Page 19 of Against the Veil (Endangered Fae #3)

Chapter Eleven

Bedroom Diplomacy

The very essence of romance is uncertainty. —Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

“ I could get in trouble for this.” The delivery boy eyed Brandon’s wad of cash hungrily.

“Who’ll know? I’ll pay you for the pizzas, you get an extra thirty bucks, and the girls get a peek at the prince.” Brandon turned on his most charming smile and Minky fought not to roll her eyes. “C’mon, dude. Help a guy out here.”

“Well. Okay. Since it’s like that.” The cash disappeared into the boy’s jacket pocket and he handed the pizzas over before he sauntered away.

With a little judicious snooping and help from all the fae-obsessed blogs, it had been easy to find out which takeout places the prince’s security trusted while they were in town. A few hours watching the door to the building until a delivery guy showed up was all it took after that.

Brandon set the stack of pizza boxes on the floor and opened them one at a time. “Hmm. Sausage. No. Pepperoni. No. Ah, here’s a mushroom one. That’s for the prince. And a spinach one. Think spinach and catnip go together?”

“Not the time to go all Iron Chef,” Kara snapped. “How the hell should we know? Just do it.”

“He has to eat it, right? If it tastes nasty, he won’t eat it,” Brandon said but he took the economy size bag of catnip out of his trench coat and sprinkled it over both non-meat pizzas. After a moment’s consideration, he left a generous pile under the mushroom pizza as well.

“You think he’ll eat it plain?” Minky peered over his shoulder.

“I think if he’s snockered enough, he’ll inhale it.” Brandon closed the boxes and stood. “Okay. You two stay here. If this goes bad, run.”

“As you wish, oh, king of melodrama,” Kara said with a snort.

All the same, both Minky and Kara snuck to the bend in the hallway where they could hear the conversation at the prince’s door.

“You’re not the regular guy.”

“Yeah, yeah, he called out sick. Somebody’s gotta run the damn deliveries.”

“Well, you be careful out there, kid. Lots of delivery guys getting jumped these days.”

“Yessir. I’ll stay sharp. Thank you, sir!”

Brandon swaggered back around the corner, a shit-eating grin on his face.

“What?” Kara whispered.

“Security dude gave me a freaking huge tip.”

“Highness? You wanna at least come and pretend you’re hungry?”

Lugh heaved himself out of the chair with a sigh. His boys were concerned. It didn’t do to worry them. When he entered the kitchen, a heavenly scent wrapped around him.

“Ah, catnip. That was very thoughtful, Kevin.” He opened one of the boxes and inhaled the promise of oblivion.

Kevin leaned in to look in the box. “I didn’t order catnip, sir. Didn’t know it was an option.”

“The kind ladies at Mario’s must have been thinking of me, then. Would you like to share it with me?”

“Ah, no, Highness.” Marcus shoved the two catnip-laden pizzas at him. “That’s all you. A little oregano’s nice but that’s taking it too far.”

“Very well. Would you be offended if I took these to my room?”

“So long as you eat something, sir, we’re good.”

Lugh nodded absently as he took the offered boxes.

He had to be careful, of course, with a charity concert to attend the next afternoon and dinner with the Secretary General afterward.

But a slice or two would do no harm. It would smooth the sharp edges from his misery and let him sleep. He needed sleep.

After two slices, he found the energy to undress. Good. Nothing worse than sleeping in one’s clothes. It was excellent pizza, though, and he found he had an appetite. Three more slices vanished in short order.

A comfortable lassitude settled over him.

His head felt as if it floated above his body.

His lips had grown numb. A little more would be fine.

He could handle catnip better than most. Just a little more to erase the image of Zack’s anguish.

He knew what he had done might not be well received.

Anger, irritation over the loss of control, those things he expected, but he had been unprepared for the revulsion, the complete rejection.

Zack had felt some attraction to him, he had been so certain. Somehow, he had misunderstood.

One pizza box sat empty. Such a sad sight.

So he opened the second box. Delicious. Damn Zack, anyway.

Lugh could have anyone he wanted, any of the hundreds of young men and women who panted after him at the clubs, begged and pleaded to be used for his pleasure.

Why should he care what one prudish human thought?

A tear rolled down his cheek. Of course, he cared. Zack was everything he wanted, everything he needed. Warrior, healer, a soul both gentle and fierce, his advisor, his protector, his heart, his friend. Former friend.

Lugh began to sob as he devoured the remaining slices and every last scrap of catnip at the bottom of the box.

Diego and Zack mounted the stairs to the embassy and opened the door to the sounds of shouting and running feet. For one heart-pounding moment, Zack was certain the building was under attack. Then Lori rushed into the reception room, breathless, but looking far more annoyed than terrified.

“Oh, thank God!” She seized Diego by the arm while he still struggled to get a shirt on. “You don’t know how glad Carol’s going to be to see you, sir!”

“What’s happened?” Diego padded barefoot in the direction of the office.

“Everything’s a mess. I’ll let Carol tell you.”

This wasn’t immediately possible since they found Carol playing referee. Angus and Faolchú faced off, shouting at each other in the old language, words liberally peppered with angry gestures.

“Now, look, gentlemen.” She stepped between them and eased them apart with a hand on either bare chest. “This won’t help and you’re scaring the staff.

While I do agree that Captain Faolchú would do well in conversation, I don’t feel comfortable sending him to a state dinner.

Or have you finally learned to use a fork? ”

Faolchú growled in a disgruntled way. “No. Ridiculous things.”

“Right.” Carol pushed on Angus’ chest to ease him back another step. “And you, sir, can’t have a conversation without turning it into an argument these days. Convince me that you can go out in the human world alone and not start a fight.”

Angus turned away with a wordless, angry cry.

“Exactly.” She turned and spotted Diego, relief draining the irritation from her face. “Mr. Sandoval! Thank goodness you’re back!”

“Carol, what in the world’s happened?” Diego asked softly, one hand on Angus’ shoulder.

She shot a quick, uncomfortable glance at Zack and explained, “It’s the prince, Mr. S.

He went on a catnip bender last night and the boys can’t wake him up.

They even put him in a cold shower. He’ll never make it to the concert this afternoon and he’ll be in no shape for dinner tonight even if he does wake up. ”

“ Maravilloso ,” Diego said in a dry tone. “Was he out somewhere? Is he at least in his own bed?”

“He stayed in last night,” Carol said. “Apparently had the catnip on pizza.”

“Of all the irresponsible…” Zack trailed off when Diego gave him a ‘not in front of the staff’ look.

“ Bien . It’s not so terrible.” Diego raised his voice to be heard over the babbling din.

“Please inform the appropriate contacts that I’ll be attending in place of the prince.

Just tell them he’s ill and convey our apologies.

I’ll go change and make a doorway to the condo to get there in time.

Does that sound like a reasonable solution? ”

Several gusty sighs and “yes, sirs” answered him. Faolchú pulled Angus into a hard embrace, never one to hold onto his anger.

“I’m going with you,” Zack said close to Diego’s ear. “Just to the condo.”

“You’re sure?”

“I need to have a serious talk with him. This isn’t like Lugh. He might fool around off duty but he’s always been dead serious about his job.”

Half an hour later, Diego had showered, shaved and looked fine in his best Armani suit.

Zack had changed as well, for security detail, since Diego would need to take at least one of the boys with him.

He felt better knowing they wouldn’t be leaving Lugh short, and definitely felt more himself with a gun riding at his hip and sturdy boots on his feet.

He followed Diego through his doorway, careful to stand clear when Diego dropped his hand to let the way through snap shut behind them. Kevin and Marcus were waiting for them in the living room.

“Anybody want to own up on this one?” Zack asked his shamefaced subordinates. “How the hell did you let him get so shitfaced?”

“No excuses, Sarge.” Kevin barked out. A retired Marine like himself, it was the expected response.

“Not accepting any. But I need to know what happened.”

“He said he wasn’t real hungry, Sarge,” Marcus explained. “Not that we’d have known how much was too much, anyway. I mean, who gets high on catnip besides cats?”

“And when he locked himself in and started crying, we didn’t think we should barge in. Just didn’t seem right,” Kevin finished for them.

“Okay, I can see that. So you found him this morning?”

“Passed out on the floor next to his bed. Breathing all right but unresponsive. Tried a cold shower. Tried ice on his back. Tried to get some tea in him…”

“Nothing.”

Zack rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “All right. We know better next time. Kevin, you’re with Mr. Sandoval. Usual protocols.”

“You’re sure you’re all right with this?” Diego asked.

“Go on. Get. We all have jobs to do here,” Zack said with a little smile he hoped was convincing. Once the diplomatic party had gone, Zack went back into security mode. “Where’d the catnip come from?”

“Mario’s.”

“They’ve added it to their toppings?”

“Well, no…”

“So no one ordered it?”

“No.” He could see Marcus’ wheels starting to turn. “The prince thought the ladies put it on for him special.”

“But no confirmation on that?”

Marcus flushed a dark red. “No, Sarge.”