Page 265 of Sky’s Edge

Again.

I’d left home.

And came home.

“Yes, this is going to work,” I said to the pump right before Hurley bounded in.

I looked down at him, before I crouched and gave him a full-body rubdown.

Unsurprisingly, his daddy trailed him.

He didn’t fully come into the closet though.

He didn’t even look around.

He said, “Uly’s back. Estra is with him. They’re both staying for dinner. Cool?”

I smiled brightly at my male.

“Absolutely.”

“Ready for a drink?” he asked.

“Absolutely,” I repeated.

I went to Tanyn.

Hurley trotted beside me.

Tanyn called for the lights in the closet to extinguish.

They did that.

And together with our dog, we walked out of our bedchamber and down the hall to have drinks and dinner with our friends.

At home.

Chapter 27

Later

“We’re just going to have to run with it,” I proclaimed.

It was Wednesday, and I was in my study, sitting in the seating area by the fireplace, having a meeting with Mira, Jorda and Barret about the New Year’s Ball.

Before she was exiled, Tatra had come up with the uninspired theme of Shooting Stars, much of the décor had already been confirmed, and as such, ordered.

Perhaps not incidentally, Queen Calisa’s theme for the Midnight Masque had been “Soaring,” and those weren’t identical, but they were similar, so it almost seemed like a copycat situation.

Alas, at this juncture, I couldn’t throw it out.

Not only because we were operating on time constraints, but also because the castle’s finance department shared the budget for the Ball, it was astronomical, and most of it had already been committed or outright spent on deposits with vendors. I couldn’t make significant changes now, partially because I didn’t want the finance department to think I was a spendthrift like Tatra and Arnaud, but also because I’d already pushed a budget change with the staff salaries. I didn’t need to come to them with another one so soon.

Thus, we were going to have to work the shooting stars thing.

Blech.

“Anyway,” I mumbled, examining my tablet, “I like this moon and clouds installation that guests have to walk through, with all the lights in the clouds and against the background denoting stars. I think we can work with that.”