Page 87 of Beauty At Stake
“Well, I heard about this guru or whatever in Thailand who's a Quake Witch. He's supposed to be the best at grounding people.” He winked. “Get it? Grounding? Quake Witch?” He looked at our blank expressions and huffed, “Tough crowd.”
“So, you just happened to be here?” Star asked.
“You shouldn't have drawn attention to yourself,” I whispered.
Sure enough, Karmen zeroed in on Star. “Astaroth! My love! My Demon darling! How kismet is it that we're both in Thailand at the same time? And you need me too.” Karmen's smile turned wicked as he sauntered over to Star. “You should thank your luckystarthat I did happen to be here. I'm an excellent councilman.”
“Aren't you a sketch artist?” Star asked.
“You remembered!” Karmen slid a hand over Star's shoulder. Then he pouted. “But you've evidently forgotten that I have psychic talents as well. I am a councilman after all. I can help you do . . .” He frowned at the wreckage again. “Whatever it is you need doing.” Then he smirked. “Even yourself.”
I coughed to hide my laugh.
Star took Karmen's hand and gently but pointedly removed it from his shoulder. “I'm glad to have you with us, Councilman. But we need to get back to the rest of our team now.”
“Oh! Take me with you!” Karmen clapped his hands like a kid as he looked at me. “You know you want to!”
“Of course, you're coming with us.” I hugged him. “You don't know how happy I am to see you.”
“Aw.” Karmen hugged me back. “Now there's the reception I was expecting. It's good to see you too, Seren.”
“I wish to stay and oversee the retrieval of remains, Ambassador,” Mekha said.
I stepped back from Karmen as I nodded. “Sure. I'll let Pichai know.”
“Thank you.” He glanced at the council members swarming around the site. “Could you . . . introduce me and inform them of my role?”
“Who's in charge?” I asked Karmen.
“Uh . . .” Karmen looked around, then pointed. “That guy.” He leaned closer to whisper. “He's a bit of a—how shall I put this? Oh, I know! He's an asshole.”
I laughed and pulled Karmen into another hug. “I've missed you so much!”
Chapter Thirty-One
After I spoke to the Head Councilman of the Bangkok Human Council House and received assurances from him that he would treat the Fey remains with respect and allow Hunter Mekha to be in charge of their retrieval and acquisition on behalf of the Fairy Council, I laleked back to the house with Karmen, Star, and Extinguisher Teagan.
Teagan immediately joined his team at the dining table with Killian and the vexes. Star found his guards in the kitchen—some of them trying to cook while the others just drank Thai beer and watched the show. I took one look at that and followed Teagan to the table. Karmen drifted toward the kitchen. I would have reeled him in, but I decided it would be far more entertaining to watch him play with Demons.
“Dinello!” Killian went over to shake Karmen's hand. “Whatchu doin' here?”
“Hey, handsome!” Karmen hugged Kill instead of shaking his hand, then laid a kiss on his cheek. “I happened to be in the neighborhood so I thought I'd pop by to see what you two were up to.” He stepped back and peered over Kill's shoulder. “Where's that tall, dark drink of Unseelie at?”
Killian snorted a laugh. “Raza's at home. We don't bring the others along unless Fairies are involved in the case.”
“Aren't they?” Karmen asked. “They were recovering Fey remains when we left the demolition site.”
“That's a separate issue,” I said. “And before you ask, the hunters are here because the Coven asked for their help.” I looked around. “Where are the hunters?”
“They went to help with the remains,” Killian said. “That hunter you took called and gave them the address.”
“Oh.” Then I cursed. “Daxon! I was supposed to scry Dax.”
“Ooooo, the Blue Fairy is here?” Karmen drawled. “I thought you said they didn't join in on all the fun unless there were Fairies involved?”
“Dax has been handling his own shit,” Killian said. “I'm sure he's fine.”
“Yeah. True.” I looked at Karmen to add, “He's coming down to deal with the sale of those Fey remains. It sounds as if the Prince of the Thailand Underground has been a bad boy.”
