“Thanks, but you really didn’t need to,” I said. “I know you guys are meant to do things for us, but I enjoy serving my wife personally.”
“Oh,” she said flatly. “I didn’t know it was forher.”
“That’s a rude way to address the princess,” I sneered. I guess I understood why the women around here were jealous of Ava, because they all wanted to get in the prince’s bed. Wasn’t going to happen.
“A prince should be able to have whatever he wants,” she replied. “After all, I’m here for you, Charlie.”
I hesitated, because it was such a strange offer. This was definitely out of line and made me uncomfortable. I thought about reporting her to a guard, but I didn’t want to get her executed for flirting with the prince. The Elves didn’t fuck with that kind of shit when it came to the monarchy.
The best thing to do was put an end to this and walk away. “If I need you, I’ll summon you.”
I turned on my heel and hurried back to my table so fast I forgot to grab a slice of cake for myself. No way was I going backto the buffet alone, though. That serving girl had really creeped me out.
The party was still going on late in the evening, far past midnight, and the Elves were no closer to quieting down. My grandfather drank a whole tankard by himself and danced to nearly every song. He was having more fun than anybody.
I was considering telling everyone goodnight and taking Ava back to our room, because she was starting to fall asleep in her chair. It’d been a big day for both of us with a lot of activity, and as much as I was certain she wanted to celebrate our engagement in a much more private way, she needed to rest. We could wait until morning.
“Hey,” I heard Kallie say, and I nearly startled. I hadn’t heard her come up behind me— she was super good at sneaking up on people. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks,” I told her. “I hope the proposal was everything Ava wanted.”
“It was, trust me,” Kallie said. “You did great.”
Her voice dropped to a serious tone. “I don’t want to ruin your party, but we need to meet tomorrow morning as soon as we can. Demigods only.”
“You found something?” I wondered.
“Yes,” Kallie confirmed. “I learned more about the vampire key. And if we don’t act fast, it might slip out of our hands again. So be ready. Tomorrow, we’re moving in.”
Chapter Twelve
AVA-MARIE
Kallie’s words were urgent. We hadn’t found a lead on the vampire key in what felt like ages, and now she was insisting that we could have it in our possession— today.
I hoped whatever information she had would give us some results. The entire summer had come and gone, and we had nothing. The Warden was growing stronger every day. We couldn’t afford to keep giving him more time to get stronger while we kept following false leads. Charlie’s team had been searching for the vampire key since the bank robbery had failed, but every trail they picked up went cold. We needed a win, and fast.
We got ready in a hurry that morning. But when I opened the door to our bedroom, I hitched a breath. Over a hundred roses were scattered in front of the door, their heads cut off. Petals and thorny stems were everywhere.
Okay, weird. Oberi scampered to our side and put his nose down to sniff the mess.Hm. Sothisisn’t creepy.
“Are you getting a scent?” I asked.
No. All I can smell is roses.Oberi sneezed.But truly, a strange mystery.
“Charlie,” I called. He came over, and I said, “Somebody left a mess in our suite.”
He ducked down, and his fingers skimmed the ruined flowers. He frowned. “Who got into our suite? Our friends are the only ones who have access to my quarters, and the guards won’t let just anybody in.”
“Somebody must’ve put them here a few moments ago,” I said. “Otherwise, the servants would’ve noticed and cleaned it up by now.”
“Probably just one of our friends, playing a prank,” Charlie said. “I bet it’s Alistair. He was pretty wasted last night from the party.”
I bet it was. He’d do something odd like this as a joke. “He’s got a bizarre sense of humor.”
Oberi wagged his tail.I did see him sneak magical fireworks into Chancey’s room last week. When he walked in, they all erupted on cue. The whole room nearly caught on fire before the servants had to put it out. It was quite dangerous, but Alistair thought it was funny.
“So that’s settled,” I said. “Alistair thought it’d be a huge gag to leave cut-up roses outside our door the day after our engagement. Kind of messed up, but he’s known for taking it too far.”
