Page 35 of A Dark Prophecy's Heir

“You know Fae?” she asked.

“Some. Don’t you?”

“They’re powerful, scheming, sometimes-maniacal creatures. Even the most powerful warlocks and witches avoid them like the plague.”

“Don’t let them hear you,” he warned. She frowned when she heard the teasing in his tone. “And you said the same thing about me.”

The frown deepened, close to a pout. “I never called you maniacal.”

He resisted the urge to rub it with his thumb and tried to focus on the conversation. “Seneco’s a representative from one of the smaller courts. I don’t know if you know, but there are courts outside of winter, spring, summer, and autumn.”

“I know. It’s in our books. They’re said to be even more secretive and cunning than the big courts because they have to be.”

“Yes. Seneco’s court is secretive because they had to survive multiple assaults from the summer court. His court is also cunning because that’s just how Fae folks operate. Luckily, I saved them from a particularly brutal court assault and they swore their fealty to me.”

“And swearing fealty is a permanent mark of being untouched by them,” she surmised.

“In a way, yes.”

She mulled this over, her brows creased in concentration while her gaze moved again. It landed on a pale creature in a black suit, sitting with an extra-large goblet.

“That’s a vampire and it looks like he wants to jump over the tables and kill your Fae friend.”

That she could read the creature like a book had him biting back a chuckle.

“Another small house from Ostrov Krov, the island of the vampires. Your friend Maddox probably knows him.”

“Let me guess. He owes you.”

“Yes. I happened to be flying in his ship’s path when it was being assaulted by pirates. I saw my opportunity and drove the pirates away, secured his cargo, and saved him from drowning. Kendrick was grateful for it and offered a private alliance.”

“Naturally,” she said dryly.

He smirked. “Anyway, vampires hate Fae and he’s no exception, but he won’t jump Seneco out of respect for me. They have a long history of war, which I’m sure you know about too.”

“Not the whole story. It’s not in our books.”

“I do, but I promised Kendrick that it’s a secret I will keep to my grave. You really should hide that look of shock, Sapphire, or else you will expose your lack of knowledge to them.”

“You’re a lone dragon,” she pointed out, ignoring his jest.

“To the enemy’s eyes, yes.”

“You mean shifters?”

“That’s Lia from a lion clan,” he continued, jerking his chin to their right, where a muscled woman in a fur coat sat. “She’s representing her husband, who can’t make it, though it’s probably the right call for him not to come as that’s Sanchez, her husband’s business rival. He’s a lone panther shifter, so no clan.”

She gaped at them, then at him. He pointed out a few more guests, then straightened.

“Now that that’s all of them, brace yourself for the one-on-one.”

“What?”

No sooner had she asked than the first guest approached, greeting them courteously and sitting at the chair Bernard prepared in front of their table. Sapphire smiled at Lia when she was offered one, then accepted the gift box presented to them. Subtly, Klaus slid it behind them, where Olga was ready to pluck it away for investigation. It happened for the other guests, too, though not all of them bore gifts. Kendrick kissed her on her knuckles while a bear clan representative, Ballacus, presented her with a poem that almost put Klaus to sleep. Seneco perused her with pale, marbly eyes and pursed his lips.

“May I play with her?”

“Play?” she echoed.

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