Page 119 of Quiet Burn

The giant spider sighs and claps his hands loudly. A small but business-like raccoon shifter comes scurrying out of the back with a tablet in her small hands, stopping in front of the arachnid tailor to look at us. Her gaze is shrewd, but she smiles once she’s done examining our group. “Are we outfitting the Prince’s caliphate today?”

“Sí,Laurel. His Highness apologized for the late notice and since we accommodated the twins, I would be remiss if I denied heirs of the seven courts the same courtesy.”

I arch a brow at the old shifter’s words. “You dressed the Geminis for this event?”

Laurel nods, her small eyes glittering. “The Gemini family has been one of our major clients for many, many generations… going back to the old country, even. The twin heirs are quite lovely, as is their new mate and her other fated.”

What the actual fuck?

Before I can express my surprise, X jumps in to save the day. “You must have been honored to dress that large a party for such an auspicious event. Perhaps while we are getting measured, you might share a little about what wonders you worked for them? Fashion is my passion, you see.”

“Ah, that explains it. You are the heir to the lust lineage, no?” The spider tilts his head, skittering sideways a tiny bit as he studies my lover. “Your skill has grown since I last saw the pieces you made.”

X looks like they’re going to faint, and I chuckle softly as I whisper to them, “Don’t let the flattery send you into spasms of joy. Bigger picture.”

“Very good, young demon.” The tailor squints at me and I feel as though he’s trying to see into my soul. I don’t know if that’s for the outfit or out of curiosity, but it makes my magic prick up in response. “You are the Alaric heir, then. Logic is often in conflict with pride, but I sense you ride the line well.”

“You could introduce yourself, since you seem to be adept at guessing who we are,” Kit grumbles and we all stare at him in shock.

This was not the diplomacy I’d hoped for, but at least it wasn’t Jasper.

A bark of laughter escapes the enormous spider, his legs moving quickly as he scurries up to the kid. “You…You are not a royal at all, are you? All the courage to confront my lack of manners, but none of it to believe in yourself. Tsk, tsk, young rebel. I sense many things about you—none of them surprising or bad, yet your destiny is fraught. Laurel, please escort the gossip loving heir and this young one to the back. They will go first, then thePrince and his general. After that, two at a time until we are ready to select the pieces.”

“That still didn’t answer my question, even if you did give me the magical version of a fortune cookie,” Kit complains as the raccoon woman takes his hand.

“Oh, Ilikethis one,” Laurel mutters happily. “You’re as fun as the twins’ new mate. Let me take you and Duke Xerxes back to get measured and we’ll talk all about it.”

“My name is Guillermo, but you may call me Gui,” the tailor says as he turns to follow his assistant and our friends. “I do not often extend that offer, but Laurel is right; you are quite amusing.”

Salem leans in, whispering to me in a shocked tone. “Who had KK charming the fuck out of the ancient spider dude by calling him out on their bingo card? I sure as fuck didn’t.”

“I don’t have the shrimp charminganyoneon my goddamn bingo card,” Jasper snorts. “We’ll be lucky if he doesn’t get us killed with that fucking mouth.”

I’d correct him, but in this case, the pissy prince might actually be right.

Once the designers and our friends disappear into the darkness of the archway, I turn to my brothers, my expression serious. “We didn’t know there was a huge event up here, right? Is this why your father would only grant us leave to come up here this weekend, Jas?”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, the prince sighs. “I don’t know. Maybe? Probably. He’s a sketchy asshole and if he’d gotten wind of some big fucking surface event he wasn’t informed of byour representatives, he just might orchestrate our gate crashing without telling me.”

“He definitely would.” Slash crosses his arms over his chest, his eyes darting around the shop as if ninjas are going to leap out of the mannequins and attack. “I do not like this, but I also do not see a way for us to utilize this trip without going.”

“Exactly,” Oriel adds as he pulls out his phone. “We need Zav to get on this shit pronto. Right now we’re skating by on X’s ability to pretend, but that won’t last long.”

We all turn to look at the kitsune, only to find him staring at his device as his fingers fly over the screen furiously. Jasper chuckles, reaching over to ruffle his messy red hair in an unusually fond gesture. “Looks like he’s on the case already.”

“Great. But like… how long is this shit going to take? We packed for a short day trip. Are we going to get stuck here at some ridiculous party? Those fucking things go on fordays,” Salem grumbles. “And we’d have to be guests of theGeminis. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t feel safe letting Kit Kat anywhere near those dickwads, especially when it comes to food and drink.”

I blink at the panda shifter. Sometimes, he’s pretty sharp and it’s hard to know when to expect it because of the snoozy shit. “Salem’s right, though it’s not just about Kit. I’m not excited by the prospect of having any of us at the mercy of those assholes. We came up here because we wanted to find out if Darkstar is arranging a coup with Luca. Nothing in their territory is safe for us.”

Jasper rolls his eyes down to the floor, his hands behind his head as he paces on the expensive as fuck carpet. “None of this isgoing to plan, but if we don’t play along, who knows when we’ll be allowed to come back. But we can’t trust anyone up here and we have limited time to discover any leads. We can find what we need to infiltrate, but we know nothing about the setting.”

Slash sees my curious expression and shakes his head. “Let him work this out on his own, Anton. The Prince often talks himself through things when only I am present, which is why you don’t recognize his process.”

I snort, covering my mouth for a second as it hits me. “Isthatwhy you two hole up to ‘discuss’ strategy alone? Jasper likes to talk to himself and you’re the only one who will stay quiet while he does it?”

“I stay quiet, too,” Zavida mutters as he works on his phone. “But yeah, that’s why. Everyone else talks too much.”

For fuck’s sake, they’re all insane. He can’t be the only one looking at a problem before we address it.

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