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"Like we shouldn't be here?" he asked.
"Exactly," I agreed. "Entering places like this was something Zared and I used to do when I was a maiden."
"Why is that a problem now?" He cocked his head as he illuminated the room with magic on his hand.
"I don't know. I suppose I think Fae should behave differently. More mature or something. Aren't we supposed to be regal and elegant?"
"Of course, but that doesn't mean we have to be boring." He waved his hand across the arm of the chair and looked down and around. "Nothing on this side."
I looked around the other. "I can't see— Wait." I slid my hand across a groove in the wood. It was round and smooth. "If I stick my finger in this, am I going to end up dead?"
"Potentially," he said. "Do you want me to do it? I can if you're scared." He gave me a challenging look I was almost certain he knew I'd have to refuse.
Asshole.
"I'm not scared," I said. "All right, I am, but if I end up dead, I'm going to be really, really pissed off at you."
"Save your pissed off for Harel," he said. "If there's a booby trap in there, it's because he put it there."
"That would be no consolation if I was dead." I placed my finger into the groove and pressed down into it. I heard a soft click and a drawer slid out from under the arm of the throne.
Inside was what looked like a rusty, old key.
"Please tell me that's what we're looking for," I said.
"You were expecting something shiny?" he asked.
"Well…yes." My fingers hovered over the key. "I think this is the first rusty thing I've seen since I left Ebonfalls."
"Ryze and I are about as rusty as that," he said with a smile. "Pick it up."
I tentatively touched the key, then gripped it between my thumb and forefinger. When I lifted it up out of the drawer, it glinted in the moonlight.
"What the fuck?" It didn't look rusty anymore. It was as shiny as one of Tavian's knives.
"A little autumn magic. Making it look like nothing when it's really something. Here." He reached into his pocket. "You didn't think I'd come unprepared did you?"
He held a similar-looking key on the palm of his hand.
"If Harel has a quick look, he'll assume the key is still there." He handed it to me and pocketed the other one.
I placed the replacement in the drawer and shook my head as it turned rusty.
"Can I learn to do that?"
"You could if you had your first heat with Harel or an alpha here. I'll let you decide if it's worth it or not."
"That would be a big no," I said. "We should get out of here."
"We could," he said slowly. "Or we could stay here a little longer." He reached over and closed the drawer, then grabbed my wrist and pulled me until I was sitting on Harel's throne.
"You like living dangerously," I observed.
"If those guards talk about seeing us in the corridor, we can say I brought you here for this. It's the kind of depraved thing Harel would expect of any of the other High Lords."
He hooked his fingers into the top of my pants and tugged them down my hips. He pulled them until he was able to slide one leg off my foot.
"Would you want any of them to do this on your throne?" I asked as he pressed my thighs apart with his hands and knelt in front of me.
