use his powers to remove all traces of the fey’s existence.
“Damn, V. That’s so cold.”
Wiping the blood off on the sleeve of his jerkin, he sneered at his hellhound companion. “Oh, like you wouldn’t have bitten his throat out, then licked your own balls.”
