Page 75 of Forsaken Royals

I straightened a stack of cups, then the stack of menus on the other side of the register.

“I guess they’re important, yeah. He didn’t tell me a lot,” I said. “And like you said, it’s once in a lifetime. Why wouldn’t they use it as an opportunity to come into town?”

“True.” Chad shrugged. “I guess a good excuse to take the day off is all I need to know.”

Thankfully, he left it at that. My attention shifted to the wave of customers coming into the shop, the slight uneasiness at his curiosity fading. Was he catching on to who I was actually with? I doubted it, but I had to keep my distance.

Chapter42

Flint

Istudied the printed map of the guest accommodations. My notes as to who was going to be placed where were a mess. Certain prominent families had longstanding conflicts with each other, so trying to keep them apart while not putting them next to other families they didn’t get along with was a chore.

And we hadn’t even gotten to where we were going to put our own extended families within the special wing reserved just for them. Probably because it was the hardest task of this whole damn event. My relationship with my family was by far the least tumultuous out of the three of us, but I was still worried about their visit.

Not because they were a threat, of course. My younger siblings were slightly more powerful than the average fae, but not nearly as powerful as I was. They were just hideously spoiled and grated on my nerves, even though we were all adults.

Without a doubt, I knew they would be annoyed that the kids we still hadn’t placed in more permanent homes after being kidnapped were still on the palace grounds.

Selfish fucks.

They didn’t want anyone who wasn’t in their immediate circle around unless they were serving them.

Despite their numerous flaws, they didn’t hate my very existence. Lex’s usual optimism was half-hidden by a cloud of unrest and had been since we’d first discussed the eclipse. Jagger was even moodier.

I raked both hands through my hair, sitting back in my seat. Lucas sat across from me at the large, round table, his hands folded in his lap. He managed his emotions well, but I’d seen that set of his jaw and furrow in his brow after the worst of our planning meetings before.

“A glass of whiskey, please,” I said to one of the attendants standing at attention in the corner.

“Make that two,” Lex said. His eyes flicked to Lucas, and he added, “Actually, just bring a whole bottle. Four glasses.”

“I’m glad we’re on the same page about that, at least. This is bullshit. Why don’t we let them choose where they’ll be?” Jagger asked, putting his feet up on his desk. “If they fight, they fight. It doesn’t matter.”

“My family would have a fit, and I don’t want to spend time dealing with them. My cousin Elias already called, asking me if the accommodations were going to be up to par. The asshole.” Lex clicked the end of his pen a few times. “So we have to put them in the right place. And all the rooms are slightly different, too, so we have to take that into consideration.”

I pushed aside the map, so the attendant had space to put down our drinks. “Maybe Jagger is right. We should let the prominent families pick their own spaces within the guest accommodations and focus on where to place our direct families for minimal hassle.”

“We also need to take security into account,” Lucas said. “Our direct families need more security than our distant family and other high-ranking families. And some might need to be protected from others. I highly doubt anything serious would happen, but it’s better to be safe with so many important fae gathered in one place. A fae looking for trouble could take advantage of someone distracted by a petty conflict.”

I picked up a glass of whiskey and took a long drink. It wasn’t going to get me drunk, of course, but psychologically, taking a sip calmed my irritation. My brain was burned out on thinking of our families and stupid housing charts. There were more important things to discuss.

“We need to talk about Arden’s security,” I said. “She needs extra security around her at all times.”

“She’s going to hate that,” Lex said, swirling his whiskey in his glass. “She was already annoyed at me for warning her about my batshit family.”

“Yeah, that tracks.” Jagger finished off his first glass, and the attendant appeared at his shoulder to pour his next one. “She’ll throw a fit.”

“And? She needs protection,” I said. “The fact that she’ll be upset about it proves my point. She might get careless.”

Jagger and Lex considered my words in silence. Jagger’s frown deepened second by second.

“It took her ages to accept the guards outside the coffee shop,” he said. “What makes you think that she’ll keep them around? She’s not the kind of female to roll over and take something.”

“But she’s not stupid,” I said. “She knows how special her power is and how many people would want to hurt her if they found out. And she knows better than all of us how far the Moon Oracle will go to do harm.”

“She has her favorite enforcers,” Lucas said. “I can have them be a part of her security detail, along with some others.”

Lex’s shoulders sagged, and Jagger threw back more whiskey.

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