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The ministers kept me from returning to Maren when I wanted, their enthusiasm for the private show beyond what I had expected.
“Will you be hosting these regularly, Alpha?”
“Who was that blonde dancer, Alpha?”
“Could we have… ahem… private sessions with the dancers, Alpha?”
I put my foot down, loudly and clearly, when the brandy started flowing too regularly and the ministers became too bold with their demands. Although Maximo’s had always been run cleanly and respectfully under my command, I knew that Jergin sometimes allowed the patrons too much leeway with the dancers, permitting them backstage and familiar treatment when I was sure they preferred to be left in peace. While it was true that I sometimes asked for private audiences with them, I always insisted on their consent beforehand. Under my roof, there would be no leering or loitering. These shows were fundraisers, not dating services, and I made that obvious.
“You will treat the artists with the respect they deserve,” I growled, my eyes flashing. “They are not to be molested orharassed in any way, or I’ll make sure you never step foot in this castle again. Am I perfectly clear?”
My unveiled threats ricocheted through the walls, and the ministers eventually stopped asking ridiculous, lecherous questions, but they still distracted me from seeing Maren and the others off for the night.
I searched the castle for her, but when I saw Tristiana’s beat-up two-seater vehicle was no longer parked out front, I realized she had returned to her apartment in South Havenmire without saying goodbye.
Sighing, I pulled out my cell phone to text her, apologizing for not having seen her off, but I didn’t have the opportunity to type a single word when Odette appeared.
“Thank all the gods that’s over and done with,” the enchantress grunted. “Honestly, Nyx, what were you thinking with all that?”
Bristling, I eyed her. “I knew you wouldn’t like it, Odette. That’s why you weren’t invited.”
“You intend to do this again?” Odette pressed. “I heard you expect to do this weekly!”
“It’s none of your damn business what I do in my palace,” I growled.
“I fail to see what it was for at all,” she insisted. “Andthosefaeries, here in Steelshire Castle…”
I whirled around to bare my elongating fangs at her. She balked at the sight of them, standing down on her words. “All I’m saying is that this isn’t the place for those kinds.”
“What kinds are those, exactly? Talented artists? Beautiful faeries? If I didn’t know better, Odette, I’d say you were envious of their talents.”
She scoffed loudly. “Jealous?” she repeated. “I wouldn’t be caught dead on a stage half naked.”
“Wouldn’t or couldn’t?”
Balefully, she gawked at me.
“I am the most powerful enchantress in all of Steelshire! Why would I reduce myself to?—”
“Couldn’t,” I interjected, causing her face to twist more. “You couldn’t if you wanted to. Not with your attitude. No one would hire you.”
She rolled her stormy, gray eyes and vanished in a plume of silver. The conversation apparently hadn’t gone how she’d planned, but I was grateful for the peace and quiet.
I didn’t care what Odette thought about the cabaret dancers. I couldn’t expect her to understand the romance between me and the theater. It wasn’t just about the sultry, sexy shows that the faeries performed while belting out showtunes. The choreography and teamwork had always fascinated me, well before Maren had ever graced the stage.
And now that she was there, I had so much more to look forward to.
Again, I reached into the breast pocket of my suit jacket for my cell phone to text her, striding down the hallway toward the grand staircase that would lead me toward my suite on the third floor of the castle.
I had barely started typing when voices caught my attention in the main foyer.
“… to go there, but to bring them here?” one of the Royal Guards said to another.
I lingered back to listen, my senses heightened as I realized they were talking about the dancers.
“I don’t know. They’re nice to look at,” the second guard chuckled nervously, as if he knew they were speaking out of turn. I liked this guard. He had been on my private watch before, but the original speaker was newer, younger, and clearly in need of retraining.
“It doesn’t reflect well on the castle,” he grumbled. “King Lucius wouldn’t bring those types of faeries here.”
