Page 2 of Fae King's Secret Baby

She didn’t like my curt response and retorted with one of her own. “To one of your shows, no doubt.”

I whipped my head toward her, eyes narrowing as they locked in with her opaque gray irises. Abruptly, I stopped before reaching the car, the Royal Guards stopping in unison. “Is there something you need, Odette?”

“Don’t you think we should discuss what happened at the conference over the past few days?” she asked, her face turning serious. “It does affect the kingdom.”

That was the absolute last thing I intended to do tonight. In fact, this was the entire purpose of leaving the palace—to escape all the stresses of the kingdom over the last weeks. All work and no play made Nyx a dull—and pissed off—boy indeed.

“Not tonight,” I replied curtly.

“Aren’t you even a bit concerned that some of the problems the other kingdoms are facing are going to affect Steelshire?”Odette pressed. “We all belong to Mystara, after all. Their problems could very well come here.”

I tensed at the unnecessary burden that the enchantress was putting upon me.

“There’s a reason that we all have separate kingdoms,” I reminded her flatly. “We’re supposed to be able to handle our regions. If the kings need my help, they can ask for it.”

“They may not know they need your steady guidance yet,” she pressed. “If there’s a danger in one kingdom, it’s a threat to all of Mystara.”

“Last I heard, there are no real threats anywhere. Do you know something I don’t?”

I already knew the answer to that.

“For now,” Odette insisted. “But down the line?—”

I held up a hand and waved her away dismissively.

“No more work talk tonight,” I said. “You’re the best enchantress in the kingdom. Your job, and the jobs of all the Royal Guards, is to keep Steelshire safe.”

“The other kingdoms have Royal Guards and enchantresses, too,” Odette countered.

I eyed her.

And she balked, as if she realized she had sold herself short with her response, suggesting that perhaps she wasn’t the best in all of Mystara. Graciously, I didn’t call her on it.

“And the residents of Steelshire have been well-protected with the runeshade peppers to keep dark magic at bay. As long as we uphold our protocol, I’m not worried.”

“But—” Odette started to protest, but I didn’t let her finish as I climbed into the back of the vehicle.

“But nothing, Odette. If there’s a threat, we will deal with it. In the meantime, let’s not live our lives expecting the worst. That’s not how we do things in Steelshire. And I’m certainly not living that way tonight. Try to enjoy yourself a little, would you?”

I signaled for the driver to close the door, and Odette’s grimace fell behind tinted glass, her scowl etched over her regal-looking face. She was young, freshly picked from the best enchantresses in the kingdom. The last enchantress had just died two years earlier, and Odette was still learning not only about the ways of the palace but also about me. I had forgiven her over-eagerness at the beginning, but she was starting to get on my nerves now with the way she ignored me. If she didn’t fall into line soon, I didn’t know what I was going to do with her.

I couldn’t resist glancing back at her through the rear windshield, watching her vanish in a cloud of silvery-gray smoke into whatever oblivion enchantresses went. As long as she was far away from me, I didn’t care.

“To the cabaret,” I informed the driver, settling back on the leather. I refused to succumb to any more of the kingdom’s issues for the evening.

I pulled out my cell phone and pulled up the lineup for the show that evening. It had been months since I’d last been to Maximo’s Cabaret in Lexington Circle. Once upon a time, I’d visited at least biweekly, but since the Council of Ministers had formally declared my father to be dead, it was like a dam had been unleashed on me, all the secrets of the kingdom unlocked and at my disposal now.

Not that there was much I didn’t already know, but the paperwork had doubled now that my signature was needed on everything. The work was never-ending.

My eyes brightened as an unfamiliar face appeared on the screen before me, my pulse quickening at the sight.

She’s new,I thought, leaning forward in my seat as I fixed my gaze on the wide-eyed brunette smiling demurely at the camera. I found myself wanting to see her face more distinctly, up close and personal.

Are her eyes really that golden green, or is that a trick of the photography? Has her skin been airbrushed?

My head rose, and I looked out the window impatiently, the city streets passing by in a blur of streetlamps and weekend partiers. Suddenly, I couldn’t wait to take my standing box at the theater.

When the car finally pulled up around the back of the cabaret, I didn’t wait for the driver or my security before heading inside, a fact that baffled everyone, including the manager, who hurried to greet me at the back door.

---