Page 50 of Beauty At Stake
“Some Lady tattled on Seren because she thought it was wrong that Seren was working with Star but not Raza,” Sever explained.
“What?” Daxon asked again, this time with only confusion.
“After I spoke to Anu, Star and Kill fought. Star left,” I said. “Then we discovered a Demon was involved in the abductions, and I called Star back. The Coven wanted as much help as possible on this mission and convinced the High FairyCouncil to send in the local hunters. The Lady of the Wild Hunt in charge of that local team scried Raza and told him about the Demons. Raza showed up in a tizzy and I had to explain that Fairies weren't involved, so I didn't need to call any of you. I had not broken my promise.”
Daxon and Tiernan processed this.
“Oh,” Dax said.
“Oh?” Sever repeated. “You don't think we should have at least been notified?”
“Of what?” Tiernan asked. “I am the King of Seelie. I have enough shit to deal with without running to Earth every time a Demon makes trouble. That's fortheirking to handle. I am responsible for my people alone. And I don't need Seren to scry me with all the Earth gossip either.”
“I love you,” I said to Tiernan. “Thank you for being reasonable.”
“I love you too. Thank you for not running to us with every problem you have.”
“Never been that girl. Never will.”
“No shit,” Daxon said. “And thank the Gods for that.”
“Unbelievable,” Sever muttered.
“You're just bored, Severriel,” Tiernan said. “You need something more than Miri to spend time on.”
“Maybe.”
“Forget about Raza and the Witch-abducting Demon,” Daxon said. “I'm sure you'll handle it, Seren.”
“Thanks. It turns out that it's not a Demon who's behind it anyway. It's another Witch. Maybe.”
“Maybe?” Daxon scowled. Then he waved his hand. “Never mind. I have too much shit to deal with too. I don't want to know about the Witches. But I do want to know what we're doing about Astaroth.”
I grimaced.
The three men went silent.
“We'll just have to take things as they come,” I said. “There's nothing more we can do.”
“What did Astaroth say?” Tiernan asked.
I shrugged. “He's not thrilled.”
“Hold on. You have a strange look on your face.” Daxon asked.
I squirmed.
“There's more to this,” Tiernan concluded.
“Anu said there would be children. They wouldn't be born if I didn't marry Star.”
All three men gaped at me.
Once more, Sever was the first to react. And, once more, it was with a curse against Anu. “That fucking bastard!”
“I think you're the least entitled to curse about this,” Daxon said.
“Excuse me?” Sever stared at him in horror.
