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Tiernan’s eyes never leave the door. “Knuckles will not be left alone—not even for a minute during a fitting or whatever. Always someone with her is the guideline.” He says it as if there’s no scenario in the world where she’d be taken from us that could happen with a person in the room. It’s not realistic, and he’s used to a much bigger crew to help prevent these things.

I’m still not satisfied with our precautions, and hopefully, the snow leopard doesn’t get offended by that.

Fiadh finally comes out of the bathroom at that exact moment. Her hair is slicked back, sleeves rolled up over her new tattoos, and a towel is looped around her neck. She notes our placements, the open liquor, and the way we’re gathered with an arched brow. Crossing to the sidebar, our mate grabs another coffee and leans against the wall, eyes glittering with something both wild and analytical.

“Why are you all grimacing like you’re preparing to tell me about a near-death brush we’re gonna have soon? They’ve almost killed us like ten times now; it’s not a surprise anymore.” Her smirk makes me happy, as she waits for a response with the dark humor of a gravedigger.

Khol grins. “Almost only counts in horseshoes and headshots, Sassy. We’re doing just fine.”

Our mate shrugs, looking up at the ceiling to whistle low. It hurts all our ears, but it does its job summoning the tiny bat the basilisk presented her with. I’m not sure where it’s finding its hiding spot, but as a vampire, I find the thing amusingly on the nose as a family pet. Once she has Fidget, the witchling walks over and drops onto the couch to sit. She sprawls out, knees wide, with one hand planted between her legs as if she’s about to interrogate us. “Midnight’s a shitshow, but we’ve still got a tour to finish and a million miles to go before Briarvale. Are we ready to head out now?”

Revelin beats me to answering. “We are, Sassypants. Everyone is dressed, and we were just discussing strategy for the trip into Ravenhold. We’re concerned about attacks of all kinds, but I don’t want to skip ahead on the tour and cause a bigger incident. I also don’t want to wake up with a knife in my chest, so…”

That will not happen with me in the room, but I let it go.

“Do you all have weapons hidden on you?” Fiadh asks as she pets the bat gently. “I do, but I’ll also take the new sword. I may need to find a better scabbard in town so I can wear it with lots of different outfits, though.” Her frown is adorable, and Khol laughs as he watches her eye the weapon with glee.

“We’re enjoying how maliciously happy you are to have a bigger weapon,” I say, getting her attention back. “And I agree with your assessment, as well as the one we made prior to your exit from the bathroom. We will need to sneak off, one by one, to gather various supplies to add to our stores, especially since we have not found out where the feystag’s clue is in this court.”

Fiadh shifts at my words, turning to look at Rev with a serious face. “We need to talk about your manager and the groupies,” she says, and the room goes silent. “Amethyst and Khorinea are going to make stupid trouble without a doubt. They’re not really dangerous, but someone looking to harm me could use their childish, spiteful behavior to get close enough to us to do bad shit.”

There’s something under her words—something like an old hurt she won’t let herself touch. I know the magical community treated her and her sister badly as they were growing up, and they got excluded a lot even before the damn Ascension rejection. The prince’s fans and staff having women who are doing the same thing out of jealousy and lack of self-confidence is pushing a button for her that she can’t quite untrigger.

Revelin winces, then nods. “I’ll handle it, and Tier’s folks can work on it as well. They won’t be a problem; cross my heart.”

“That won’t work. I know you can make them go away, but I need them to see me as someone they do not want to mess with, Revelin,” the witchling replies gently. “They have to realize that I’m not a piece of tour ass, I’m not a random groupie, and this is serious as will be the consequences if they keep screwing with me. The punishment needs to outweigh the crime this time to prevent them from being a distraction.”

For the first time, Revelin looks embarrassed. “Fiadh, I’m not encouraging her, but⁠—”

“You don’t have to tell me again about her connection to your court, babe,” she says. “However, I want it on record that you won’t stand for shit. I will not fight another Fae over you—that shit is teenage-level crap and we’re not engaging with it anymore. If they fuck up, fire the bitch and ban the other one from the tour completely. Send out a memo to everyone in the chain with her behavior, name, and her real face, letting them know she’s banned for eternity.”

Tiernan lets out a long, satisfied hum, and Khol leans back, grinning as if he’d just watched a perfect punchline. Hell, even I’m a little impressed with her clear, unemotional approach to getting the rocker to understand where her boundaries are. He might have charmed her in the last court, but after this Midnight revelation, our mate is settling in like a mature leader.

The prince shifts on the couch, clearly uncomfortable with what he’s going to face, but finally replies, “I love you, Fiadh Morgenstern. As a witch with wonky powers, a mate, a woman who wanted to snark at me for being a stupid rich guy, and now as a secret heir to Fae royalty. If allowing a crazy fan or even my manager to behave in ways I’d rather ignore puts you in danger, I’ll put a stop to it and face the consequences of that action without fear. In Amethyst’s case, that will be worse than Khorinea’s, but for you, I’d let the sun set on Daybreak before I see you cry.”

It’s so nakedly honest that I know why he’s a goddamn rock star now—his way with words when he’s putting all his emotions into it is striking.

Fiadh nods, and the tiniest smirk breaks across her mouth. “Good,” she says. “Now let’s figure out how to keep the rest of us from just killing them, rather than doing what I just described.”

The shift in energy is immediate. Tier pulls out his phone, ostensibly to call his security detail folks to give them new information before we load onto the bus. Khol moves to sit with our mate, playing with the tiny bat as they converse about weapons. But the prince jerks his head at me, so I move to the other side of the room like I’m getting a fresh drink and wait.

He joins me, standing so close I can smell the copper on his skin and the aftershave he reapplied this morning. Looking at our family, I see a faint sheen of magic appear around us as he asks, “Did you ever think you’d end up here?”

I consider it. “No. My previous effort was a failure of such epic proportions that I vowed never to attempt a coven again.”

“I always run the second things get complicated. But you guys have made it achievable, even for someone with bad examples like me. You, our mate, and even the snake man are pretty fucking amazing, you know.”

I rest my hand on the sidebar, tilting my head as I look at him. “You’re not so bad yourself, Prince.”

His eyes shine with Fae magic as he murmurs, “I try.”

We stand like that for a few minutes, quietly accepting the things we will need to do to protect the people we care for. This is what it’s like to be a family—even if it’s a weird, half-broken one.

Sometimes, you have to fight the entire fucking world to keep it, but it’s worth it.

Thirty-Nine

FIADH