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attended cut off, and the display trembled when he ducked to avoid a

flying saucepan.

“I said get the fuck out!” Ivy screamed in the background. “No, don’t

touch it!”

“Please, sir,” Lorcan pleaded, his dark hair tousled and his blue eyes

comically wide, “just come to the kitchens.” Then the vidscreen

disappeared.

“Your mate?” His father asked, not bothering to hide his amusement.

Resting his hands on his hips, Kai stared down at the floor and shook

his head. “My mate.”

“Relax, son,” his father advised, chuckling under his breath. “She

isn’t the first queen to erupt in this citadel, and I’m sure she won’t be the

last. Your mother is rather famous for some of her more…colorful

outbursts, mostly concerning you.”

He remembered a few of them. Once, he’d been injured during a

training session, just a small cut over his eyebrow, but he’d never seen

his mother so furious. He’d been only sixteen at the time, so very, very

long ago, but even now, his old trainer conveniently disappeared when

Avalindra Blackthorn visited the citadel.

“Until our next meeting.”

“I’ll accompany you,” his father insisted, still grinning. “I wouldn’t

want to miss this.”

Wishing to save time, instead of walking to the lower levels, Kai

simply closed his eyes and transported himself to the kitchens. Arriving

in the middle of the frenzied setting, he had just enough time to gather

his wits before an airborne spoon forced him to duck behind a counter.

Smashed fruits stained the walls, flour had been scattered from one

end of the room to the next, and all manner of cookware laid dented and

discarded on the floor. Even more perplexing was the two dozen or so

bekshin
huddled around Ivy’s feet, their high-pitched squeaks competing

in volume with his mate’s shouted threats.

“Stay back!” In one hand, she held a medium-sized frying pan, and

in the other, she cuddled one of the
bekshin
to her bosom. “I swear to the

stars that if you touch one of them, I’m going to go super nova on all of

your asses.”

“Nice of you to drop by.” Sion slipped behind the counter, greeting

Kai with a sardonic grin. His reddish hair stuck to his head, dripping wet

with what smelled like gravy. “She’s gone completely postal about those

damn piglets. She won’t listen to anyone.”

“The
bekshin
are a delicacy,” Elor interjected, appearing at Sion’s side

and startling him so badly it pulled a strangled curse from the shifter.

“The meat is quite unique, wonderfully flavorful.”

Sion shook his head. “Don’t let her hear you say that. She’s about two

seconds away from declaring the lot of them a protected species.”

While he didn’t understand why she cared so much, if it calmed his

mate and made her happy, Kai would pass the law himself. Raising his

hands in a peaceable gesture, he shuffled cautiously around the marbled

counter. He paused briefly when Ivy swung toward him, pointing the

pan at his face, but he didn’t retreat.

“Ivy, dove, it’s okay. Let me have the frying pan.”

“They’re going to eat them.”

“No, I won’t let that happen. No one will eat them.” He took another

step toward her, his hands still raised. “We’ll release them in the gardens

to chase the willowhips.”

“They’ll need somewhere to sleep.” Lowering the pan just an inch,

Ivy tilted her head to the side, rubbing her cheek against the runt in her

other hand. “And they’ll have to be fed.”

“Whatever you want, dove.”

She finally dropped the frying pan to the floor with a loud clang, and

her voice softened as she cooed to the little
bekshin
. “I don’t even know

what they eat.”

“Mostly hollygrass and insects. They’ll be happy in the gardens.”

Ivy watched him for a long time, searching his face, before she finally

nodded. “Would you like that, Hamlet?” she cooed to the piglet.

“Oh, great fuck,” Sion blurted, “you did not name that thing.”

“He is not a
thing
,” Ivy shot back, “and yes I did.” She stuck her

tongue out and returned to tickling the animal’s belly. “I’m keeping

him.”

Kai closed his eyes and counted to ten before opening them. “Ivy,

no.”

“Yes.”

“He can stay in the garden with the others.”

“I’m keeping him,” she insisted.

“No, absolutely not.”

He would do anything to make her happy, anything except keep their

former dinner in his bedroom.

Hamlet romped around the bedroom the next morning, squeaking

happily as he explored every nook and cranny, including the inside of

Kai’s boot. Ivy had made him a nest of blankets on the table beside the

bed, but when he’d crawled onto the mattress to curl up next to her, she

hadn’t been able to resist snuggling him until they’d both fallen asleep.

She wasn’t the only one enamored with the piglet, either. The

moment Cami had seen him, she’d insisted she be taken to the gardens

to choose one for herself. Like Kai, Tariq had flat out refused to have a

pig in his bedroom, but of course, Cami had won the argument. She’d

selected a female, and she’d already tied little pink bows to the ends of

Olive’s tails.

Even Tira had cracked a smile and given Hamlet a scratch behind the

ears. Much to everyone’s surprise, Elder Elor Blackthorn had taken one

of the
bekshin
home as a surprise gift for Kai’s mother when she returned

from the Eastern Isle. Hamlet had pretty much won over everyone.

Except Kai.

“Could you at least keep the beast out of my things?” Lifting his boot

by the heel, he turned it upside down, dumping Hamlet out into his

waiting palm. “He is a menace.”

“He’s sweet,” Ivy disagreed, taking the
bekshin
from her mate. “Oh,

come on, you don’t think he’s even the least bit cute?”

“No,” her mate answered flatly.

“Well, I’m sorry you feel that way, because he needs a babysitter.”

“No,” Kai repeated, dropping onto the mattress to pull on his boots.

“Ask Cami.”

“Cami is busy, working on Xenthian translations to update the

language converter software.”

“Language converter?”

Ivy tapped the gold-plated bar on her earlobe. “It’s our version of a

linguistic translator. They’re implanted when—”

“Implanted?” Kai whipped around on the bed to face her, his eyes

wide and horrified. “That’s barbaric.”

“It’s not like they cut us open or anything. It’s just a little shot.”

Springing up from the mattress, Kai grabbed her by the shoulders,

looking her up and down with a crazed expression. “They shot you?”

“They…” The darkness in his eyes said he’d wage war against all of

Earth if they’d hurt her in any way. So, for once, Ivy didn’t laugh at him.

“They didn’t shoot me.” Shifting Hamlet to the crook of her arm, she

reached up with her unoccupied hand to touch her mate’s cheek. “It’s an

injection, that’s all. I barley felt it.”

Cradling the back of her hand, he pressed into her palm and sighed.

“It’s still barbaric.”

“I’ll be sure to pass on your complaint.” She stretched up on her toes

and brushed their lips together. “Hamlet still needs a babysitter.”

“There is an entire staff at your disposal, dove.”

“He doesn’t know them. I can’t leave him with a stranger.” Besides,

the staff had wanted to cook and eat him. “Please?” She batted her lashes

playfully. “It won’t be for long. I just have to meet this new sentry the

elders sent.”

“Take the beast with you.”

Fighting back a grin, she tucked Hamlet into Kai’s arms. “It’ll be good

for you. I have to find Sion.” Then she kissed them both and sashayed

out of the room, leaving Kai growling behind her. “You two have fun,”

she called before closing the door behind her and bursting into peals of

laughter.

“I know that look.” Sion leaned against the opposite wall of the

corridor with what appeared to be half a loaf of bread in his hand. “What

have you done now?”

“Do you ever stop eating?”

The shifter shrugged as he took a bite off the end of the loaf.

“Whatever,” he mumbled around the mouthful. “Let’s get this over

with.”

They walked in companionable silence through the citadel, Sion

leading the way to the training hall. Ivy had expected to find sparring

mats, punching bags, maybe a few speed bags in the room, but naturally,

nothing on Xenthian was what she expected. Instead, the room consisted

of a dirt floor—the same purple sand from the beach—and rows and

rows of swords, daggers, spears, and bows with quivers of arrows

hanging from hooks on the walls.

A raised, circular platform sat in one corner of the room, illuminated

by an eerie blue light. As Ivy watched, the air around the platform

shimmered, and a sentry with long, bronze hair emerged from seemingly

nowhere.

“It’s like a holo-room,” Sion explained, leading her toward a row of

stone benches carved into the wall. “Basically, it’s a training sim.”

“Huh,” was all Ivy said, but she itched to get inside and give it a go.

It had been too long since she’d sparred—virtually or otherwise. “Is that

him?” she asked, pointing to a sentry standing rigidly near the benches.

He wore the standard uniform of the royal guard, the silver threads

so new and shiny they practically glowed against the black cloth of his

tunic. His raven hair had been pulled back from his face, secured at his

nape with a strip of brown leather, and even from the distance, the burnt

orange of his irises stood out like twin flames.

“He looks like an asshole,” Sion noted dismissively. “So, yeah,

probably.”

The young sentry met them at the edge of the fighting pit, fisting his

hands at his sides and lowering his head. “My lady. It is my honor to

protect you.”

“Uh, thanks.” She looked up at Sion with a raised eyebrow, but the

shifter only shrugged. “So,” she continued, addressing her new guard,

“I’m Ivy Dalton, and this is Sion Jabari.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Ivy Dalton. I am Wynlathilrith

Nightstar.”

She asked him to pronounce his first name twice more before giving

up on trying to say it correctly. “Right, I’m just going to call you Wyn.”

“As you wish, my lady.”

Ivy rested her hands on her hips and sighed. “Okay, let’s lay down

some ground rules. First, you can call me Ivy, Dalton, Commander, or

any combination of the three. None of this ‘my lady’ stuff.” She didn’t

mind when Kai said it, but coming from him, it sounded more like an

endearment. From everyone else, it just made her feel weird. “Secondly,

don’t annoy me.”

Wyn nodded once. “Will there be anything else, Ivy Dalton?”

She thought it over for a minute and lifted one shoulder in a half

shrug. “No. I think ‘don’t annoy me’ pretty much covers everything.”

“Okay,” Sion said, speaking for the first time since Wyn had

introduced himself, “what’s on the itinerary for today?”

“Nothing until this afternoon.” Her gaze drifted to the sim platform

in the corner of the training hall, then to the cache of weapons on the

wall. “I think I know how we can pass the time, though.” Linking her

fingers together, she stretched her arms out in front of her, cracking the

knuckles. “Who wants to get their ass kicked?”

* * * *

protest from the workout, and her backside hurt like the ten shades of

hell from the number of times she’d fallen on it. Worse, her cheek

throbbed where Sion had clipped her with a well-placed right hook, and

the flesh had already begun to bruise.

The pain would fade soon, and the bruise would be gone in a few

days, but she knew Kai was going lose his fucking mind when he saw

her. Hence, the reason she’d sent Sion into the Valley with clear

instructions not to return until sundown. Hopefully, she could calm her

mate enough by then to prevent the shifter’s murder.

Arriving at the library, she gave Wyn a solemn look and shook her

head. “You should wait out here.”

With his agreement, she took several calming breaths and pressed her

palm against the pressure pad. The glass doors slid open, permitting her

entrance, and she hesitated for only a heartbeat before crossing the

threshold. She couldn’t hide forever, or even long enough for the bruise

to disappear. She’d just have to trust that, as a warrior himself, Kai would

understand.

Somehow, she doubted it would be that easy.

The library was quiet except for the plink of rain against the

windows. Apparently, it was the “wet season” in Sommervail, and she’d

been told to expect many dreary days in the coming weeks. Ivy actually

enjoyed the rain. The persistent, depressing gloom that bathed the city—

not so much.

When she didn’t find Kai in his usual place at the desk, she almost

left, thinking perhaps he’d returned to their quarters, but a happy squeak