007

“Susie-” I call as I step into the pub and I’m immediately thrown off by the presence of a tall male fae who stands beside Susie and Lissa. I glance off to the side and spot Byunghun sitting in one of the booths, watching. My force my fists to stay loose as my rings warm on my fingers.

“Who is this?” I ask, stepping forward cautiously. Behind me, Kai shifts, walking forward to clap the fae on the shoulder.

“Landon,” he grins as the fae smacks him right back. Affectionately I suppose, from the cruel smile that curls on his lips. “My god, man. It’s been decades.”

“A millennium short of the next time I wanted to see you, Kai you ugly bastard,” Landon, the fae, smacks Kai’s hand off his shoulder roughly. “I don’t care what realm you run now, get your hands off me.”

I like him. Kai pretends to be wounded, smacking the fae one more time for good measure before stepping back to stand next to me as I approach them.

“You know each other?” I ask dryly, not sure if I wanted to know how.

“Unfortunately. He slept with my wife, all three of them,” the fae grounds out. Of course, Kai has. I feel the urge to facepalm.

“If it is any consultation-” Kai opens his mouth.

I flick him, my rings firing a rainbow of sparks and he turns to me.

“Shut the hell up,” I snap, “Susie, who is this?”

Susie shakes her head. “This is Ambassador Landon White, he is the fae ambassador for HDA that represents fae government. I called him once you told me that it was Amy Sirdonna that was kidnapped.”

“Well don’t expect anything useful from him,” Kai says, moving to sit in the booth across from Byunghun. We all turn to him. “You said that he represented fae government. The fae that we fought just now, definitely were not. Thus, asking him questions is as about useful as asking a pet rock.” He shrugs, defending himself.

I turn to Landon expectantly and he rearranges his facial expression from annoyance to a diplomatic politeness.

“I represent the fae government, correct, however, the fae government as well have been dealing quite particularly with the group of radical fae that you encountered today,” he says. I move to lean against the countertop, rubbing my thumb against Leolet. It glows under my touch.

“What can you tell us about them?” I ask.

“They call themselves the Fallen Fae-” he’s cut off by a snort from Kai. Shooting him a glare, I motion for Landen to go on.

“They’ve convinced themselves that Amalie and Hunter’s daughter Amy is a miracle of nature. A message from our gods themselves. There have been rumors about them taking the girl to crown her, but we never expected them to act upon them.”

“How did you let that happen,” Lissa speaks up. “Surely the radicals-”

“We underestimated their numbers,” Landen says, his face darkening. “They refused to negotiate, and they’ve taken the Unseelie Court.”

Even Kai’s eyebrows rise in interest.

“Your queen?” Susie asks, shocked.

“Dead,” Landen says. “That is why they have taken Amy, to put her own the throne. However, I highly doubt she will do any actual ruling. The Fallen have a leader named Quinn, horrid man. Once they place Amy on the thrown to please his multitude of followers, he will be the one calling the shots.”

“Who is next in line to the throne?” I ask.

“Why, Princess Amalie, of course,” he says as if it were obvious.

“So, Amalie got her thrown stolen from her by her daughter?” I ask slowly. It sounded ridiculous.

“No, Amalie’s grandmother, the Queen of Fae, was brutally murdered and by Quinn. They then kidnapped Amy, who is in no actual relation to the thrown and will most likely use her rule the Unseelie Courts and terrorize my people for a millennium before the next Queen is chosen.” Landen says, getting all up in my face. His tone aggravates me, he sounds as if he is talking to a three-year-old.

“Hey, back off,” Kai shifts in his seat but before he can do anything, I ram my lit fist up and smack the ambassador under his chin. He stumbles back, in no way actually hurt, but surprised none the less. Susie in a breath, Lissa covers . Kai leans forward in his chair in sick interest.

“Where is Princess Amalie now?” I ask as if that exchange had never happened. As if I hadn’t just hit an ambassador of peace.

“Safe,” Landen continues without blinking, “we have requested her to be put under the protection of HDA and she is currently being transported as she has been granted asylum in the human domain.”

“Okay,” I nod several times, “what about all the fae that we fought at Amy’s party just now. How are they topside?” I ask.

Landen turns to me, his forest green eyes glinting with dark humor. “I suppose, that’s your job to find out, isn’t it Huntress?”

“What the hell were you thinking?” Susie turns to me the second the door closes behind the ambassador.

“Susie, shall we take this too the kitchen?” I ask, ushering the angry woman through the door, not wanting to be scolded in front of two demons. Not that it would matter that they couldn’t see, they would be able to hear every word.

“You just hit the ambassador from the Unseelie Courts,” she griped once I’d shut the door behind me. “You can’t just do something like that, why don’t you ever think-”

“You say the way he was talking to me,” I raise an eyebrow, “besides, he didn’t seem to care.” I move to the other side of the table in case Susie took her shoe off and threw it at me. I could dodge at long distance.

“This time, I’m serious Scarlett, you could end up offending some very powerful people,” she warns me.

I sigh loudly. “I’m sure my father will be able to deal with whatever his troublemaker daughter deals him.”

Susie lets out one of her own sighs. “This isn’t about your father or his reputation. This is about you, rashly attempting to put a target on your back. I could care less what