Page 62 of My Pleasure

“Gavriel, I assume,” Aiden asked.

She nodded and set her teacup down. “He sent a text, basically telling me that he was hurt that I sent the interview request to Beth.”

Aiden laughed. “Let me guess, she just scheduled it for him.”

She held up her phone. “Got it in one.” She looked at Rory. “Prince Gavriel is scheduled for three pm, tomorrow. Beth sent the calendar invite.”

“Gods love Beth,” Aiden said. “I bet she didn’t ask, she just informed him he had an interview.”

Meryn picked up her tea again. “More than likely.”

Marshall cleared his throat. “Augustus, how will you handle the custody petition?”

Augustus looked up at Marshall, then frowned. “No disrespect Elder, but I forgot that you were on the council.”

Meryn giggled.

Marshall looked at his niece with affection in his eyes. “I am clearly outshone by my lovely niece.”

Augustus stretched and cracked his back. “Honestly, I will handle this exactly the same as if we were in any other pillar city and ignore the Witches’ Council completely. The Elder Council has always handled civil matters.”

Marshall nodded. “Good. Good. That’s exactly how we need to approach things.”

Augustus pointed from Kiera to Hunter. “I don’t even see why this is going before the council. Kiera is a direct blood relative, is young and mated. She and Hunter represent a stable two-parent home. What worries me is that man isn’t stupid. He wanted time to coordinate something, which means he thinks he has a chance to win.”

“There’s always murder,” Meryn reminded him brightly.

Marshall covered his face with his hand, then looked up. “I am calling Brennus. This is clearly his side of the family’s influence.”

“Jeesh, send a few evil fae to a torture realm on a family trip and suddenly we’re all ‘violent’,” she complained.

Augustus opened his mouth, but Eoin spoke first. “We know, we know. We stay on her good side.”

Marshall sighed. “No, you’re right. Those fae did deserve what they got. I just wish you had a subset of solutions that didn’t require body bags.”

She smiled wide at him and he flinched. “Do you really, really want me to master politics?” she asked sweetly.

He shuddered. “Body bags it is.”

Kiera looked up at Hunter. “I think, I think I’m done for tonight.”

Hunter, who was staring at Meryn, looked down at her, blinked once, then nodded. “I’ll show you to our rooms.” He stood and held out his hand.

She took it and stood. Surprisingly her legs held. With her right hand in his, he wrapped his left arm around her to steer her out of the room. “Meryn, can you help us arrange a way to get to Boston? The sooner we secure those trusts, the better.”

“I’ll ask Darian. Portia is basically running the palace anyway. He might need to escape my big-sister cousin for a bit.”

Kiera smiled at the small wacky women. “Thank you, Meryn. I know that everything was handled that much smoother because of you. I can never repay your efforts.”

Meryn scrunched up her face. “Huh? You don’t have to repay nothing. I gotta watch out for the new nuggets, especially my future trainee, he calls me ‘Princess Auntie’. That kid kicks ass.”

Too tired to remind her that Keran was still a child, she simply nodded and let Hunter lead her upstairs.

Chapter Eight

She followed Hunter up the stairs and down the hall to his rooms. He opened the door, then with unexpected nervousness, lifted his arm to welcome her to step in. “After you.”

She walked in and was pleasantly surprised. She had been expecting metal, chrome, weight sets, and a large television. But, that wasn’t what greeted her at all. Stepping inside, she looked around the room slowly.