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To anyone who didn’t know us, it might have appeared as though they’d gotten worse overnight. But in truth, everything had changed for the better. We were a threesome, a trio, a trinity. They’d still keep each other at arm’s length in public, but that was just how it was between them. Inside, where the feelings were, they cared.

Returning to our table with a neon colored breakfast cocktail, Zee hid his wings, flopped into a chair, propped his heeled boots up the table, crossed at the ankle, and glanced over. “What?”

It was no accident he wore his skimpy, Not Your Babe T-shirt over low-riding tight pants.

“It’s nice of you to finally grace us with your presence,” Victor said cooly.

“Excuse me, but looking this good is a fucking art. I can’t just roll out of bed and show up with hair like Adam’s.”

“What’s wrong with my hair?” I asked, patting my unruly mop.

Both of them fell silent. “Nothing,” Victor finally said, taking a sip of his tea. “It’s lovely.”

“Thank you, Victor.”

“Simp.” Zee coughed into his hand.

“Now you’re here Zee, we can discuss where Jimmy’s family are, find them, and get control of the gremlin situation. Victor? What did your tracking software show you?”

He straightened and set his teacup and saucer aside. “There’s an old chapel in the grounds of Daisy’s mansion. Isolated in the mountains. The vampire who kidnapped Jimmy’s family⁠—”

“Armand,” Zee said.

“Armin,” Victor corrected. “He’s low-level in the hierarchy. Something of a bottom feeder, but clever enough to see an opportunity to inflate his status by presenting the royal family with a gift.”

“Like you were hoping to do when you bundled Adam up and dumped him at the duke’s feet.”

“Indeed.” Victor dipped his chin. “According to the tracking software, Armin was last spotted by a convenience store security camera entering a fire-break road, heading toward that area. There are no other buildings in the vicinity, just that chapel. I surmise that Daisy’s council are gathering their gifts there for The Queen’s Coming.”

“Fuck, I wish that was going to be as much fun as it sounded. We should get up there and poke around,” Zee said.

“This can’t be legal, right?” I asked. “As much as I don’t like Leomaris, maybe we should tell him what’s going on?”

“Religious ceremonies are not against human laws, and do not fall under the remit of the SSD. Technically, pixies are classed as vermin, not people. There is nothing Agent Leomaris or the human authorities can do.”

“What if they do manage to open the veil?” My heart thumped harder.

“It’s unlikely, right?” Zee asked. “Wasn’t it fucking hydrocarbons or something that tore it the first time? What are a few ritual sacrifices going to do?”

“Hydrofluorocarbons,” Victor corrected. “The working theory is that since the Lost Ones settled here, we’ve been changing the environment around us, making it more like our home, and more susceptible to fourth-dimension leakage.”

Zee frowned. “The what now?”

“Magic,” I said. “Humans have always had access to it, but only a few practiced—like the Romani, hedge witches, some psychics. Those kind of people. Most are laughed off as crazies. But when the Lost Ones poured in, we upset the balance, and now we’ve settled, so has magic. Curses, glamor, even your allure, Zee, and Reynard’s ability to sway weak-willed minds. Most humans can’t do those things—because they’re fourth-dimension skills, and humans are three-dimensional creatures—but we can, and the more we do, the more it leaks into this world.” They fell silent and blinked. “What?”

“That’s the first time you’ve admitted to being a Lost One, like us,” Zee said.

Was it? I leaned back in the chair. “Oh, I just . . . Yeah. I’m not really human at all.”

“What? Pfft. Had me fooled. I had no fucking idea.”

“I knew the moment I drank from Adam’s veins,” Victor said.

“Fuck’s sake, Fancy Fangs, I’m trying to be supportive. Even Sebastien knew Adam wasn’t human, and he’s got the IQ of a fucking goldfish.”

“It’s fine.” I shrugged. “I guess I’m kind of human, since I’m stuck as one.”

“About that.” Zee dropped his boots to the floor, leaned in, and spoke quietly. “How do we undo this curse and loosen that glamor so you can get your dragon on?”