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Kai found me some time later, pulling me out of my chair and into the hall, wrapping herself around me and not letting go until I stopped shaking. Fuck, I was so damned relieved it wasn't Hisashi who'd come to get me. How could I tell him our fae didn't remember us?
Finally, I got a grip on my stupid emotions and pulled back. Kai rubbed my arms and her dark blue eyes were searching. "Oh honey, I'm sure he'll wake up soon."
I shook my head. I couldn't even begin to tell her. "Did you need me for something?" I asked instead.
She sighed and reached behind her to pull my cell phone out of her back pocket. "You left this in the kitchen, and it's been ringing constantly for the last ten minutes. Hisashi said you needed to answer it."
I rolled my eyes. Having a resident psychic might seem like a great thing, but in actuality all it meant was one more person bossing me around. Still, if he said I should answer the phone, I should probably answer the damned phone.
It started vibrating in my hand. I didn't recognize the number, but I swiped the answer button anyway. "Yeah?" I said, not in any mood for fucking phone calls.
"Finally!" Evalyn's sweet, French-accented voice was not what I had been expecting. "Gesa, we need to do a video call. The Silverleaf clan needs to hear from their new king. Put Oisin on the line, please."
I just stood there. Suddenly, everything was just too fucking much.
Kai took the phone from my numb fingers and pressed the speaker button. "Hello, Evie darling," she said in an upbeat voice. "I'm so happy to hear you survived the little event we attended. But Oisin is indisposed at the moment. You'll have to call back. Maybe sometime next week."
Evalyn tsked at Kai. "Now is not the time for joking, my kraken friend. We are in the middle of a bit of a political...situation. I'm afraid I must insist to speak with my brother. He needs to address his subjects to avoid unrest." Her voice dropped to a whisper and it sounded like she might be covering up the phone with her hand. "Seriously, Gesa are you still listening? While you all were on the run, we've overthrown the nobles who supported my father. Oisin is the rightful clan heir, and once I made it known what our father had been up to, the clan is calling for blood. I need Oisin to come home and settle things!"
I took the phone back from Kai. "Evalyn," I said with what little calm I could muster. "I don't fucking care if the sun is about to fall from the sky, you can't talk to Oisin right now. He's still in a fucking coma from what your precious fucking clan let that monster do to him." Okay, so that calm didn't last. I ended with a full-on growl.
She was dead silent for a beat. Then she dropped the whispering and her tone was placid and commanding. "Of course we understand that the king will need time to right the wrongs inflicted on him. The Silverleaf clan would be honored to accept a message from his High Consort."
I pulled the phone away from my ear and frowned at it before speaking again. "Evalyn have you—"
I was going to say "have you lost your fucking mind," but I was cut off.
"We will look forward to your address in five minutes. Thank you so much for your time, High Consort Lionheart."
The call ended.
I stared at Kai. "What the fuck just happened?"
She laughed. "I think Oisin just became a king, and you are some sort of honored mistress. But it looks like someone has to talk to the peasants, so they don't riot."
She turned me and shoved me toward the stairs. "Your office. I'll get you a hairbrush and a shirt. Go!"
I stumbled down the stairs. What the fuck was I supposed to say to the fae? Something like "oh, hey there. You almost caused me to lose my mate. Fuck you all in your uptight fae asses?"
Somehow, I didn't think that was going to fly.
Kai met me a minute later, forced me into a blouse and dragged a brush through my hair. Then she shouted at Hisashi to come help her with the "fucking technology."
I found myself sitting at my desk, my top half clothed in presentable items, my bottom half still in pajamas. My phone was propped up on a stack of books, so it captured my upper half.
"Sit up and don't fidget," Kai demanded.
"And, you might want to stop with the death glare," Con said helpfully.
Hisashi waved him away. "She needs to look mean. Establish that she's the alpha and no one fucks with her. It will make Oisin look stronger by association, since she belongs to him."
We all stared at him as I remembered that our young fox had spent his formative years with a family that was the definition of uptight ceremony-obsessed formality.
Lucky for me, he was wearing his silk kimono-style robe, his go-to when he didn't feel like wearing real clothes. I dragged him closer, turned him around, and pointed at Kai. "Make his belt into a pretty bow thingy."
"Gesa? What the hell are you doing?" Hisashi demanded as I extended a talon and cut a slit in the back of his robe. "This is my favorite robe!"
"Shift," I commanded.
He heaved a sigh, but didn't argue, letting his magic roll over him and push him into half-shift. "Happy?"
I pulled his fluffy tails through the hole I'd made, batting them away from my face when he twitched them in agitation. "Hey! Careful with the tails. Gods, they're sensitive, you know!"
"There! He's all pretty," Kai said with an obnoxious grin.
Hisashi turned to me, arms crossed over is chest, his white fox ears pinned back like an angry dog. "Gesa..." he warned.
I smiled up at him. "Yes. That's perfect. Keep that whole menacing animal thing going on."
Kai pulled him around to stand behind and to the right of my chair, lining us up so we both showed up in the phone screen.
The phone rang and I let out a breath before pressing the answer button.
"High Consort Lionheart, ruler of the Lionheart clan," Evalyn's sweet voice called as she waved to me on the screen. She was dressed in some sort of flowing, gossamer fae nonsense that was completely inappropriate for winter. Not that the fae clan had to suffer anything like snow, thanks to their freaky intertwined worlds and all. Her eyes flicked to my right and I knew she was seeing Hisashi.
"And...consort of the Miyamoto clan. The Silverleaf clan welcomes you." She stepped away from the screen to reveal a makeshift stage in the form of a particularly wide, flat boulder. Below was a large gathering of fae, all arrayed in silk and gauzy stuff, dripping gems and wearing flower crowns. Honest to the Gods flower petals were thrown up in the air to rain down like snowflakes as the crowd cheered.
Evalyn did something so the view swung to show me a huge projector-style screen that had been set up for the crowd. It showed me sitting at my massive oak desk, glaring. Hisashi stood at my side with his arms folded, hands tucked into each opposite sleeve, looking all ethereal and regal.
The view on my end slid back to the crowd and Evalyn spoke again. "The king's consorts are assisting him with some important matters, so we must keep this brief," she said with a smooth apologetic voice. Turning to me, she bowed. "Please," she said, with a wink only I could see. "I understand there was a message the king wanted you to pass on.
Kai held up her own phone, where a text message had come in from Evalyn's phone. I read while trying not to look like I was reading something. Just say something about how he is honored to welcome the next era and move on because you are very busy and important.
Looking at the screen, I scanned the gathered crowd. Oisin was a fucking king of the territory owned by his ancient clan. This was a problem. A huge problem.
First, Oisin was damaged.
Second, ruling them would very likely take him away from us.
Third, fuck them. They made this fucking mess. They could deal with the fact that they'd turned a blind eye to their crazy-ass old ruler while he was off being evil and tormenting the one person who ever dared stand up to him.
I pinned several of the fae with a glare, hoping they felt singled out in the crowd. "Oisin would like me to convey how honored he is," I said calmly, pretending I was at one of my mother's stupid parties or handling some political argument for Gabbi as she ran the gryphon clan in my place.
I paused. The thought of Gabbi made me smile a wicked, satisfied smile as an idea occurred to me.
"I'm afraid we don't have much time to convey all the things your new king would wish to say," I managed to get out. "He will be busy for some time. However, you can rest assured that your leader is well protected," I looked to Hisashi so everyone would get the point. Oisin had the leader of the largest gryphon clan in the U.S. and a rare, scary powerful nine-tail with him. "Even from his own kind," I added with a warning glare. No one better think they could just come get him this time.
Easing back in my chair, I gestured at the screen as if I was granting them a wonderful favor. "In the meantime," I said. "Oisin has sheltered his dear sister from their father's madness for a century. She was forced to strip herself of her magic and go into hiding as a human."
The crowd muttered at this. The thought of living like a human was abhorrent.
"It was partially through Evalyn's assistance that the Lionheart pride was able to rescue our mate and avert disaster for the Silverleaf clan." I smiled for Evalyn's benefit, hoping she really understood what I meant here—your fucking problem for the time being, chick. Oisin's done enough for you fuckers.
"Because of this," I continued, "Oisin has appointed Evalyn as his seneschal—to rule in his place and carry out his orders until such time as he sees fit to return to the fae lands."
Evalyn's jaw dropped. She looked ridiculous. I smiled even wider, then glanced over my shoulder as if someone was calling me away. "Oh! I’m sorry, but we have to go now." I gave the crowd one last warning glare. "I hope that when we next meet, the fae have made strides to redeem their character. Remember, the evil that was allowed to grow like a cancerous tumor in your midst has not gone unnoticed by the other supernatural clans." I thought of one more weapon and threw it out there like a live grenade, without thought of the consequences. "And it has not gone unnoticed by the guardian of the territory where Oisin currently resides."
Invoking Derek fucking White seemed to put the fear of the Gods in them. The crowd quieted, and I watched as a hundred sets of jewel-bright eyes looked up at the screen in horror at the implications.
Good. Maybe they'd leave us all alone for a while so Oisin could recover. I hit end call before Evalyn could respond to my words.
Leaning back in my chair, I let out a massive sigh. "Fuck."
Kai was leaning against the door frame, wiping tears from her eyes. She'd been laughing quietly over there for the last minute or so. She finally let out a bark of laughter.
Hisashi shifted back to human form and shook his head at me. "You know, I should be pissed at you for using my clan to start shit with the fae," he told me sternly. But one corner of his mouth twitched. "But fuck them."
Con handed me a steaming mug, turned and took another off a tray on a nearby end table and handed it to Hisashi.
The fox made a face, and I groaned.
"Drink up," the human-turned-plant-witch demanded. "Especially if you're going to be picking interspecies fights."
I lifted my mug to my lips and inhaled, smiling in bliss. Con had promised the last herb tea was it for me. The human was true to his words. My mug held some amazing coffee concoction that smelled of caramel and chocolate.
Hisashi glared at me and grimaced as he chugged whatever was in his cup. "Tastes like catnip."
I sat up and pulled Con down for a quick kiss. "Thank the fucking Gods it's not more tea," I said as I sat back again. "But what are those other cups for?" I glanced at the tray, which still contained two more mugs.
Con bit his bottom lip and picked up one mug. "Oh...this one is mine."
I raised an eyebrow at him. "And the other one?"
Hisashi clapped me on the shoulder and made straight for the door. "I'm out of here."
Kai followed him while Con continued to squirm under my glare. "You have a visitor. I tried to send him away but," he gestured at himself in illustration, "just human and all."
Gods damn it, what now?