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Her childhood?Gone.
Her home?Almost gone.
He lowered their joined hands to the bed, not letting go.“Sleep now.We can worry about the rest tomorrow.”
“What if the queen’s guard comes back?I won’t fight.I can’t risk it.”
He traced his thumb against hers.“Too bad you can’t ask your magical rocks to zap them for us.Your privacy stone is still under my pillow.At least they didn’t find it.”
“They probably believed we are otherwise occupied being newly married.”
“Good, let them think that.”
She closed her eyes, letting the buzz of his magic lull her.They could do this.Catch the killer.Snag the amethysts.Kill whatever beastie that Baba Yaga wanted her to.That last still made her stomach roll.
She stopped the can’t-look-away car crash of destructive thoughts before they sent her spiraling and concentrated on the thrum of Perry’s magic that comforted her like a steadfast heartbeat.
The next day, Jura came back, but she wasn’t alone.Vori wanted to ask for her help so they could track the killer, grab the amethysts, and get the hell out of here the second the goblin glass opened.But the goblin staff surrounding them made any conversation difficult.
Vori stayed still as Jura buttoned the oh-so-many buttons on the too-tight-to-breathe evening gown that’d been sent for her.“Why human attire for the feast?”She’d thought the celebration would be the time for her uncle to show off her return.And her crown in goblin form.
“Queen’s order.”Jura pursed her lips as though the title tasted tart on her tongue.“The case,” she called to one of the maids.The goblin brought a jeweled square box and flipped the latch, but the top stuck.
“Try unlocking it,” Perry said.He’d been an impatient grump since the magic book had refused to open for him this morning.Good book, hiding her secrets for now.“Having a key usually helps.”
“The key has been lost since the queen consort’s death.”Jura might’ve filtered out the word murder, but her tone screamed it.She passed the box to Vori.“If you would, Highness.”
Great.Nothing like a showcase of talents she’d rather keep hidden.Perhaps those gifts had been forgotten—lost in the realm’s consciousness like the key that likely went to her mother’s grave.The others stared, but Vori wouldn’t disappoint her mother’s best friend.She picked the lock in seconds, opened the box, and wished she could lock it again.The tiara she’d worn as a child lay on purple velvet—gold crafted in the shape of her natural crown with amethysts in an imitation of the destroyed wicked one.
“The same from the portrait?”Perry nodded toward the wall.
“The very same,” Jura answered around the pins in her mouth, straightening the tiara on Vori’s head.“Now for the consort band.”
“What?”he asked.Vori fought an eye roll as Perry’s face drained of color.“Not like the portrait again, right?I’m not wearing that awful monstrosity.”
Her mother’s band had been a golden collar that’d stretched from under her chin to the hollow at the base of her throat.But she wouldn’t let him make fun of her mom.No way.“It’s a status symbol to mark you as a consort.”
“Or a submissive’s collar.”He sounded so judgy.
Oh, now he’d asked for it.“No, but we can arrange one of those for you if you’re interested.”She ignored the curious glances from the others.
Jura opened a flat box with athwackthat had everyone jerking to attention.“Yours is different, Prince Consort.Thinner.See?”She snapped the plain gold band around his neck.“More stylish, but not nearly as effective in keeping your head attached if you’re in a goblin fight.”
Perry wrinkled his face in disgust over the beheading comment or the unwanted accessory.
Vori needed him to accept that the band would be his best option.“I know you’re excited to tell people how permanent we are, but let’s wait on the official consort tattoo for now, shall we?The massive one that would mean you belong to meforever.”That shut him up.She glanced at Jura.“How many goblin royals remain in Kradnovtl?”How many did my father miss?“And will they be attending tonight?I wouldn’t want to slight anyone.”
“Your uncle, the king, and you’ve met the queen as well as her sister, the captain.”Jura lowered her voice.“Both silver-bloods.”
“Who else?”Who might be the silver and gold she’d watched impale a man in front of her?The one who had her amethysts?The one who knew her name?
“You four are the sole survivors.”
Not counting the killer she’d seen in the human realm.
To the queen’s guard, Jura said, “Her Highness is ready for the feast.”
Vori didn’t feel like she’d ever be ready.Still, she stood.
