Page 51 of Fake Fae-Ancée

I shrugged, trying to think of more pleasant things than this completely moronic situation.

Kai said nothing. She had become disturbingly quiet after Gabriel and Charly had left — not without inviting us on a no doubt totally relaxed double date, sometime in the near future.

Her silence grinded in my ears.

Yli-Pekkala pushed the stack of paper across the table.

"Read it through properly in a quiet minute. Bates will keep them safe. You’ll both sign as soon as the ball is over."

I nodded. Kai sat motionless but didn’t object. She didn’t touch the papers, either. After more long seconds filled with mortifying silence, Yli-Pekkala nodded to Bates, and he darted forward, collecting the papers and carrying them off to lock them in the safe in his study.

"I guess we can get started on the fun part," Auntie huffed contently and snapped her fingers.

Next thing I knew, my living room was crowded with strangers. All of them looked as if they had been kidnapped from the Croisette fashion shows — hairstylists, makeup artists, designers and an army of assistants of some sort. They trampled through, loaded with bags and trolleys full of equipment. A small, tense looking woman with blonde curls rolled in several racks of clothes, heavily laden with nylon cases that undoubtedly contained couture of the most exorbitant design. A couple of minions in snazzy couture were about to open a real hair salon in my living room.

Kai shot me a look that was both horrified and loathing as a couple of designers grabbed her and ushered her into the next room, where some kind of mobile spa was just being established.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" I asked Baba.

"Of course. You'll have to make a grand entrance at the Ball of Falling Stars." The Witch smiled like a cat that had just found a pot of cream.

I glanced across the room and through the half open door, where Kai was just being shoved into a large chair. One industrious assistant flicked three spotlights to life that would have easily found airplanes in the night sky, while another one clicked Kai's chair back with a resounding clunk to transform it into a stretcher. Kai flashed me another purple scowl before a fifth assistant closed the door.

I gulped.

"You better get out of the way, prince." Baba took a drag on her pipe and looked at me obliquely from below.

* * *

It washigh time to alert the family anyway, so I retired to my study. But instead of getting the necessary things done, I sank into my leather desk chair and stared at the bustling city sprawling at my feet.

You'd think I'd be used to it by now, after five years of constant hatred. But still, every single time one of Kai’s scowls hit me it felt like someone was pouring acid into my heart.

Why couldn’t she just believe me?

I had not kissed that woman.

Nothing had happened, back then.

I had no idea how I’d even ended up in that club, that horrible day, with my father dead and the ink on my abdication not yet dry and my world as I knew it in ruins. I’d had a mad desire to get drunk and forget my own name. And the very next morning, social media and the usual gossip rags blasted out the story of Lady Anastasia and Prince Yuri being engaged — with the new King Yegor’s blessing, of course. It was a sensation, and my thirsty fellow Bears gobbled the story up like freshly cut salmon.

I had walked right into their trap like a bloody rookie.

I couldn't very well let them know that I was in fact a married man. But when I had refused to marry the — rather indignant — lady Anastasia, Yegor had exiled me. Five years of banishment in the icy nowhere that was the island of Svalbard.

I had not kissed this woman. I had been tricked. But I could never tell that to Kai. And she had hated me ever since…

My phone buzzed, shaking me out of my thoughts. It was Chief Taggart. In his usual pissy manner he asked for more hard data about the building architecture. P.A.S.H. had security posted on the rooftops around the perimeter. The airspace was monitored, agents on the ground as well. If Nox so much as exposed a wart on his ass, they would blow him from the sky.

Good, at least I didn't have to worry about that.

Next, I flipped open my second laptop, dialed into a burner account through encrypted Darknet channels, and wrote an email to my brother.

This took a while. I chose my words carefully, staring at the screen for long periods of time, trying to think how to deliver the message. Better if Nicolai found out about it from me — or at least the official part. That I was "engaged." And about the plan with the ball, which seemed more and more absurd the further the day progressed. But the support of my younger brother was essential.

Brothers, I corrected myself. Better yet, if Kostya came along too. The more, the merrier. I wrote him an email as well. This took even more time. When I sent them both off, the sun hung low in the late afternoon sky.

Groaning, I pinched the bridge of my nose. The spot where Kai’s head had collided with was still sore. My head throbbed and my stomach rumbled — my body had not yet recovered from two shiftings in less than two days. I needed more food. But I wouldn’t dare leave this room while the fashion circus was still raging out there.

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