Page 101 of House of Crimson Cloak and Silver Teeth

“Take the compliment, Wolf. They’re rare coming from me.” But she’s smiling warmly beneath the teasing. “How’s the golden prince?”

Before I can answer, the door opens again and Shade walks in carrying what looks like half a feast.

“Friends,” he says, setting everything on the dusty table. “I brought food.”

Kitty and I stare. There’s roasted fowl that still steams, fresh bread, cheese, pastries decorated with actual gold leaf, and the wine… by the gods.

“Is that Avalon’s vintage?” Kitty breathes, reaching for one of the bottles. “This is priceless, Shade.”

“Is it?” He tilts his head, genuinely surprised. “Lord Rainer said to take whatever I wanted from the kitchens when I mentioned I was meeting friends.”

“Lord Rainer,” I repeat slowly. “You’re calling him Lord now?”

“That’s his title.” Shade says it simply, those pale gray eyes fixed on me. “He insists I eat properly and says underfed Grimsbane reflect poorly on House Wiolant.”

I exchange glances with Kitty. She looks as thrown as I feel.

Shade doesn’t notice or doesn’t care. He starts unpacking the food, arranging it on the table.

Kitty recovers first. “How many others did he hire for protection?”

“Twenty-seven.”

I nearly choke on air. “Twenty-seven grimsbane?”

“Yes. Lord Rainer made me the leader,” Shade says, completely serious. “He says I am focused.”

Kitty makes a choking sound, then snorts wine straight out her nose.

“Focused?” she repeats, wiping her face with the back of her hand. “You have many faces, Shade. Focused is not one of them.”

“Twenty-seven Grimsbane on hundred-day contracts? That’s an insane amount of gold,” I mutter flatly.

“The Wiolants control one of Aelfheim’s thirty-three regions, Völundr,” he says slowly. “Their harbor city processes more wealth in a single day than most kingdoms see in a year. The naval fleet is the only thing keeping the Fae’s sea dragons from devouring every ship that tries to cross the eastern waters.”

Kitty lifts her brows. “Someone’s been studying.”

“Rainer likes to talk when he drinks. He drinks often,” Shade replies. “He says his niece, the queen, inherits both the Wiolant wealth and the Kashran fortune from her mother’s side.”

“And you’re protecting her,” Kitty says carefully, her voice losing its teasing edge. “Your half-sister.”

“Yes.”

We eat in silence for a while after that. Shade cuts pieces of meat and tears off bread, placing them onto Kitty’s plate. He doesn’t eat anything himself. The lower half of his demonic mask still covers his face from nose to chin.

I wonder if Shade feels anything about the queen having everything he was denied. Does any part of him resent her for inheriting the fortune and legitimacy he’ll never have?

I remember him at thirteen, shaking after a nightmare, vowing one day he would kill Reinhart Wiolant with his bare hands. He spoke with the same cold certainty he reserved for Petyr Ravence.

Mid-chew, Kitty glances at him. “What’s she like?”

Shade actually thinks about the question before answering.

“She seems pleasant,” he says finally. “We haven’t spoken directly.”

Kitty and I exchange another look. This is delicate territory. Shade’s parentage is complicated. He’s the son of a disgraced assassin and a Wiolant lord who abandoned her. The queen doesn’t know she has a half-brother. I wonder if Lord Rainer knows when he hired Shade that he’s employing his older brother’s illegitimate son.

Did he hire his brother’s bastard son knowingly?