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Grave stepped in through the side door which led to the basement. He nodded once to me. Kramer was secure. I hadn’t asked him to check up on him, but that was one of the good things about Grave. He was the keeper of secrets.
Once I decided what to do with him, I’d have Wraith handle it. As much as Delta wanted to be the enforcer, he wasn’t. But letting him play from time to time was good for everyone.
The church pews filled, and finally Comet came in the back and approached. “Almost there.”
“Good.”
“How much are you going to tell them?” He asked quietly. “About Sky.”
I clenched my jaw. “A third of the club already heard me claim her as King. Not to mention all of those Legion fuckers know because of Kramer. Whether or not she wants it, the secret is out.” Which was why I’d been forced to claim her prematurely in the first place. “They need to know about it. But not about the rest. The club isn’t going to know about that before she does.”
“Agreed.”
I smirked. “So glad I have your support.”
Comet slid his hands into the pockets of his jeans, and his eyes hardened. “On everything else? You have my support and allegiance as my Presidentandas my King.” He took a step closer, so he could speak low enough that only I could hear him in a room full of fae ears. “But Skyla is myâmmeluneas well. And none of us will completely defer those decisions to you.”
Raising one eyebrow, I stared at him, seeing if he’d relent. He didn’t, staring right back. I nodded once. “The five of us will speak about it after she knows.”
He stepped to the side, content for the moment. Wraith was the last to join us at the front, and I glanced at Comet. “We’re all here,” he confirmed.
“Close the doors,” I called.
Whiskers jumped up from the back pew and shut the ancient wooden doors with a bang. Church was in session.
I crossed my arms and looked at everyone. “I’m guessing by now most of you know at least a bit of what happened at the Crimson Petal, even if you weren’t there.”
Nods from most of them, a couple of shaking heads.
“I’ll sum it up for you. The Blazing Legion is encroaching on our territory, as we knew. A couple of weeks ago, we got a tip that a shipment of fae cocaine was coming into the city. Not our shipment. We knew where it would be, and figured it was the Legion’s doing, though there was no confirmation.
“Since the treaty is very clear about who gets control of that, we decided to… relieve the messengers of their package.”
Subtle laughter all around.
“What we didn’t know was who the middleman in the deal actually was. Kramer.”
“What?” the voice echoed and I didn’t bother pinpointing it.
“The Legion confronted him today. He offered up Skyla—a dancer at the club, many of you know her—as collateral. Until today, none of us knew she is a human-fae hybrid.”
“Shit.” That was Bonfire. He’d had entanglements with hybrids before and knew more than most about the danger they posed, and how valuable they were.
“Those of you who were there already know. I have claimed Skyla for the fae and the line of Shadows. She is here now, and will be here for the foreseeable future. Youwillrespect her as a member of our race, and if any of you touch her, you won’t see Wraith before he guts you.”
The silence in the church was tight. It wasn’t often I made such a tight rule.
“The Legion violated the treaty by breaching the sanctity of No Man’s Land. We have not. To be clear, they may want a war, but we do not. We will operate in the same way. Runners, be extra careful when delivering to the north side. If they try to engage you or attack, defend yourself and do not engage.”
“Seriously? You want us to just roll over like dogs?”
I looked toward the back and the voice. Bookend. “Is that what I said?”
“If they want a war, why not give it to them?” Glacier spoke up. “We could wipe them out in a day.”
“And erase any goodwill we have in the entire city,” Comet said. “We get left alone because we follow the rules that matter and break the ones that don’t. If there’s going to be a war, they have to bring it to us.”
“I didn’t peg you as someone who cared about PR, Silver.” Bookend again.
