I smile up at Kyle, then nod. “Okay. Uh, we seem to be missing a friend. Have you seen another bee fae around by any chance?”
Kyle shakes his head, then looks over at his friend as they set the Shrinkatron down in front of the hive. “No, sorry. I’ll keep an eye out, though.”
Ser Beatrix grinds her teeth so hard we can all hear it, apparently, because we all look at her at once.
“It’s going to be okay, Ser Beatrix,” I say. “I’m sure she’s fine. She’s probably just scouting the area to find Polina.”
But the bee captain doesn’t look convinced. If anything, she looks even more worried than before. “Then why do I have such a bad feeling?” she mutters as she paces the ledge, then hops down into the tomato planter to search it.
Kyle leans over and puts his hand down, palm facing upward, to allow me to step into it. “Come on, bud. Let’s get you big again,” he says. Once I’ve sat down in his palm, he curls his fingers over protectively to escort me over to where his friend is setting up the Shrinkatron.
Even though the guy looks like a viking-biker, he doesn’t seem to be any stranger to tech. “Who’s your friend?” I ask.
“My former boss, Maurice,” Kyle says, and sets me down on the ground in front of the Shrinkatron’s ray. “So, what now?”
“Plug it in and make sure the gauge is set to thirty-five—not negative thirty-five, or it’ll make me even smaller. Very important,” I say, adjusting my glasses.
Kyle gives me a thumbs up and heads behind Maurice to mutter my instructions over his shoulder. Maurice fiddles with the gauge, then shoots me the okay sign.
“Okay, and now?” Kyle calls out.
From above, Polina hovers anxiously. She knows she can’t afford to get too close, but I can feel her anxiety all the way from down here. I look up at her and smile. “It’s going to be okay, Sunshine!” I yell up to her. But that does nothing to soothe her nerves, it seems, and she flits back and forth, buzzing loudly.
“Protective little thing you got there,” Maurice says gruffly, but not unkindly. “Wish I had me a woman who gave as much of a shit.”
“If only any woman would look at you, period,” Kyle says with an eye-roll.
I cross my arms and snicker. “Just hit the red button when you’re good to go,” I yell.
But just as Maurice is about to hit the red button on the Shrinkatron, something big and black whizzes past, catching our attention. Ser Beatrix lets out a strangled cry, and Polina gasps. The sun’s rays are directly in my eyes, making it impossible for me to see what’s going on up in the air.
“Florian, stop!” Polina shrieks.
Florian. Here? Now? I had hoped the yellowjackets would find and take care of him, but I guess our luck has run out. It was fortunate enough that they were there to take out Majordomo Elza. Florian cackles as he somersaults through the air, knocking into Polina and sending her spinning.
“No!” I yell, and race forward to catch Polina in my arms before she can hit the pavement. “Po! Are you okay?” I brush my thumb across her cheek. Tears streak her cheeks, but not from sadness.
Angry. My sweetheart is pissed off. I set her down gently on the ground, but she launches herself into the air before I have a chance to stop her.
“Po! Wait!”
It’s too late. She’s already launching herself at her ex-fiancé, and this time, she’s brandishing her stinger blade.
POLINA
Iam going to kill Florian. When I get to my hands on him, I am going to rip him to pieces until he’s unrecognizable. All the terror he and my traitorous majordomo unleashed on my beautiful hive, I will return to him tenfold. And I will make the end slow and painful for him.
I hurtle toward Florian with my blade out and at the ready, but he barrel-rolls away at the last second and hits me in my back with the pommel of his own blade.
“Polina!” Calvin screams from down below. This is going to drive my love crazy, I know that, but I can’t allow myself to get distracted. Distractions mean death. Ser Beatrix cries out as she slices through the air, her blade out and ready to come down on Florian in an arc.
“Stop!” I bellow. Ser Beatrix whips her head around to stare at me, eyes wide, and I snarl, “He’s mine.”
Ser Beatrix nods and launches herself up into the air before Florian has a chance to get the drop on her. Despite being a simpering fool the majority of his life, my fiancé never did skip his training sessions. Too bad. This would be a lot quicker if he had put less effort into his swordsmanship and more into … well, every other aspect of himself.
“Polina, dear, why don’t we stop it?” Florian jeers in a sickly sweet voice. I want to rip his vocal cords out of his throat and feed them to the birds. “Come, now. We don’t have to do this.”
“Oh, trust me,” I say, narrowing my eyes as I flutter closer to him. “We definitely do. You killed dozens of my people. You killed a visiting royal.”