Page 61 of Iron Unicorn

Knowledge mattered, and understanding she received and I didn’t, I did what I always advised the empaths I worked with: I accepted the companionship she offered, made myself comfortable, and let her pick the pace.

Unlike my queen with her partner, I had no trouble accepting I’d somehow bonded with Olivia. If anything, the entirety of the situation made sense. Friendship made for the strongest relationships, and while I regretted my friendship with Sabina hadn’t been robust, we’d done our best to work things out.

From the start, Olivia had presented herself as a friend, and I’d accepted that—and paid her back in kind.

I couldn’t think of another woman I’d rather be bonded to if given the choice.

Making her happy made me happy. Sighing, I confessed, “I actually made it before your operation, but I forgot to give it to you.”

“Well, youdidget pneumonia, and once you’re sick, you don’t have a brain. You have mush.” Olivia giggled. “But you made me a figurine?”

“It’s a unicorn foal.”

Faster than I could blink, the woman abandoned my lap, searching the coffee table for her prize.

Daphne laughed and held out the foal. “I’ve got it, Olivia. Terry didn’t want it to get damaged.”

With only enough restraint to keep from damaging herself or the figurine, Olivia claimed her present, her attention fixed on the tiny details I’d implemented during its creation. Knowing her, it would take her at least twenty minutes to examine every detail, and I settled in to enjoy the show.

Twenty-five minutes later, the woman had satisfied herself, and she bounced between her relatives to show off her latest acquisition. “I’m going to need more shelves, Will.”

“Yes, you will,” Montana’s king replied. “But I’m sending you to New York on permanent assignment. Your job will be to do diplomatic things you’re good at on Daphne’s behalf as part of her staff. Your mission will also involve making sure Terry doesn’t work himself to death.”

The entirety of Montana’s royal family glared at me, and their ways had rubbed off on Edward, who joined in.

Aware I walked on thin ice, I held my hands up in surrender. “I solemnly swear I will try to better balance work and the rest of my life.”

Olivia’s eyes narrowed. “That does not sound like something Terry would say. Will, he might be an imposter.”

“Terry isn’t an imposter,” Will replied. “He just has good reason to do a little better. We can’t expect more than a little better, though. We are talking about Terry here—and Terry works in New York. If I send you to New York, there is some hope for the kingdom. If I send Daphne to New York, she’ll take it over to spare Rachel.”

I worried that Daphne might. “Montana is going to be challenging enough to rule, Daphne. You do not need to rule New York, too. And you’d get pissed if I had to work your detail.” I gave her a dose of serious disapproval, something I brought out when any royal under my charge opted to misbehave.

Daphne made warding gestures against evil. “Please go for me, Olivia. If Terry becomes the head of my detail, I’ll be forced to do what he wants, and we can’t have that.”

I laughed at her sarcastic tone. “Have you had any luck picking who will lead your detail?”

“No, and it’s driving me crazy. If you have any ideas, let me know,” Montana’s new heir grumbled.

“I’ll put some thought into it, but not until I’m back in New York.” I gestured to the foal Olivia held. “Let your brother take that to be treated, and I’m sure he can handle packing your collection to take to New York. If any of them have rusted, I can repair them, but I’m not practiced with protecting detailed workings like that. Conjuring them? That I can do. But I usually make them with the intent to watch them rust.”

“But why would you want them to rust?”

“There is beauty in decay,” I replied, shrugging as I couldn’t find a better way to phrase my fascination with the oxidation process. “It turns the pristine art into something both more and less than what it was when it started. Sure, one day it rusts away to nothing, but there’s nothing bad about that. I can make another.”

Olivia considered the foal, and she frowned. “Should I let this one rust, then?”

I shook my head. “No, let your brother treat that one. I have a plan for some other unicorns to partner with it, and you’ll like them enough you should keep them pristine. I’ll think about a project you can have that’s intended to rust. That one wasn’t intended to rust. I knew your brother would be taking care of it.”

Olivia held the foal out to Will. “Please get it treated while I run around Texas.”

Smiling, Will took the unicorn foal from his sister. “Of course. Please don’t drive Terry too crazy with the clicker, okay?”

“I’ll try.”

“That’s all I’d ever ask for you. Your new nose is beautiful, and I meant what I said. Had I known it was causing you breathing problems, I would have dragged you to the operating room myself. I even would have let you kick and scream to protest. Alas, Terry got to handle the kicking and screaming portion of your surgery.”

“I did not kick, nor did I scream,” Olivia replied in a cool tone. “There may have been a whimper or two and a confession of fear, though.”

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