Page 88 of Sky’s Edge

“Damn, crap, ugh,” I muttered under my breath, pushed up, smoothed down my skirt in a gesture that was more nerves and agitation rather than anything else.

And with nothing for it, I walked out the door to find the antechamber to the dining room where we would have pre-dinner drinks in the midst of a missing traitorous queen who it seemed had significant homicidally insane tendencies, I’d be meeting his close bud, and sharing drinks and dinner with him, my family and friends.

All while Tanyn was justifiably (and that was worst of all) pissed at me.

Great.

No.

Farging fabulous.

Bah!

Chapter 10

Over

Predictably, dinner was not a barrel of laughs.

Tanyn’s eyes might have been back to blue, but there was no mistaking he was ticked right the hells off…and who he was ticked at (obviously) was me.

This, of course, made Dad hyper-alert to the two of us…and ticked as well.

It made Mom hyper-aware of the two of us…and openly worried.

Same with Laura, times two, because she seemed worried and ticked.

Whereas Aleksei and Nayden went into overdrive trying to make it seem like this was a nice dinner with a number of beings who cared about each other (which, it was, it was just that one of those beings was angry at another one).

Nayden, by the by, could pass as Tanyn’s brother.

He was tall, lean, fit, dark, had striking silvery-gray eyes that were a lot like the color of mine…oh, and he was gorgeous.

He was also amusing.

And last, and this was the part I liked the best, it was clear he knew Tanyn very well because he handled him and his mood brilliantly.

Fortunately, since I was de facto queen of the castle (literally!), I was seated at the foot of the table, and Tanyn at the head, far away from me.

Mom sat to his right.

Laura strongarmed Aleksei out of his seat at my right and sat there instead of him.

As Nayden regaled us with stories of him, their other friend Uly, and Tanyn at The Eyrie, being sure to make them funny not embarrassing, complimentary and not mocking, and mostly reminiscent not tawdry, Laura continually kicked my leg.

Eventually, I kicked her back.

She returned my kick.

So I did the same.

Before we bruised each other into limping for days, I gave her big eyes.

She shot them back.

I mouthed, “Later.”

She leaned toward me and whispered, “His mom was murdered. How are you two fighting?”