Page 225 of The Queen’s Shadow

“Neema and Kafil are very opinionated, and they often disagreed with Rycon’s father.”

“They’re entitled, self-righteous assholes. They think that just because they’re lions we should all bow to them.” Rycon growled and I rolled my eyes.

“That didn’t seem like the case to me.” I argued and he crossed his arms over his chest, giving me an incredulous look.

“Well, they do, and it’s because people like you basically trip over themselves to fall at their feet. What the hell was that all about? You were acting like a starstruck teenager.”

“I was not!” I argued.

“Yes, you were. I had to stop you from straight up bowing to them!”

“Well, that’s typically what you do when you meet the King and Queen.”

“I’m a king and I don’t ever see you falling off your fucking chair to bow to me!” Rycon fumed and Aiden cracked up laughing.

“You two are something else.” He said, shaking his head. “I can’t wait to see how meeting the rest of them goes.” There was something close to mischief twinkling in his eye and Rycon glared at him with so much venom I thought his friend might melt on the spot.

“Shut the fuck up, Aiden.” He snapped, before turning to greet the next representative that approached us. Aiden stood up and nudged me, gesturing to the beautiful female who came forward.

“If you were impressed by the lions, wait till you meet Mei Lin, the tigress.”

My eyes widened as she approached.

“Woah.” I said and Aiden grinned at me.

“Woah is right.” He agreed, lighting a smoke, and nodding his head to the approaching tigress. “Careful. She bites.” He smirked and I got the feeling he was speaking from experience.

Meredith

Raven had freed Princess Balveria and Balthion before leaving for Envy. The moment she left, Dossidian stalked out of the throne room, leaving me standing with his mother and father. He didn’t say a word to me, or even look at me for that matter. I may have been more level-headed than most, but even I had my limits.

The way he was treating me was just outright rude! How dare he leave me here, with two complete strangers, in an unfamiliar court, without so much as an introduction or a tour?

Anger tore through me. Even if he didn’t want to act on the feelings that were so clearly affecting both of us, we were still friends. Or at least… I had thought that we were. He was treating me like a complete stranger. Or worse! I knew him, he would have at least had the decency to acknowledge a stranger. He was acting like I wasn’t even here!

I stared after him, doing my best to keep my emotions to myself. I didn’t need these two daemons to see how much his behaviour was affecting me. I shrugged off my irritation. This was probably for the best. If he wanted to act like this then that was fine with me. Less distractions. I could just focus on getting what we needed to neutralize The Flute then I could get out of his life and move on with mine.

“Well, Little Witch.” His father boomed, shocking me by using the same nickname Dossidian always addressed me by. “You seem to have gotten under his skin.” I turned to look at the Prince of Wrath, whose mouth was cocked up at the corner in amusement. His eyes were shining with mirth, and his mate gave him a look that I didn’t quite understand.

“I’m not sure what you mean by that, Prince Sirocco.” I said, keeping my tone cool. “We’re acquaintances bound by circumstance.”

“Ah yes, and I am a lion shifter posing as the Prince of Wrath.” Sirocco chuckled, and I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Hush, Sirocco. You’ve caused enough trouble today. Go make yourself useful and ensure Dossidian and Darianth have what they need to begin freeing our people.” Balveria shooed her mate away. He held up his palms in surrender and did what she said.

I smiled, despite myself. They were clearly very much in love, and it was heartwarming to see that even though they had been living beneath Ash Nevra’s thumb for so long, they had been able to maintain some semblance of happiness together.

Balveria turned to me with a large dazzling smile, “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced.” She said, holding out her petite hand for me to shake.

“I am Princess Balveria. It is a pleasure to meet you. We do not often have the honor of hosting magick folk. I am very excited to have the opportunity to make the acquaintance of a green witch.”

This made me smile. Her warm welcome was genuine and it wasn’t often that magick folk were received so kindly by daemons.

“Hello, I am Meredith. Meredith Abbey. Thank you very much for allowing me to use your library.” I said, shaking her hand. Balveria’s eyes widened.

“Abbey? Are you a healer, then?” She asked, before an endearing blush touched her cheeks. “My apologies if that is a rude question to ask. As I said, I have not mingled with many magick folk in my lifetime, you must correct me if I overstep.”

Wow. This female was an absolute treasure. I hoped Dossidian knew how lucky he was to have a mother like Balveria. I had never had the opportunity to meet my own mother. My father didn’t speak of her often, and all I knew was that she had left us when I was very small.