Page 66 of The Fae Menagerie
I followed Doyle's example and grabbed every pillow, blanket, and sheet I could carry.
"You've already wasted a full minute," she said as we approached the door. "Don't be late."
"Yes, Grandmother."
A line of cuddlebug servants carrying a silver tea service and tray after tray of immaculate fruits, wonderful-smelling pastries, and other foods waited for us to leave with our bulky bedding before entering the viewing room.
Doyle tossed his heap onto the bed and donned his robe. "I'll distract her," he said. "Come as soon as you can." He kissed my cheek and fled the room.
I hopped into both pant legs at once, which only tripped me up when I tried to pull them over my calves while I was standing on them. I worked them on, finally, leaving the fly open while I dragged on the blue button-down that matched my eyes. I may have missed a button or two, but I got the collar to line up right above the suit jacket, which was my only concern.
I tucked the shirt in, zipped and buttoned my pants, and straightened out my suit jacket above it all in the bathroom mirror. I didn't have time to run water through my hair. I hoped Doyle's grandmother could appreciate the roguish bedhead look I had going on.
The sound of water running in the kitchen caught my attention. It was strange to have so many fae in our enclosure,when before only Chani, Aidan, Prince Drummond, or Mother Thera had visited, and then, only one at a time.
I rushed to the viewing room, where Doyle and the beautiful butterfly fae sat on either side of the couch. She balanced a saucer and teacup on top of her hand, and he looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here.
"Parker," he said, attempting to stand. The viewing bell rang at that moment, freezing him in his seat.
His grandmother stood and offered her hand to me after setting her teacup on the side table. "Parker, dear. My daughter-in-law has told me so much about you."
"All good, I hope?" I asked, bringing her knuckles to my lips for a brief kiss, the way Doyle had done for his mother when she visited.
Before my lips connected, Doyle's grandmother yanked her hand from mine with a grimace. "I do not want your human essence all over my hand."
She motioned for me to take her spot on the couch. After her rebuke, I felt a little weak in the knees.
"I apologize young human. I am concerned for my grandson, not only because you are human but also because I told him to never bond his fated mate. I put him in this enclosure to keep him from one who thought they were fated, and now I discover you are his true mate, not Prince Drummond at all."
"I never said the prince was my fated mate," Doyle muttered under his breath.
"You never said he wasn't, and he insisted you were. I did what any matriarch would do. I separated you. And now … this."
She waved her hand at me as though I was garbage to be taken out. Then, she clapped her hands together, and her cadre of servants surrounded us.
"Have the arrangements been made?" she asked.
"Yes, Milady."
"How long?"
"Twelve hours, by my calculation, Milady."
"Can your human swim for twelve hours, I wonder?" She shrugged off a servant's interjection. "Yes, I know he won't be swimming for the full twelve. If he can survive the flood, and the fall, he is yours. If not, you will be free."
She dipped a slight curtsy toward Doyle and smirked at me before taking her teacup and traipsing from the room. Her servants followed her, taking all the delicious-smelling food and tea with them. They reappeared outside with the spread, filling a table for the rabble to eat and watch.
I was so invested in the strange banquet happening outside our window, I failed to notice until the cold seeped into my toes.
Chapter
Twenty-Four
DOYLE
"What the fuck?"Parker raised his shoe off the floor, and water dripped from the sole. The tile glistened in the far corners of the room, but here, beneath the viewing couch, it was already deep enough to wet the bottoms of his shoes and my bare feet.
No wonder Grandmother had made such a big deal about fixing the hole in my kitchen wall. "Can't have that, can we? Anything could get in here. I heard there was a basilisk loose in the menagerie. I'm so glad you're safe!"
