Page 100 of Cathmoir's Sons

The demoness shifts her moon-pale eyes to Law. “Your cat’s quite the hunter.”

“My Cait are the best hunters in Fairy. If you find worthy prey, call and we will come.” I emphasize the “we” so the demoness can claim no confusion about who I claim as mine.

She inclines her horned head.

“While I got your attention and no unfriendly ears are listening—close your ears, Paladin—when are we killin’ us some fae kings?” Baron Ash asks. I note that he and his sister with the orange mohawk eat the food my bwg have prepared while Ercie just sips from her wine goblet.

No doubt, she prefers different meat.

Evan grimaces at the demon. “We’re not killing fae kings.”

The demon lifts a black brow. “Speak for yourself.”

“I’ve already killed one,” Hraena says. “I’m happy to plan the demise of another. Are we killing the Holly King as well as the Oak King?”

“Not currently,” I respond, lifting my eyebrows. Which fae king has my sister killed?

“Still on the table,” Law grumbles. “He tries to kiss you, and it moves from the realm of possibility into certainty.”

I stroke his forearm to soothe him. “I have no intention of letting the Holly King kiss me.”

“I have no intention of letting the Holly King kiss you, either,” he responds darkly.

“We still don’t knowifhe’d be interested in kissing me or whether his aims are purely political and might align with ours.Perhaps the assassination should wait until we discover his true intentions?”

“I might be able to shed some light on that,” Darwin offers. “We have a back channel into the Holly King’s retinue.”

Gabe snorts. “He wants to be godfather to Charlie’s twins.”

“We’renotcalling them Charlie’s twins,” Darwin objects. “No one calls Honour and Galmytwins.”

“That’s because they were our first set. We’ve got to distinguish them somehow. Charlie’s angels?” Gabe suggests.

“No.” Darwin and Baron Ash groan together.

I chuckle. I adore Teddy’s children but they’re anything but angelic.

“Anyway, while lobbying my father for the position,” Darwin says, “Aranthann has mentioned that the Oak King’s become so bound in his bark he barely communicates with his knights anymore. What he does say is madness. There’s no clear direction for the kingdom. The Holly King’s afraid of a power vacuum, and he hates the Oak King’s new chief knight, Emnyre.”

“Does that add up to a desire to dethrone the Oak King?” Luca wonders aloud. “I don’t like the idea of the Holly King using you as his cat’s paw, my queen.”

“I’d respect him more if he’d told us all that,” Law says around another drumstick.

“Perhaps he’s as uncertain about us as we are about him,” I suggest. “Darwin, would you convey through your back channel that the Oak King owes me a life that I’m looking to collect? Let’s see if that sparks a confession.”

“I don’t like tipping our hand,” Law murmurs to me.

“What if this is a ruse?” Rhodes whispers from my other side. “The Holly King knows you’re close to Princess Teddy’s husbands. He plants this with the Thistlemist Regent in the hopes it will be passed on to you, so you’ll take him into your confidence.”

“What do you recommend, my love?” I ask.

Law drops his well-gnawed bone on his plate. “I think it’s time to test the Holly King’s mettle. Let’s take him hunting.”

“Boys Night,” Gabe says gleefully.

Teddy will kill me if I let her cinnamon roll of a husband go hunting with my Cait.

“I think this is best left to the fae,” I suggest, to let Gabe down gently.

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