“I’m Aspen.” I shook her hand lightly and pulled back the second I could, remembering the freaking curse she’d put on me just the other morning.
“KingLuka Drake,” Luka stated, using his royal title for the first time in front of the king. Constantine bristled.
Could this night get any more shitty? I was just waiting for Morgana to step out from the dead and say she regrew from dust or something.
The bell dinged again and the king asked us to sit, before stepping away to speak to Carmen. I reluctantly sat next to Maz and she leaned in with a grin on her face. “Did you really think I would let you take all I built? I have been watching you for weeks. I know what you’re planning. It won’t work.”
Crap, crap, crap!
‘Maz knows. She’s here to stop us,’I relayed to Luka.
‘I’m going to excuse myself and inform Ruby that there may be resistance at the brothel.’
Luka stood and I quickly switched seats as Liv took my spot. When the king sat back down, he was right next to me with a space between Liv and I for Luka. I was going to use his infatuation with me to the fullest extent possible.
“That lady is your business partner?” I asked quietly, indicating Maz, who was now speaking to Liv.
He nodded.
“Hmm, some business partner. I just heard her bragging on the phone that she cheats you out of your share?”
His face grew into a feral snarl. “What!?”
Maz and Liv looked over at me and I rested a hand on his forearm, stroking it. “Now is probably not the time to deal with this,” I whispered. “It’s party time. But I would watch out for her.”
He nodded to me and then glared at Maz.
Checkmate, bitch.
Chapter Thirteen
The Freedom Fightsbegan and I watched in horror as werewolves and trolls beat each other bloody, all in an effort to get the shackles removed from their necks. It made me sick, but I clapped and cheered with the rest of the crowd. Luka sat on my right, while I stayed near the king and let him whisper things into my ear. He thought I knew nothing about battle and was teaching me what certain fight moves were called.
Idiot.
When the entire party was engrossed with the bloodshed, Luka made the call.
‘Go now,’he mentally sent out to the entire vampire team we’d brought. They would inform the humans with them, like Ruby and her hunters.
I tensed, hating that I couldn’t actually be there when they got the women and children out, but trusting that Luka had picked the very best people for the job. If Liv or I left this area, it would trigger Maz or the king that something was up. We’d just have to rely on our team.
I tried not to bop my foot in nervousness as the mental silence stretched. Luka didn’t talk about it much, but because he was king he had mental connections to his vampires, much like an alpha werewolf. He would be more in tune with what was going on than I would.
My attention drew to the next fighters getting ready. I recognized our werewolf driver, Tink. He was going up against a giant troll the size of a small car.
Crap. I didn’t want him to die.
“Why don’t you let them fight with their full powers? Seems like it would be more fun to watch.” I winked at the king.
He absolutely melted under my gaze. “Is that what you would like to see?”
I nodded. What Aspen wants, Aspen gets, right?
The king stood, and beckoned Carmen with a flick of his wrist. He whispered something to her and she nodded. Walking over to our driver, she pulled out a key and unclipped his neck collar. His gaze burned into mine and I gave him a slight nod. Next, Carmen did the same to the troll.
The troll and wolf looked at each other in wonder. It brought tears to my eyes that it had been so long since they’d been free they didn’t even know what to do.
“Let’s spice things up, shall we?” Carmen called out into the microphone.
