Page 17 of Blood of the Fairest

I'm not sure how faithful to the old fairy tales this world may be—but if she's hiding somewhere with seven little people who are protecting her from me, maybe I can apologize profusely and bring that poor girl home.

"Speaking of the Favored, three of your men are strangely missing," Schultz goes on, eyeing me. "They were last seen entering this hallway to tend to you the night before yesterday. Do you know where they might be?"

I open my mouth to tell him they're rotting in a cemetery, but I pause.

"Come again? Tend to me? What do you mean, was the quee—was I sick or something?"

He half-laughs, half-coughs, like I've made him uncomfortable.

"Come, Your Majesty, don't make me speak of your activities with the men you've selected. What you do with your Favored playthings is no one's business, as you have made abundantly clear."

"Playthings?" I repeat.

And then my brain finally starts to catch up with all the other references to the queen's Favored. When I first heard the word, I assumed it was some kind of inner-circle thing—like the queen's most trusted advisors, or something.

But if they're all men she's selected, and they're all good-looking like the Three Stooges were, and she has activities with them…

"Oh, fuck. I have a harem," I realize out loud.

5

Verena

"Your Majesty? How frightfully pale you have become! You look ill enough to faint," Schultz points out.

I am feeling ill.

Because the three Favored I accidentally killed yesterday despised Queen Rhinestone, and made it sound like everyone else they knew wanted to see her dead. If she didn't care about the feelings of the guys in her harem and was still making them get hot and heavy with her…

"Allow me in at once so you can take a seat and we shall⁠—"

Schultz is trying to step through the doorway again. I plant my non-injured hand on his chest to stop him.

"Dismiss all the Favored."

Schultz blinks rapidly at me. "I don't understand what you mean."

"How about exactly what I just said, word for word?"

As much as I applaud the fact that Rhinestone was a woman in power and this world isn't just a bunch of old kings with a trillion forlorn concubines and neglected children, the queen is more evil than I realized if she was keeping a group of lovers who would rather not be with her. I'm a paragon of explicit, excited consent—what else could I be, after the shit I've been through?

This needs to be fixed right away.

"Go dismiss them," I insist. "Right now."

The chamberlain scoffs, straightening the fur around his shoulders.

"Clearly, your Favored have earned your ire in some way. But my queen, be reasonable and let them beg their way back into your good graces. You have these men sworn to secrecy. They're at your beck and call, filling the responsibilities that ladies' maids would for queens in other kingdoms. They're quite useful."

"I don't care. Go⁠—"

He talks over me again. "And don't forget, they are also of great political value to Isenmere. They hail from noble houses who will be insulted if they're dismissed. Consider the political connections, honor, and prestige that come from joining your retinue⁠—"

Schultz is clearly on a roll that's not about to stop, so I let Clark Gable's line explode from me.

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."

"But—"