Page 83 of King’s Kismet

“How did she not catch you?” I inquired.

“She had me, but she let me go when she found out who I was.” Vaughn shrugged. “Said she didn’t deal in royal affairs. She didn’t care how much the bounty on my head was worth, it wasn’t worth getting dragged into fae bullshit.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Novak mumbled.

“So she let you go?” I pressed.

He wobbled his head. “Yeah. She wasn’t exactly happy about it, but I didn’t question her reasoning. Why?”

“Her real name is Onyx Costa,” I mentioned. “And she’s the rightful heir to the shadow realm.”

“Was that her arm?” Vaughn asked in a panic.

“What?” I countered. “No. We’re not bloodthirsty.”

He settled on the arm of the sofa, observing me. “Then what did—”

“We helped her,” I grumbled, sounding like my wolf. “She’s at the Devil’s Academy now, seeking sanctuary with Papi. But she’s going to need more help—”

“Let me guess…” Vaughn drawled, sighing as he scrubbed at his face. “We’re going to help her take her kingdom back.”

“What’s one more war?” I teased. “Especially when our problems are aligned.”

Wolf Wasted, Fae Faded,

Sloane Sober

How our get together led us to the shadow realm was beyond my comprehension.

But here I sat, in the second floor VIP section of The Lizard’s Den, with the Shadow Queen, Onyx Costa.

Well, technically she was now on the dancefloor with her mate, Zolren. And I was giggling with Grim as I waited for York to bring our next round of drinks.

Palmer and Hestos, another of Onyx’s mates, had long deserted us to go play with magic in the rooftop VIP. There were fewer people up there, but the view wasn’t quite the same.

From my seat, I could see it all.

Including the moment Novak kicked the home DJ from his booth and took over the musical entertainment for the night.... Because Blaire, Onyx, and her best friend, Ebony, wanted to dance.

That made me and Grim lean together, our giggles renewed as Jack stalked his prey. There was so much irony in the scene before us that it was difficult to contain the humor.

York and I had sat with Grim many nights, the three of us watching the hellsteed pick up women at the clubs we frequented. Nothing had changed... Except the woman he was hitting on was his and Grim’s mate, not some random person they would kick out in the morning.

Jack swaggered forward, hands going to Blaire’s hips as she swayed to the music. She grinned at him, until he started talking. Then she rolled her eyes.

I could guess at what he was saying, and it was probably along the lines of how gorgeous she was.

Which was a genuine statement. Blaire was beautiful, petite, bright-eyed with dark hair... Jack had a type, and she checked every one of his boxes.

Across the second floor VIP section, six members of our group howled with laughter.

Onyx’s mate, Jennings, had gotten Briggs and Vaughn wasted, though I couldn’t figure out how he’d talked them into shooting whiskey.

We sober folk had drawn straws to see who was babysitting who...

And my demon had lost. He was in charge of my fae for the night, not that he complained. Stone and Novak both agreed that Vaughn was adorably relaxed when he reached that level just past tipsy.

Baylor was frowning at his brother, looking too much like my wolf for comfort. Briggs and Bay could have passed as twins, though they were a year apart and the younger of the two had lighter blonde hair.