Page 43 of Contested Crown

As though on cue, someone knocked on the door, and Elizabeth went to open it. As soon as she did, I had my answer. The floor outside was crawling with people. I scented at least twenty, although none of them were wolves.

If even half of them were mages, we had no chance. The kitchen worker pulled the door closed, and Elizabeth placed the tray on the table.

“Excellent,” Howard said, grinning broadly. He gestured with his hand. “Sit, sit.”

I looked at Cade, and he raised an eyebrow before taking one of the seats with his back to the window. I relaxed just fractionally. With mages able to pop in and out of existence, it didn’t make much difference, but at least that way, we could see the door.

The food in the center of the table was about as close tosandwichesas Kobe beef steaks prepared by a Michelin five-star chef was to the fast-food burger we’d eaten the day before. Fresh, homemade bread was smeared with aioli and topped with just-off-the-farm lettuce and tomatoes. The meat was carved so thin that it looked almost translucent.

I made a plate for both me and Cade, although neither of us touched it until Elizabeth and Phelan both took bites of theirs.

“We are so glad to be hosting you, Cade.” Howard leaned forward, hands clasped, his own plate untouched.

“See, everyone keeps saying that,” I said. “It makes me think no one here understands the wordkidnapping. Which is what you did when you threatened my life so Cade would come to this little tea party.”

“Of course we regret the tactics.” Caroline smiled at me the way she might at a precocious five-year-old who presented her with a finger painting. “But with House Bartlett on your tail and you refusing to listen to us, they were very necessary.”

“What do you want me to hear?” Cade arched an eyebrow. “What was it we were ‘refusing to listen to’? What exactly do you want from me?”

“Oh, that can come later,” Howard said. “For now, enjoy the food. Let’s let everyone’s blood cool for a moment.”

“My blood could be ice-cold and I’ll still remember you threatening my life,” I muttered.

Elizabeth stiffened, her eyes narrowing, and I felt the tension rise around the table.

Grinning, I took a large, obnoxious bite of the sandwich. It was too good, and I found myself annoyed at the salty-sweet, umami flavors.

“Good weather we’re having,” Caroline said. “Was it foggy in the city this morning?”

“Not too bad,” Elizabeth said. “It burned off by midmorning.”

I stared at them, sandwich almost forgotten. They couldn’t be serious. We might not be chained, but we were close. I knew that if we even made a move toward the door, Elizabeth would use her spiderweb to grab us again. And that was justher. Who knew what power the king and queen of House Morrison had in their arsenal?

Phelan watched me and Cade closely, his eyes taking in every detail. I was hyperaware suddenly of the V-neck shirt I wore and the distinct lack of magic on my skin. Cade had said I was his consort so easily, as though it was true.

Maybe it was. Maybe he and I didn’t have to be consorts in the way that everyone understood them. Maybe Cade saidconsort, but he meantpartner.

Elizabeth and Caroline had moved on from the weather to traffic, of all things, and even Howard joined in with a complaint about how long it took for the car to get pulled around in the city.

Cade said nothing, and I watched him for cues. We couldn’t fight our way out of this situation, not with him still unable to teleport us anywhere and with me unable to shift. He glanced at me, a single look, and my heart broke.

I knew what he was going to do because I would have done the same thing. When had I become as important to Cade as he was to me? To me, Cade was a new chance at a pack, a new chance to have one person other than myself I could care about.

Why did it have to go both ways?

Leaning over, I whispered in his ear. “Don’t you dare. Don’t youdare, Cade Bartlett.”

“Enough of that,” Howard said sharply. “It’s rude to whisper at the table.”

Cade looked over sharply, his lip pulled up. “Then perhaps you’ll enlighten us as to why your mages brought us here? House Bartlett won’t be happy.”

“I’m sure they won’t,” Howard said. “Luckily for both of us, I don’t work for House Bartlett. I am the king of House Morrison.”

“And what does House Morrison want with the Bartlett heir?” I asked. “Leverage? I hate to tell you, but House Bartlett would probably be happy to see the last of us.”

“If you did kill me, it would give House Bartlett the excuse to go to open war with you,” Cade said. “That might be what you want, though.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “You outnumber them, even if you don’t have their power. So, my advice would be a lot of chairs to the backs of the heads. WWE approved.”