Page 41 of Fake Fae-Ancée

"Yes, you," Yuri growled from the opposite sofa.

I huffed. "Bullshit."

"Oh, don’t worry, my dear." The Witch laughed softly. "You don’t have to believe in it. But back in Yuri’s homeland everyone does. They believe in the queen fated to their prince. And that he will be king again."

I stared at the Witch. Then I stared at Yuri. My eyes were burning, the wheels turning in my head, processing the thought.

Yuri’s family had been dethroned. That much I had been willing to read in the gossip rags, after he had disappeared. The old king had been murdered. That’s why they had called Yuri home so urgently. But right after the funeral, his brother or cousin or someone else had taken over.

"So," I cleared my throat, willing the knot of rage away for the time being. "You think just because this weird prophecy says I'm his queen — which I'm not — that I'm helping the prodigal prince back to the throne?"

The Witch beamed at me.

I shook my head.

"No," I said, the knot in my throat growing tighter. "Tell her it's bullshit, Kalinin."

He chewed, setting his now empty plate on the table and scratching his neck.

"They don't think it's bullshit, back home."

"King Yegor doesn't think it's bullshit," the Witch added. "He took the throne in blood. And he will defend it by any means necessary. And when he found out that the woman in the prophecy actually exists — that you could become queen, that the House of Kalinin could get their throne back — he hired an assassin to get you out of the way."

I blinked, my head throbbing. The story was sounding less and less unconvincing. Whether prophecies were real or bullshit, there were people who believed in such things. Sometimes firmly enough that they would kill for it.

"Okay, okay, okay." I waved my hands. "Let's assume for a minute that I believe you. What does that mean?"

"It doesn't matter at all whether you believe us or not, my dear." The Witch flipped open her designer handbag, producing an expensive leather case and an oblong white pipe that she had probably personally carved from an illegal elephant tusk. With routine movements, the Witch opened the case and crumbled black tobacco into the pipe.

"King Yegor wants you dead. If there is no queen, the prince has no chance to reclaim his throne."

"Pretty shaky assumption." I leaned back, crossing my arms.

"Not for Bears." The Witch brought the pipe to her mouth and snapped her fingers. A small green flame flickered to life on her thumb and was sucked into the bowl of the pipe. Cloying smoke rose, smelling of incense and cleaning agents.

"But that’s absurd," I groaned out, a short laugh rippling out of me. "Last time I checked, I was still Fae. You know, the kind most Bears hate."

The Witch puffed unblinkingly on her pipe. I looked to Kalinin for help.

Shifters and Fae had never been particularly keen on each other. But especially Bears hated the Lightborn.

I snorted.

"All right. The bears want me dead because some holy old crone in the sky said I was his queen." I ignored Kalinin’s infuriated expression. "So now what? Am I supposed to hide and twiddle my thumbs now?"

The Witch pointed the tip of her pipe at me. "You can't fight Nox in your condition, can you?"

I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists. But just when I was about to protest, the butler appeared in the doorway again.

"Chief Idris Taggart for you, your Royal Highness."

Sure enough, my boss pushed his large frame into the living room like a thundercloud in uniform and a dark coat.

"Yeah, yeah. Enough with the jibber-jabber," he grumbled, aiming a cold stare at me. "Hello, McKenn. Nice to know you’re still in one piece."

"Chief," I muttered, standing up.

Someone had probably once advertised the vacant position of Chief of New Hamburg City Metropolitan Police Force of P.A.S.H. to the biggest, angriest, most ill-tempered Troll you could find on this planet. Chief Taggart was an immoveable object. A hard-boiled war veteran, able to yell any subordinate into order with the force of a thousand jet engines. Back in the precinct, people called him "Mr. Sunshine" when he was out of earshot.

---