Wrapping my arm around her mouth, I drag her away from him as he stands there laughing. “That was one time,” I growl in her ear.
“I wouldn’t be agai–” he starts.
“Fuck off, Jace.”
As our other guards move with us, we leave him behind. He’ll slip through the crowd, keeping an eye on any threats, alongside whatever ants Evangeline has stationed here.
Speaking of the devil…
Evangeline slides up to us in one of her disguises. The only reason I recognise her is because she winks at me and pats her thigh – the prosthesis hidden under her suit.
“I’d say glad to see you’re not dead, Dickie, but really, I wouldn’t have cared either way.”
“You don’t mean that,” Arienna says, frowning at her.
“Of course not, Your Majesty.” She smiles at her; a lie. But it makes Arienna relax all the same.
“Thanks,” I say, genuinely meaning it. We might never be friends again, but I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to her. Because of her, I have my queen. “But next time, don’t leave Redric tied up in my bathroom.”
She looks at me blankly. “Who?”
My eyes narrow. “How do you not remember him?”
“I mess with a lot of people, Dickie. That’s kinda my whole job.”
I start to say something, but she’s already gone, having vanished in the crowd.
“That was amazing!” Arienna gushes, but all I feel is annoyance. Talking to Evangeline is like headbutting a wall, only at least with a wall, you still have a chance of breaking through.
“Berry!” Arienna waves at someone in the crowd and then starts moving towards her. “How are you? Have you read any of Fabia’s books yet?”
“Yes! And oh my gods, they’re amazing. I’m learning things I never knew about myself.”
“I know, right! Like who would have thought a slug dick gangbang would be so fuckinghot?”
“I was totally all for Gage winning that though. He was the sexiest out of all of them. When he started fucking Nolan’s dick...”
Tuning them out before I can learn how the hel a slug dick can fuck another slug dick, I look around the room. Dragon Bailey catches my eye. With a small smile, she nods at me over the rim of her glass before raising it slightly. The threat of a coup is still on the horizon; we haven’t crushed all the threats against us. But it seems we are making at least some allies in the Court.
I nod in return, and she turns to focus back on Petre.
“…Gage’s dick ripped into…”
Nope. Still not getting back into that conversation.
Catching the eye of a waiter, I gesture for a glass of ambrosia. He comes towards us with a fresh bottle. Marabel takes a sip of the first shot, then when she doesn’t die, she steps back so Arienna and I can have one. He pours two more, and picking them both up, I turn to my wife.
“I was so shocked when Gage asked to keep it,” Berry says.
“Right! But also a bit excited.”
They giggle, and I pray to the gods that was the last of the conversation.
“Are you talking aboutQueen Persephone and Her Five Warriors?” a woman asks, sliding up to us as Arienna takes her glass.
My brow furrows for a second, recognising her from somewhere. When it dawns, I look at her dryly. “I thought you were deaf.”
The librarian turns to me with a smirk. “I am. I can read lips, but I don’t respond to people being assholes.”
