Page 56 of Shattered Magic

“Interesting.”

“Same goal, different approaches.” She shrugged.

He smiled at her. “Well, I will have to get to my office and get to work so that I can accompany you.”

“Fine.” She stood up. “Go do your thing while I check on one of the ladies who got back to me.”

“Which one?”

“The one with a sister.”

“Well, that’s two down.”

“They need dresses in very different sizes.”

“No problem.” Prolen smiled. “We can accommodate a zero all the way up to ice giant.”

“Oh. Nice. A little weird for you guys to have that kind of a ladies’ wardrobe.”

Prolen smirked. “Some of the ladies get a little messy at dinner.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Ew.”

“Sorry.” He shrugged. “Vampire facts.”

She sighed. “Of course.”

Zerul got to his feet and took her hand. “Keep me company?”

“Sure. Ignore any giggly girl calls you hear.”

“It will be difficult. I don’t really remember you being girly yet. So, this will be interesting.” He slid his arm around her back, and they headed to his office.

She wrinkled her nose and called the younger of the two ladies back, “Hey, Stella. My name is Hari. Zerul is choosing his consort tomorrow, and we need more women of power. Eon identified you as a likely lady to come to the governor’s ball tomorrow.”

“So, this isn’t a joke. You really just want us to show up?”

“Yup. Apparently, there are gowns here for the party. You are allowed to defend yourselves as you like.”

“Oh, geez. Luna will love that. What time do you need us there, and will there be food?”

“There will be food.”

Zerul was chortling at his desk as he went through documents.

“Cool.”

“Uh, show up at sunset.”

“Nice. We will be there.”

“Do you need to converse with your sister?”

“No, she won’t let me go alone.” Stella snickered. “So, you can count on both of us.”

“Oh. Okay. I will see you then.”

“Yup. Luna’s a big eater, so prepare for that.” Stella laughed.

---