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He was. He’d gotten caught in his own trap. He’d sought out a consort who would horrify his family. And she’d managed that. He’d sought a consort so unsuitable no one would question him when he set her aside. He’d found the perfect one. No one would say a word against Dante if he found her someplace far away to live.
He could never let her go. She was half of him.
Kaja bet he’d never expected that.
Kaja tried to get to her feet. It was time to find her gorgeous, sexy, dumb-ass husband and explain a few facts of life to him. She wanted to be on top from time to time. It looked like a nice position, and she refused to accept less than his ex-mistress. “I do not know why you seek to hurt me, but this will not work. I know he makes foolish plans from time to time. I was the odd plan of his that worked out. And I will fit in here. I will make sure of it. And if you come near my husband again, you will find out how quick I am on four feet. I am not allowed to eat anything that speaks no matter how stupidly it speaks, but Dante never said anything about maiming. I will maim you.”
Of course, she would have to be able to walk first. She grabbed onto the bar, trying to hold herself up. Where had Dante gone? She couldn’t feel him anymore. She couldn’t focus long enough to even make the attempt.
“How much did you give her?” Ashley asked. Her voice sounded far away to Kaja. “Gods, Jeremy, if you’ve killed her, Chalen will have both our heads.”
Ashley’s arms went under her shoulders. Kaja struggled to move. She was beginning to understand that she was in trouble. “I do not want to be killed.”
She felt so weak. What was happening? Did they talk to the demon? Had they given her his elixir? It had made her weak before, but now it made everything fuzzy, and her limbs were limp and useless.
“I’ll take her. I’m stronger than I look.” Jeremy picked her up. “And I’ve carted more than one druggie out the door. Security won’t think anything of it. I want my payout in cash. I’m going to have to leave Dallas. If my boss ever finds out what I did, he’ll pull my fangs out of my head, and that will be the nice part of my day.”
Her world had upended. Her mind sought Dante’s but found only fog. She started to drift in and out of consciousness.
When she opened her eyes again, she was being placed in a large hovercar. A man with cold, dead eyes looked down at her.
“Hello, Mrs. Dellacourt. My name is Chalen Palgrave. I think you’re going to like your new accommodations. Well, until the vivisection begins. Then you might not think it’s so nice.”
The car took off, but Kaja was out once more.
Chapter Eighteen
Dante felt older as he walked out of Julian’s office. He’d only been in there for an hour and a half, but he would have sworn he’d aged ten years.
It was really happening. After all these years, the fight was finally here. Torin would come after Beck and Cian, and he would have the Vampire Council’s support. Well, maybe not their support, but they would look the other way if it meant royals once again had full access to consorts.
Torin was going to be the acknowledged king of the Seelie Fae, and Beck and Cian would be the rebels. Dante was having a hard time processing it.
And Chalen Palgrave was trying to kill him.
Simon Roan walked out behind Dante, a grim look on his face. “Mr. Dellacourt, I understand that you don’t trust me, but I’m your best bet to stay unharmed until such time as this misunderstanding with Palgrave can be fixed.”
He didn’t want to fix the misunderstanding. He wanted to eviscerate Palgrave.
“Roan really is the best,” Julian said. “I’ll vouch for him. Use him as a bodyguard for a while until we deal with Palgrave. He’s insignificant compared to ensuring the safety of the true Seelie kings.”
Dante wanted to growl his frustration to the world. He didn’t need this shit with Palgrave while his cousins were in danger. “I didn’t kill Kinsey Palgrave and neither did my cousins. If they had, I would have heard about it. If I had killed Kinsey, I damn straight wouldn’t hide it. And, if I’d killed him, it would have been because he was doing something he shouldn’t have.”
Julian walked out, closing the door behind him. “According to my sources, K
insey Palgrave went to the Refugee plane and didn’t come back. He received a message from someone. I managed to find a record of the call. I have excellent government sources. They’ll tell you they’re all about privacy, but there’s very little on this plane that doesn’t get recorded somehow. It’s fuzzy. I can only make out a blonde woman telling him to come pick up a consort. Kinsey left shortly after receiving the call. Am I correct in saying there was a hag stalking the kings?”
Julian’s sources were utterly impeccable. Dante bit back a little bit of bile. He could still see the hag. “You’re right. She’s dead now.” He’d had a hand in killing her. “And she was blonde. Her name was Liadan. She was sent by Torin to kill the twins. When she couldn’t manage that, she caused trouble.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the hag was responsible,” Julian said. “She would be strong enough to kill a vampire. It doesn’t matter now. I doubt Chalen will listen to anything I say. You need to get your consort and get back to the Dellacorp Building. Let Roan handle Palgrave. You need to figure out where to stash the kings until I can get them to the Unseelie plane. I’m in contact with King Fergus. He’s offering them asylum.”
“In exchange for what?” Dante wasn’t stupid. The last thing he wanted was to walk his cousins into an ambush.
Julian’s lips turned up. “He’s my uncle, you know. King Fergus married my mother’s sister.”
No. Dante hadn’t known that. The Unseelie were very secretive. “Are the twins part vampire?”
Now Julian was full-on smiling, but the fangs he showed off gave it all a menacing feel. “Worse. They’re half-Unseelie-royal, half-royal-vampire, and all symbiotic twins. Lachlan and Shim are more dangerous than you can imagine. And they’ve matured past an age where they must bond. I could smuggle a mate off the Seelie plane, but they insist on only one.”
