Hazel—Adept Hazel of House Medeis—was my friend, and also Killian’s wife. Naturally this made the dynamics on the committee unique, and it had also severely freaked out the werewolves and fae, because now the vampires and wizards were a lot more likely to team up.
To humans, we supernaturals appeared to get along. And I guess we did, sort of. It was more like supernaturals agreed not to fight one another—we had enough problems already since magic was dying out; we didn’t need to add more issues.
But as a rule, supernaturals didn’t work together. We stuck with our own kind and struggled to survive as magic continued to fade, leaving us scrambling as we tried to figure out what was wrong and fix it.
Killian and Hazel had changed all of that when they fell in love.
I’d tried to change it in my own small ways, too.
“As the fae representative it is vital that Queen Leila participate in our meetings so she might accurately represent fae interests. Even in matters as small as hiring officers for the new task force,” Killian said.
I sighed and slapped my fingers on the tabletop. “I wouldn’t have to bring work from home if you were efficient and said what you meant instead of being all vampire-y mysterious and asking a dozen questions you really don’t care about.”
Killian looked at me with interest. “Exactly what are you saying, Queen Leila?”
“That these meetings are dead boring, and they’d be at least an hour shorter if you got to the point faster,” I said.
Pre-Dominant Harka, the werewolf representative on the committee, made a choking noise, her eyes wide as she gaped at me.
Hazel, however, stood up. “Well put! The wizards support this statement by Queen Leila.”
“No, no.” Elite Bellus, her boss, stirred in his chair. “Although Queen Leila is very clever, we do not—in fact—officially condone her statements!”
Hazel rolled her eyes, but when Killian winked at her from across the table, she glared at him.
“Very well. I suppose I can hurry things up.” Killian abruptly swiveled his chair to face Jade again. “Up until now you’ve worked with your family—which has been contracted by other communities to help clean up supernatural problems. Why are you leaving your family?”
I blinked in surprise. That…is actually a really good question.
Jade slightly ducked her head, acknowledging the question. “My family is interested in carrying on with their contracts and allowing things to continue as they are. While I enjoyed working with my family, I believe that supernaturals can accomplish more together.”
“And you believe that can be done here, in Magiford?” Killian asked.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Jade met the vampire’s gaze. “Because of the marriage of you and Adept Hazel Medeis.”
“I see.” Killian sank back in his chair. “Very well, then. I make a motion that we vote on approving the new hire.”
“Seconded,” I said.
Jade’s employment was unanimously approved, and the meeting ended pretty fast.
I gathered my papers and carefully slid them into my oversized handbag. I grabbed my empty coffee cup and tossed it in the trash bin by the door of the meeting room, where Indigo was sitting with a few Curia Cloisters aides.
“Ready to leave?” I asked.
Indigo peered up at me from behind the black frames of her cat eye glasses. “I’d say yes, but I believe someone wants to talk to you.” She flicked her eyes behind me.
“Leila!” Hazel hustled across the room, making the ponytail her blond hair was gathered in swing. “I won’t keep you, but I wanted to thank you again for your help with my pony.” She really had to crank her neck back to look at me since she was barely five feet tall when wearing heels. “I love her more and more every day.”
“No problem. Helping Killian pick it out was the highlight of my month,” I said, truthfully.
Seeing the deadly vampire surrounded by fuzzy ponies had been hysterical—especially because he’d been meticulous about picking out the perfect one. He’d gotten it as a wedding gift for Hazel when they were married in early January. He had claimed she said she wanted one, but even though Hazel was pretty stoked with the gift she’d been so confused about it that I was pretty sure it was a misunderstanding.
“You should drop by Drake Hall the next time you’re at your parents’,” Hazel said. “So you can see the pony—and we can have frozen wedding cake! I went a little overboard and ordered too much for the reception. We had to convert one of the fridges for the blood bags into cake storage.”
I grinned. “Sounds great.”
“Excellent! Let me know when to expect you. Then I can make sure we’re there and not at House Medeis. But I won’t keep you any longer, have a great day!”
I waved to the firecracker wizard as she zoomed off—this time zeroing in on Jade, the new hire.
I glanced around the meeting room. I should be a good fae rep and mingle, but I just wanted to go home and either see my pets, or sink into my huge bathtub that was almost big enough to swim in.
“Okay, Indigo,” I said. “Let’s head home.”
“I’ll text Azure to let her know to pick us up at the front door.” Indigo typed away on her cellphone. I was touched to see she’d put on the blue Doctor Who phone case I’d gotten her for Christmas—even though Indigo was a brownie, she adored human entertainment. Superheroes, Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who, she loved it all.
Actually, she’d become my companion—a paid position that basically meant she was my zookeeper—because she wanted the salary to buy more merch.
“Thanks.” I bumped the door open and held it for her as she typed away.
As a brownie, Indigo was slender and petite. Stretching at her tallest, she was maybe waist-high to me, though when she threw her thick russet hair up in a bun it added a few inches. Right now she had it loose. It dripped over her shoulders, and her bangs brushed against her glasses.
She impatiently pushed it over her shoulder as she put her phone away. “She’ll be waiting for us.”
“Thanks!” I tried to sound bubbly—there was no sense burdening others with my grief, it wasn’t like they could make Rigel appear or magically make it so he hadn’t tried to kill me. But I might have come on a little too strongly, because Indigo suspiciously peered up at me.
“Do you want to stop at King’s Court Café for one of your blasted coffee drinks?” She shuddered in horror—as a fae, Indigo was a diehard tea drinker and abhorred coffee.
“That is incredibly tempting, but it’s almost five in the afternoon. I’ll be up all night if I drink any now.” I pointed to a fancy pendulum clock as we passed by it, navigating our way through the Curia Cloisters—which was basically like a magical town hall, except it served the whole Midwest.
“A fair point,” Indigo said. “We’ll just have to have snacks when we get back. I made unicorn cupcakes before we left.”
I almost immediately started drooling, and had to swallow hard when I heard someone call my name.
“Queen Leila?”
I turned around, surprised to see a middle-aged man—a human—standing in the middle of the hall.