Page 118 of The Robin on the Oak Throne

But Kierse couldn’t just walk away from her without raising suspicions.

Lyra waved a hand. “But we’re going to continue this run ofMidsummeruntil the end of the month.” She fluttered her long eyelashes at her. “Are you going to come to another show?”

Was Lyra flirting with her? God above, she was absolutely Kierse’s type in any other circumstance. Not that she went for monsters, but one who looked like this…

“I sure hope so. My beau is a big Shakespeare buff,” Kierse said.

Lyra stepped closer, her eyes wide, the scent of flowers on her pale skin. “Good. The show is all about messy relationships. Hopefully, I can serve the king and queen of faerie well.” She winked as she strutted away.

Kierse liked her audacity.

Graves cleared his throat for all different reasons. Laz laughed softly on the line. Kierse got moving.

The security team consisted of six trained mercenaries—two goblins, a shifter, a half troll, and two mer, including Schwartz. The shifter and troll guarded the collection of items for auction while the two goblins brought each item forward. Kierse could already hear the opening invitation to bid on a rare painting by Monet. Schwartz and his comrade mer were circling the perimeter with automatic weapons. If their siren song didn’t deter trespassers, the guns sure would do the trick.

The Monet sold for seven figures, and out came the next piece, a rare Filipino amulet with a robin’s egg jade stone in the center, brought forward by one goblin while the second shadowed the exiting artwork. It was a smooth operation. Just as Schwartz had described.

Schwartz passed by on his next circuit of the room, and the slight tip of his head was the signal she needed.

She waited for him to pass, took a deep breath, and then walked straight into the back room. A gasp came from nearby, but she didn’t look up. She didn’t break stride. Her eyes clocked the box that held the cauldron instantly before she veered away and began to peruse the rest of the items. She went from one priceless artifact to the next like she wasconsidering them at a flea market.

“Ma’am!” a harried assistant, who had hurried over from the auction room, said in a squeaky voice. “You can’t be back here.”

“What?” she asked, walking to the next piece. Farther from the cauldron, away from their real target. “I was just on my way to the bathroom.”

“The bathroom?” the woman said, glancing around at the security guards.

A different mer guard took the first step toward her. His voice was hard. “You need to get out of here.”

She steeled herself against the soft pressure of his siren song. He hadn’t used it too obtrusively yet, probably thinking she was more a nuisance than a threat. “I’m just browsing. My husband has deep pockets, and we weren’t informed of everything that would be up. I need to make a list.”

“That’s not what they’re here for.” He put a hand on her arm.

Kierse gasped dramatically and reeled backward. “Don’t touch me! Don’t you know who I am?”

“Rog,” the assistant warned.

But already the other two guards were getting up from their positions to come see what all the fuss was about. Good. All Laz needed was a few minutes. She hoped that she could give him that long.

“Locking in,” Laz whispered into her ear.

Kierse’s heart rate kicked up as she started a mental countdown of how long she needed to keep them occupied. As they loomed over her, the threat was clear—she couldn’t take down all these guards herself—but she didn’t have to. The highbrow billionaire’s wife she was playing wouldn’teven consider it. She’d never think that someone would touch her. Kierse had seen enough of them, stolen from enough of them, to know the attitude.

“You need to leave,” Rog said gruffly.

“I don’t know who you think you are,” she said with her head held high. “You couldn’t buy a singlepieceat this auction, let alone all of them.” She stepped forward like an entitled brat. “I could buy the entire lot of this.”

Rog flexed his hand on his gun. The shifter came to his side. The half troll looked dumbstruck at her audacity.

Kierse waved a hand, dismissing them, and continued looking through the pieces, moving farther and farther from the closed computer bank where Laz was working. Away from his sneaking, probing fingers, reaching through their system to learn their secrets.

“Don’t make me throw you out of here. I will,” Rog said, still tailing her.

Kierse shot him a fierce glare. “If you lay one hand on me, it will be the last thing you do.”

Rog jerked back in surprise. “I’m not afraid of some princess,” he snarled.

“I could buyyou,” Kierse argued. “The whole dirty lot of you.”

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