It’s one thing to befriend Everett; he is Kerris’s husband, after all. Maddox, though? It’s best if he and I remain acquaintances. Nolan doesn’t need any more fuel for his “I despise all things Unseelie” fire.
“Her birthday is in August,” a syrupy voice says from behind me.
My shoulders tense as I swallow back a groan.
Now there are three beasts in our midst: Maddox, Biscuits, and Ivee Lynch.
Slowly, I turn to face the woman I’ve hated for longer than I’ve loved Nolan. What would the perfect canary curls twisted atop her head look like on fire?
The pink dress she’s wearing is so bright, it burns my eyes, and the sneer hidden beneath her fake smile makes me want to dump what remains of the champagne clutched between my fingers right over her insufferable head.
“Ivee. So lovely to see you.” It’d be even lovelier if she’d fall into the garden fountain and come out looking like a drowned cat. She’d probably hiss like one too.
“Always a pleasure, Nia.” Her nose wrinkles before she twists toward Kerris. “Queen Kerris, I want to thank you for inviting me to this lovely soiree. You have truly outdone yourself.”
“It was good of you to come, Ivee,” Kerris says with what looks like a genuine smile, which is madness because we hate Ivee.
When Ivee glances back to me, she no longer bothers trying to hide her sneer as her gaze oozes down my dress. “Is that the same gown you wore for Lillian’s twenty-first?”
Why must this wretched woman have such a damn good memory?
I open my mouth to cut her down, but Kerris’s hand on my elbow stops the vicious words from pouring out.
With a whip of candy-pink skirts, Ivee saunters back down the stairs.
That vile woman.
I should catch her by her gaudy diamond necklace and strangle her with it.
Channeling all my self-control, I take Kerris by the hand and tug her toward the castle’s open doors, saying I need to speak with her in private.
Kerris chuckles as she follows me into the shaded foyer. We stop between two marble pillars wrapped in twinkling lights. I’d tell her how lovely they are if I wasn’t feeling so murderous.
She holds up her hands. “I know what you’re going to say.”
“Ivee bloody Lynch?” First my mother, then Nolan, and now this? They do say bad luck comes in threes.
“What was I supposed to do? Her father is a member of the royal council. We could hardly not invite her. Relations are tense enough as it is.”
I don’t envy Kerris trying to placate all the fae all the time—heaven knows I find it difficult enough to please my own mother—but this still feels like a betrayal.
“You could’ve at least warned me so I could have brought a weapon.” A few extra hair pins to stab her with or a mallet to drive into her smarmy face. This dress might not be as beautiful as the white and black one, but it does boast someverydeep pockets.
“And have the guards arrest you on suspicion of violence? I should think not.”
It wouldn’t be suspicion. I’d gladly spend a night in a cell if it meant humiliating that awful woman.
“Are you ever going to tell me why you hate her so much?”
Kerris has asked before, but the timing never seemed quite right . . . until now. Today is the day she learns the depth of Ivee’s treachery. “That witch is a liar and a thief.”
“Well, now Ihaveto know the sordid details.”
Then details she shall have. “Third year, we had a baking competition. She stole my pie, swapped it with her own, and took home my blue ribbon.”
Kerris blinks at me slowly, so horrified by the terrible story that she’s having difficulty processing Ivee’s terrible past.
“You despise her because she stole your pie back in finishing school?”
