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The next day, I made sure the chainsaw worked, then packed it up into the jeep to take it to Josie’s house. I was getting ready to leave when the wards and a polite tapping at the reinforced side door to the garage alerted me that I had a visitor. I let out a sigh. Unexpected guests never boded well. Fin and Emerson were both off doing their own thing today, and even if they came back early, both of them had keys and access. They wouldn’t be knocking.
I glanced at the grainy old monitor above my workbench and groaned. There was a human woman on my stoop. A very cheery, very pregnant human woman who worked for the damned delusional new sovereign of Westhold. Fuck my life.
I unlocked the door and yanked it open. “What?” I snapped, glaring at Ada and ignoring the burly human guard who had accompanied her to the door.
Ada smiled at me, her bright blue eyes almost seeming to glow, the same way her stupid politician cousin’s did when he was all excited about something. “Hello to you too, Sam,” she said with a grin. “Nice to see you. Pleasant weather we’re having today, isn’t it?”
She folded her hands over her bulging, floral-print-covered stomach and patiently waited for me to grow some manners.
I sighed. “Hi. No, it’s not. And it’s hot as balls.”
She lifted an eyebrow at me, still waiting.
I rolled my eyes and put on a simpering face. “Hello, Ada, what a pleasant surprise. Welcome to my humble abode. Please come make yourself comfortable.” I gave her a sarcastic bow and a swept an arm back to invite her into the luxury of my garage, which was about as far from comfortable as it could get for a soft, pampered female in her condition.
She nodded and stepped inside, satisfied that she had me doing what she wanted. Women. I couldn’t believe I was part girl myself. They were...strange creatures.
“It really is good to see you again, Sam,” Ada said, plopping her balloon-like self on a stool and rummaging around in the stupidly large purse she carried over her shoulder. “Theo wanted to come himself, but with the upcoming inauguration and all, he’s been pretty busy.”
She finally found what she wanted and came up for air, slightly flushed from the exertion of reaching around her belly while she balanced on the stool. She waved a folder at me. “Your viceroy contract!” Her nimble fingers made quick work of the bright red, silk-covered elastic that held the creamy folder shut. When she held the thing out to me, I just looked at her like she was offering me a poisonous snake.
“Oh, come on, Sam,” Ada said, raising her eyebrows. “Theo said you’d be difficult about it, but I’ve had heartburn since three o’clock this morning, my feet are killing me, and there’s a baby rhino sitting on my bladder. Just take the damned papers!”
I snorted, but relented and took the damned folder. Even the paper Theo used was prissy and indulgent. It was thick between my fingers, embossed with a family seal that looked like some sort of...peacock. The symbol certainly fit the arrogant asshole. The looping script on the document proclaimed it to be the formal agreement naming me viceroy to the sovereign of Westhold.
I looked up, pinning Ada with a stare. “I never agreed to this. It’s completely stupid. I hate politics, I hate rich people, I hate humans...and I hate Theo. Besides, I couldn’t even tell you what a viceroy does.” I held the folder and papers out, urging her to take it back before I lost my temper and threw it at her.
Ada just crossed her arms over her swollen belly and gave me that patient look. “Historically, the word just meant someone who had the authority to make decisions or act in the place of a king or ruler, like when there were colonies to be governed, those sorts of things. But it’s not quite the same now. Basically, you would be Theo’s right hand in certain matters—you would be part advisor, part weapon. If he asked you to take care of a problem, you would have full authority to handle it any way you saw fit, with the blessing of the sovereign.”
I rolled my eyes and tossed the folder onto a nearby workbench. “I’m not Theo’s weapon. And my only advice for him is to fuck off.”
She stood and waddled over into my space, her hands on her hips. “Do you know my role in all this?”
I shook my head. I didn’t know. And I didn’t really care. “Breeder?” I asked with a smirk.
She stomped one delicate foot and narrowed her eyes at me. “I know how I look, Sam. How I sound. You aren’t the only one who thinks femininity is weak. But that just makes it easy to do my job while everyone overlooks me.” She smirked at me. “Sure, I’m just Theo’s relative. I probably just hang on his coat tails and make him tea, right?” She huffed a laugh. “I’m his eyes and ears, idiot. I see and hear things that would never reach him otherwise. And I tell him when he’s being a stupid ass, so he’ll make better decisions.”
I arched a brow at her. “I still don’t care.”
She huffed. “I’m about to have a baby, Sam. I’ve only just been reunited with my exiled husband. I’ll have a child to look after. I’m done playing politics, and Theo will need someone with him who has his back.”
I laughed and turned away to finish packing up stuff for my trip out to see Josie. “Good luck finding someone to put up with his naïve, arrogant ass.”
She sighed. “Sam. What he’s asking of you and what I do are completely different things. But in some ways, they’re the same. You would take over some of my role. You know about life outside of the entitled, aristocratic circles most politicians move in. You can advise him on real-world things—things to do with the day-to-day life of fiends and curs, with how humans interact with them in the streets and businesses that keep this town running.” She rolled her eyes heavenward as if asking for assistance from a higher power—whether to help her deal with Theo, or deal with me, I wasn’t quite sure. “He’s going to be unpopular. He’s going to be the target of a lot of anger and fear. He’ll need someone with him who knows how to protect him. Someone who has no problem getting their hands dirty and being his weapon when needed. Jules and his personal guard can do a lot—but they aren’t you. They don’t have Theo’s attention in quite the same way you do. And they don’t have your brand of blunt, brutal honesty or your complete disrespect for rules when things get rough.”
I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. Sure, part of me wondered what that would be like—to work in a nice, clean, comfortable mansion most of my days, rather than haunting the hot, barren, monster-filled wastes. To be able to communicate to someone in power about all the injustices that I’d experienced my entire life simply because of the DNA I was born with. Maybe I could make a difference, serve some actual purpose. I laughed bitterly to myself. Right. Now I sounded exactly as naive and delusional as Theo.
“You’re barking up the wrong tree, lady,” I told Ada, retrieving my knife sheath from the workbench and strapping it on. You could never be too careful with my damned shifter kin.
Ada sighed. “You’re sure I can’t change your mind? He needs you, Sam. And as annoying as he can be, Theo’s a good man. He’ll do great things for this city.”
I ignored the weird pressure in my chest and shook my head. “Go find some other hunter to proposition. I couldn’t give a fuck less if this city burns to the ground. All I want to do is kill monsters and get paid.”
She deflated. “We both know that’s not true. But I suppose I can’t force you. Even though we both know I’m right.” She turned away to shuffle the papers back into the folder and bind it all back up with that blood red elastic. “Take care of yourself, Sam.” Then she waddled to the door and out of my life. Thank fuck.
“Humans are so stupid,” I muttered to myself.
But curs who passed up the opportunity to prove to the human rulers that we weren’t all monsters? They might be even stupider....