Page 123 of Quiet Burn

Kit opens his mouth, but right as he’s going to speak, the raccoon lady and the giant spider come out of the back room. Laurel is pulling a tall rack with eight garment bags on it, her small features bright as she moves towards us.

“Signore Rigoletto has outdone himself,” she crows. “Even some of his bespoke designs would pale in comparison to the work he has done for the royal caliphate of Hell today.”

Jasper rises from his seat, responding to the decree as you’d expect a prince to do. “We are very grateful for your speed and grace, Signore.”

The giant spider scurries over, his face smug as he looks down at all of us. “My gifts are many, young royal, and I am always happy to share them with those who have great destinies in the making.”

I frown when X bobs their brows at KK and the guy pales a bit more than usual. They seem to be having some sort of confusing wordless conversation as my roommate hunches into himself. It makes my panda unsettled, so I scoot a little closer and drape my arm around his shoulders. “That’s pretty vague yet oddly specific, man.”

“As most prophecies are, heir to the Stryker line.” Guillermo chuckles, gesturing for Jasper to head for the rack and take his bag. “But you are all quite important for many reasons, and I cannot divulge all of them. I can, however, say that your differences make you strong. Do not allow your lineage weaknesses to keep you from the roles you are destined to play.”

“Stubbornness is not a virtue,” the raccoon says as she hands the Prince his bag and points to a dressing room. “Nor is obliviousness.”

Jasper gives her a surly expression he wouldn’t dare shoot at the giant spider, then stomps to the door she indicated. Slash sighs heavily, shrugging at us, then gets up. “He does not mean to be offensive, Signore. The Prince has strong ties to his family line as you can tell.”

“Yes, he does take after his father in ways that are less than helpful,” Guillermo replies in a matter-of-fact tone. “However, Isense much diversion from the natural inclinations of his kind and his family. As his caliphate, you balance the urges quite well, I believe. Some more than others, and some less, but that is the challenge of achieving true equilibrium.”

This dude speaks in riddles and I’m ready to say something dumb, I just know it.

Before I can, KK digs around in his bag, pulling out one of my snack bars with a grin. “You seem like you need a ‘pick me up’. Want your Scooby snack, Salem?”

“Thanks, man,” I murmur as he smiles shyly. It sort of makes my chest tighten and I have to look away as I unwrap the bar. This thing with Kit is throwing me off and I have to make sure we don’t draw any attention to it until we’ve had time to explore it more. “You’re probably right; I’m fading a bit.”

“Toss those around, Kit Kat. I think we should all recharge before we call a car and head to this thing. Who knows how safe anything they serve will be?” Anton’s suggestion makes everyone but Kit and Oriel mutter in agreement and I breathe an internal sigh of relief.

“Good idea, Annie,” Kit says as he plucks each ribbon color out one by one and tosses them to X, Anton, and Zavida. “I’ll give the grump and his BFF theirs when they come out.”

“Give us what?”

We all turn to look at the growly voice behind us and within seconds, I can feel the heat traveling up KK’s body. My lips twist as I hold back a chuckle; Jasper definitely looks hot as fuck doing the bad boy rebel thing. I suddenly understand the spider’s mysterious bullshit from a minute ago as Kit pretends not to wiggle a bit next to me. He was trying to say that Kit’sthe scale balancer in the group and that means this whole fake dating thing was almost prophetic.

Kit’s definitely meant for all of us and there’s something bigger than that going on.

“Why are you all staring?” the Prince growls as he tugs the collar of his shirt a little. The spider shifter sighs, obviously annoyed with the dragon futzing with his precise measurements. “It’s just dress clothes. Stop being ridiculous.”

“Jasper, you lookfabulous,” X says as they pop to their feet. “That open mandarin collar and basic black and white motif in silk is divine. Very bad boy forced to clean-up, especially with the tattoos.”

“Oh, no,” Oriel groans as he stands as well. “We’d better take our bags once Slash comes out. Xerxes is going tonarratethe runway out here.”

Kit is still silent and it’s getting very hard not to laugh. The poor kid is going to be mute by the time this fashion show ends, if I’m right about what Guillermo meant when he was riddling us.

The shark in question comes out dressed in black from head to foot, buttoned up and wearing a tie compared to Jasper’s more casual, ‘rumpled on purpose’ look. It makes him lookexactlylike the enforcer he is and it’s perfect. “I am pleased with my garment. Thank you.”

Never one to get mushy, that’s Slash.

“Damn, man. You look dangerous as hell,” O says as he grabs his garment bag and hands X theirs, too. “I guess it’s our turn to get pretty, mmm? KK, you and the lazy bear can go last. That seems fair since you got to go first.”

“But X?—”

I cut a look to Anton, glaring. “Oh, hush. You and Zav are next. Get over it.”

Jasper rolls his eyes, looking at his second-in-command. “Slash, give this lovely assistant our information so she can forward the clothes we’re leaving with her to inter-realm mail. She will make certain our things get back to Discordia.”

“I’m not letting go of my bagorDottie,” Kit says, finally breaking the sexy demon spell he’s been under. “You can forget it.”

“Do not worry, little demon. You don’t have to; I promise.” Slash crosses his arms over his chest, looking a shit ton like a big bad mob guy now. “I’m certain they have something appropriate for the venue you can use.”

Laurel beams as she nods. “We do. Xerxes asked while we were measuring. It’s in Kit’s bag. He can stock it all up and we will include the original in the package back to your realm.”

---