Lord Pippin and I stepped into the cavernous royal waiting room. The rest of the Overlords were already here, sitting and talking amongst themselves before the ceremony began. I stopped Lord Pippin before he could walk away, gently placing my palm on his forearm.

His eyes dipped to where my hand rested, then back up into my gaze. “Yes?”

My lips thinned into a straight line, not enjoying this persona. But I did understand it. I stood on my tiptoes, my mouth aiming for his ear. Luckily, he obliged and bent so I could speak privately with him. I whispered too quietly for anyone else to hear, “Thank you. For telling me the truth.”

The redheaded Overlord nodded his head once and straightened. He strolled over to a chair, unbuttoned his suit jacket, and sat fluidly onto the seat. Back to ignoring me.

I barely kept myself from rolling my eyes. I took a seat next to Lord Xenon on the love seat and pretended the entire morning hadn’t shaken me to my core. I asked, “Who’s going to officiate her ceremony?”

Lord Xenon cast his black eyes on me. “Cleo requested Lord Cato handle it all.”

I tapped my fingers on the arm of the loveseat. “Even the beheading? Isn’t that normally the Queen’s job here?”

“It is unless the individual wanting Eternal Slumber requests for someone else to do it.”

My attention turned toward my father. “Why did she request him? Were they friends?”

“No, they weren’t,” Lord Xenon hedged. “But Lord Cato and Lord John were close before he requested his own Eternal Slumber. And Lord Cato performed his. She’d like the same.”

I hummed, closing my eyes and leaning my head back against the wall. It was damn hard to do with a crown on my head. I yawned behind a fist. “She wants to make sure she sees her soul mate in the afterlife. I didn’t know she was superstitious.”

“Actually, I don’t believe she is.” The Overlord poked my arm, barely even a touch. “Don’t fall asleep. They’ll be coming to get us shortly.”

“Not sleeping.” Another yawn. “Just relaxing.”

A thoughtful moment. “Rough night?”

I snorted. If he only knew. “The entire day was rough.”

The gentle knock came too soon on the door.

I groaned as I stood up, stretching. I fixed my dress and patted my cheeks to wake myself up. Eternal Slumbers were never pleasant. And they were fucking long. Especially, if the individual was old. And Cleo was.

Lord Cato opened the door to stop the knocking.

We filed out behind him.

Our bodyguards shadowed our steps.

Lord Otto’s blond head turned in my direction, and he flicked a finger at me. He reminded, “Up front, your majesty.”

I quickened my steps and moved to the front of the line. We stopped at the doors to the memorial hollow. Friends and family would already be inside, including the woman wanting to die.

None of us spoke, standing patiently.

The voices inside the room finally began to quiet.

Almost time.

Cleo was saying the last of her good-byes.

She eventually opened the door for us, allowing her executioner in. It was tradition. Their last chance to change their mind. If the door didn’t open, then the Eternal Slumber was called off. But the door was open.

It was death time.

I walked into the silent room, the Overlords and bodyguards following behind. This entrance opened up directly onto the platform, only one light lit from above spotlighting a single chair on the raised area. More chairs surrounded it, facing out into the intimate crowd. I led our group to those seats.

The only royal who didn’t sit was Lord Cato.

He stood in the middle of the stage next to Cleo.

My father turned to her. “Cleopatra Conto, do you agree you’ve requested your Eternal Slumber?”

“I do, my lord,” she answered.

My eyes narrowed at her in surprise.

Her tone had bite. Not what I’d expected.

Lord Cato questioned, “Cleopatra Conto, do you still wish for your Eternal Slumber?”

“I do, my lord,” Cleo hissed.

She definitely didn’t like my father.

He stared patiently at her. “Cleopatra Conto, do you have any last words?”

Her mouth thinned, pausing a moment. “I do not, my lord.”

My father gestured toward the chair. “Please have a seat.”

This was the strangest Eternal Slumber I’d been to.

Why in the world would she want my father to officiate her death when she didn’t even like him? It made no sense whatsoever. But, occasionally, the old were…odd.

Cleo took the seat under the spotlight.

Lord Cato began speaking of Cleo’s life. Her childhood and adult time in Egypt. Her slow migration to the west. Her accolades within the vampire hierarchy. Her previous husband. Her two surviving children. Her soul mate.

Her entire damn life.

I kept my ankles crossed and my hands placed on my lap. If I swayed at one point, I wasn’t the only one. Hours passed by. My stomach growled—quietly, thank god.

I should have had breakfast.

I eyed my father.

He was even talking about her favorite heirlooms.

After a moment, it clicked.

Fuck. My father was brutal.

Lord Cato was drawing this out.

Making her wait. He didn’t like her either.

Another hour passed. Then another.

Her family and friends had even stopped crying.

I stifled a yawn and blinked relentlessly.

I would not fall asleep. I would not.

Cleo held up a hand, her tone a warning. “Lord Cato, I believe that is enough. Your words have been very kind, but I’m ready.”

Thank fuck.

The Overlord nodded his head. “As you wish.” He moved behind her and released the back of her chair. It gradually reclined until she was lying flat on the seat, now a table. My father reached behind his head, drawing out his sword. It gleamed in the spotlight. “Cleopatra Conto, your Eternal Slumber is granted.”

His sword blurred, ending her life painlessly.

Luckily, her head didn’t fall onto the floor.

I’d witnessed that a few times. Very distressing.

Her loved ones started crying again, sniffling and weeping at the loss of her life. I really hated these things.

Lord Otto snapped his head in my direction.

Shit. Right.

I quickly stood to my feet, the other royals following. I led them from the room, exiting into the hallway again, our royal guard following our silent procession. I headed straight back into the waiting area…and right to the bathroom.

“Don’t you dare take forever, your majesty. I’ve had to piss for an hour!” Lord Otto growled in warning. He punched my father’s shoulder hard enough to knock him back a step. “Really, asshole? That was torture.”

My father simply grinned.

With my right hand on the bathroom’s door handle, I hissed in annoyance, “Someone tell Phoenix I want a fucking feast sent to my office. I’m heading there after I finish my business.” I glared at Lord Otto as I moved into the bathroom. “And it will be a long piss. Because I’ve been holding it for three hours!”

I slammed the door. Jesus.

 

*  *  *

 

“This is not exactly what I had in mind,” I griped, speaking to the Overlords sitting inside my office. I cut into my steak with quick jerks of my hands. Squinty glares for all the bastards here. “I had intended this to be a private meal.”

Lord Otto pointed his fork at my closed door. “The entire stronghold is packed with Cleo’s clan, and the staff is busy with them.” He stuffed mashed potatoes into his mouth. “And we were hungry too. No need to make the servants work even harder.”

I sniffed. “We need to hire more staff.”

Lord Xenon lifted a brow at his companions. “I’ve been saying that for years.”

Lord Belshazzar leaned back in his chair and sipped at a glass full of crimson blood. “And the funds will still go toward our army. That discussion is closed.”

Lord Xenon frowned—slightly—but didn’t argue.

How could he when we’d been attacked yesterday?

Guess Lord Xenon and I had something in common.

We liked to be pampered.

I sighed and attempted to ignore them the best I could while I ate. It wasn’t difficult really. We sat in comfortable silence and relished the feast we were partaking of. I was beginning to think most of them had skipped breakfast too.

A ping from Lord Pippin’s phone had him removing it from his pocket. He tapped on his phone and began reading. He appeared to be reading it over again and again. The freckles on his nose and cheeks stood out in stark contrast as his face paled, his teeth clenching so hard the muscles showed on his jaw. He muttered under his breath, “Fuck.”

By now, we were all staring at him.

“What’s happened?” Lord Cato questioned.

The door to my office slammed open.

Harmony entered the room, holding her phone up into the air. “I tried to stop it, but they’d put it on too many of our servers. I couldn’t catch them all.”

I laid my napkin on my desk, appraising the woman who I hadn’t seen in four hundred years. “Hello, Harmony. It’s lovely to see you again.”

The small woman waved off my greeting. “You gave me the assistant job too late, your majesty. Ten minutes faster, and I could have handled this with the full force of the Queen’s name backing me.”

This didn’t sound good.

I steepled my hands on my desk. “Talk to me.”

The once human sat on the edge of my desk, staring down at me. She had everyone’s attention. Harmony was a legend, a whisper on the wind. A spy. A soldier. Her services were coveted by all—if you could find her. All wrapped in a mousy appearance. She even wore fucking glasses. Prescription glasses. She needed the damn things to see, which was unheard of in the vampire race—even for those who had been turned into a vampire.

Harmony handed her phone to me. “It’s all over the vampire news by now.” Our news was private from human sight thanks to a spell used on the Original vampire amulet.

As one, the Overlords grabbed their phones and started tapping on their screens, their eyes rapt on their findings.

I took her phone and started reading.

My mouth turned down at the edges, and my hands started to tremble. I whispered, “Oh, my god.”

Lord Pippin stood from his chair and started pacing the room, rubbing his hands through his hair. His face was still pale and only getting whiter. The Overlord’s gaze was narrowed on the floor as he walked back and forth. Back and forth. His feet kept on moving.

It was quiet for long, tense moments as all of us continued to read the articles online. Lots and lots of articles. All on gossip sites and in forums. Plenty of speculative chatter was already starting in the comments.

Lord Cato stood slowly from his chair and placed his phone in his pocket. He turned and stared at the other man. His voice was quiet. . . Oh, so quiet. “You had a relationship with my daughter?”

Lord Otto snorted, still scrolling and reading on his screen. He mumbled, “For seven years, it looks like. If these are all correct.”

Lord Pippin stopped walking and turned to face my father. His jaw clenched again. He didn’t speak, only glared death daggers at my father.

Lord Cato’s lips curved up at the edges. It wasn’t a pleasant smile. “Ah. I think you did.” His head tipped to the side. “And you think I’m the reason she’s the Black Widow.”

What the hell was the Black Widow?

Didn’t matter right now. We had an issue. The articles stated Lord Pippin had given me special treatment during my Challenges because of a past relationship we’d had—many, many correct facts given on our time as a couple. Including him leaving me for the crown and my unplanned need for a Rest afterward.

But apparently, it did matter to Lord Pippin. He growled, “Who the fuck else would kill every single one of her previous lovers? You’re the only family she has left. And Adelie was too much of a marshmallow to order killings as brutal as that.”

All right. Now I cared about the Black Widow.

I tossed Harmony’s phone onto her lap and held up a hand. “Hold on a moment. Are you telling me I have a moniker? The Black Widow? And are you saying all the men I’ve had sex with didn’t die from natural accidents?”

Lord Xenon turned his dark eyes in my direction. “You cannot be that naïve.”

I sat back and yanked the crown off my head, and placed it on my desk, thinking. “Some of their deaths were untimely, but they didn’t happen right after a breakup. Some of their deaths didn’t occur for hundreds of years afterward.”

“A true predator is patient,” Lord Xenon expounded.

Lord Pippin started pacing again.

With a sip of blood from his glass, Lord Belshazzar stated, “The articles are hearsay, at best. Neither one of you has admitted to the relationship yet.” Black brows rose, his gaze uninterested. “Did it actually occur?”

I glanced at Lord Pippin, my mouth shut tight.

His brown eyes met mine under thick lashes.

Neither one of us spoke up.

“Well?” Lord Otto asked. “We’re waiting.”

Lord Cato snorted. “Just look at them. They look guilty as sin.” My father pointed a finger straight at me. “How the hell did you manage to keep this a secret?”

“Not really a secret anymore,” Lord Otto grumbled.

“Not helping,” Lord Cato hissed. Then he marched straight up to my desk and leaned his hands on it, ignoring my silent assistant sitting next to him. His brown eyes peered hard into mine. “Are the articles true?”

“I gave her no special treatment during her Challenges,” Lord Pippin rumbled instantly behind him, his shiny shoes still tearing up the carpet. “As you didn’t either.”

My father glanced over his shoulder, watching him walk back and forth. “I wasn’t talking to you. And that is not what I’m asking about.”

“Who I’ve had relationships with is none of your business,” I snapped. I stood and faced the man who had created me. I slashed a furious hand through the air. “Quit acting like my father. You never have been, and you never will be.”

Silence. Complete silence.

Lord Cato’s mouth quirked up on one side. His voice was quiet. Patient. “You’re wrong on all those accounts, darling.” Then he pushed off the desk, and his tone changed. All business-like. “But what we need to know is if the articles are true about your relationship with Lord Pippin. If they are, we have PR and security issues to handle. Do you understand, your majesty?”

Lord Pippin’s eyes caught mine.

Reluctantly, he gave a slight nod.

I sighed and sat back down, leaning on my chair with a heavy body. I rubbed at my forehead, muttering quietly, “Yes, Lord Pippin and I were in a relationship before he was crowned king.”

Lord Xenon asked for clarification. “A sexual relationship?”

“Yes.” My teeth clenched.

“Was it serious?” Lord Belshazzar asked.

To anyone in the room, Lord Belshazzar appeared bored. Unaffected. Even I couldn’t tell if he gave a damn.

Lord Pippin tipped his head back and stared at the ceiling. Finally, he answered for both of us. “Yes, it was.”

My father’s brows scrunched. “How serious?”

Lord Pippin and I glanced at one another again.

So many memories flashed through my mind.

So many loving moments. So much happiness.

All brushed aside for the crown.

“It was just serious,” I whispered, my heart hammering inside my chest. “That’s really all you need to know.”

Lord Xenon waved his hand between the two of us. “Are you two back in this relationship now?”

Lord Otto tapped his phone on his knee. “They were both late this morning and came in together.”

Lord Belshazzar grunted, with his eyes on his glass. He gently continued to swirl the remaining blood in the flute around and around, staring down into the crimson liquid.

Lord Pippin shook his head. “We are not in a relationship right now, nor have we had any sexual relations since she woke from her Rest.”

“But you’ve had private moments.” It wasn’t a question. Lord Belshazzar glanced up at him. His ice blue eyes didn’t waver from the other Overlord. “Were any of these caught on camera and could they be used against her?”

I shook my head instantly, drawing his attention. “We only spoke privately when I first arrived at the stronghold. And once during a Challenge—but that was actually part of the Challenge, I guess. And none were outside of the royal floor.” I cleared my throat, keeping my expression blank. “Anything else after that was behind closed doors.”

Lord Belshazzar nodded his head. Slowly. “So no cameras?”

“No cameras.”

He went back to spinning the liquid in his glass.

I dropped my head into my hands, my elbows digging into the wood as I leaned heavily on them. I closed my eyes and muttered, “Harmony, who did this?”

My assistant stated calmly, “I’m one hundred percent positive it was Athena Insteia. After you killed her mother at the Blood Rite, she started private inquiries about you. She even tried to track me down. I know for a fact that she managed to find the two-hundred-year-old paper trail to your and Lord Pippin’s home. After that, it would have been just a matter of finding a vampire who lived in the same area at that time and paying them enough money to talk.”

I kept my eyes closed. “We used false names.”

We’d wanted privacy. Our privacy.

Anonymity was precious.

She chuckled quietly and patted the top of my head. “You disappeared for seven years, your majesty. Back then, it would have been near impossible to track your whereabouts, but now we live in the digital age. And you’re the daughter of an Overlord. Did you think no one would notice?”

“False. Names.” I ground my teeth together.

She snorted. “Perhaps try names that aren’t so obvious next time?”

I peeked up at her. “They were fine names.”

Lord Pippin glared right at me. “I told you we should have changed our last names too.”

“Why?” My attention turned to him. The old argument…still old. But now with a new twist. “Did either one of us foresee this happening? Oh, that’s right. You did. You knew I was nicknamed Black Widow. Maybe you should have said something about that.”

His red eyebrows lifted and his tone was droll. “I’m sure that conversation would have gone over great.”

“Coward,” I muttered.

“Do you have any idea what you’re like when you’re mad at someone? When you were pissed at me, you made me sleep outside. Outside, Gwen. Even if it was fucking raining.”

“You could have found a hovel to sleep in,” I argued. I lifted a finger. “And that only happened once. Don’t bring that shit up. Or did you forget about the time you thought I’d left our chickens out—”

Lord Xenon threw his hands up into the air, cutting off my righteous tirade. “Enough. Just…enough.”

Lord Otto snorted, sneering right at me. “Actually, let’s allow them to continue. We should all hear about the great chicken debacle while our people are going crazy believing their new Queen was crowned because she spread her legs for our resident ginger playboy.”

My mouth snapped shut. Asshole.

Harmony snickered softly, utterly tickled.

I cast a glance at her. She shut up.

Lord Pippin stiffened. “I really don’t appreciate the way you’re talking about us. Our relationship was not like that. We’ve already said as much.”

“This is going to be a PR nightmare and undermine the Queen’s authority until it’s handled—if we can even handle it,” Lord Otto shot back. “And really, do you expect me to believe you, of all people, were actually committed to someone? You’d fuck any hole if it were lubricated properly.”

My eyebrows snapped together. “You. Are. An. Asshole.”

Lord Pippin charged him, his fangs bared.

Lord Xenon slid between them, pressing his hands against Lord Pippin’s chest and shoving him back. “Not the time. Control yourself.”

I picked up a book on my desk and chucked it right at the back of Lord Otto’s head. Lord Pippin might be detained but I sure as hell wasn’t. The projectile smacked Lord Otto’s head with a satisfying thump.

The room went mute.

Oh. Oh…

Shit.

I had struck an Overlord.

It might not have been exactly legal.

Lord Otto deliberately swiveled around and bent at the knees, picking up my book from the floor. He straightened and lifted the volume in front of his face. He grunted. “It’s a lot heavier than it looks.”

The Overlord tossed it onto my desk.

I stared down at it and cleared my throat. I pushed the book back into place where it had been. “I think we need to focus.”

With a smirk gracing his lips, Lord Otto questioned, “And not throw shit like a child?”

I cleared my throat again. “Yes, that too.”

He snorted. “Apology accepted, your majesty.”

Lord Belshazzar typed on his phone, yawning as he spoke. “I’m scheduling a press conference for tonight. We’ll all need to be there backing the two ex-love bunnies, but Lord Pippin and the Queen need to speak on the facts. We want to face this head on before it gets out of control.”

“Good plan,” Lord Cato stated.

“Harmony, you need to draft a speech for me,” I stated, already pulling out a piece of paper and a pencil. “I’ll give you the details of where we lived and how long we were together.”

“And why you two ended things,” she added quietly, keeping her tone respectful, yet kind. “The press will want to know that too.”

My lips thinned, but I nodded. I tossed her my phone, muttering, “Put your contact info in there. I have other assignments I want to give you.”

She nodded, doing as I’d ordered.

I started writing the pertinent facts down.

Lord Otto coughed loudly, gaining everyone’s attention. “I know I’m the dick of the group, but I’d like to keep everyone alive. The Queen is known as the Black Widow, and, if whoever is killing off her ex-lovers doesn’t handle this news well, it would be better to be in a location where they can’t immediately reach Lord Pippin.”

The Overlord in question started pacing again.

“You want to move up the trip to Cape Argent, don’t you?” I queried. “That makes sense.”

No vampires could even enter the stronghold without an invitation from Master Niallan. The Original druid amulet wouldn’t allow it thanks to a spell he put on it years ago.

Lord Otto shrugged his shoulders. “It’s only a day early, but it would work to keep him safe.”

“Master Niallan won’t like the change of plans,” Lord Belshazzar mumbled, still working on his phone, his gaze on his screen. “So my vote is for it.”

Lord Xenon snorted. “Who’s going to tell him the news?”

I blinked. “Harmony will.”

“What?” she hissed.

I held her gaze, unflinching in my intensity. “Call it your punishment, instead of me firing you on your first day. If you had contacted us as soon as you knew about Athena’s plans, this situation could have been averted. I know you’re used to working on your own, but you fucked up. You need to know when you’re beaten and when to call in reinforcements.”

Harmony’s eyes were large behind her glasses.

“Do you understand?” I asked patiently.

The killer-spy nodded her head. Stunned.

I pointed a finger at my door. “You can go. Take care of business with Master Niallan. I’ll send you a scan of my notes as soon as I’m done with them.”

Harmony left much quieter than she’d arrived.

Absently, Lord Pippin muttered, “You handled that well.” His feet kept moving as he paced and stared down at his shoes. Though, he detoured and sat down on my desk, his back to everyone else. His troubled brown eyes captured mine. He rumbled, “This is a damn mess.”

I patted his knee. “You obviously knew what you were getting yourself into.” I wiggled my fingers at him. “Black Widow and all.”

Lord Pippin snorted. “Yeah. Yeah, I did know what I was getting in to.” He ran his fingers through his red hair. “Didn’t stop me though, did it?”

“You didn’t stand a chance.” I waved a hand up and down my body, fluttering my lashes at him like a minx. “No one can resist my charm.”

His lips trembled. “You forget I’ve seen you knee deep in shit before. You reeked for a week.”

I laughed outright, my amusement booming inside the room. “Oh, my god! I’d forgotten about that. That wanderer can come into town—”

“Are you two positive you’re not starting your relationship back up?” Lord Xenon cut me off, his voice raised. I peeked around Lord Pippin’s body to look at our questioner. His black eyes didn’t blink. “This is something we need to know.”

“No, we aren’t,” I stated immediately.

“She’s correct. We aren’t,” Lord Pippen remarked, still keeping his back to their group. His brown eyes lowered to mine, and he spoke softly, “But we’ll eventually be friends again. It’ll take time.”

I stared, my smile small. “Yes, it will.”

Lord Belshazzar flicked a finger between the two of us, his eyes still on his screen. “You two should probably cut that shit out then. It could be construed as flirting. If you do that in front of the media, they’ll eat you alive, and the press conference will be for nothing.”

I scratched my nose. “All right.”

Lord Belshazzar’s ice blue eyes peeked up from his phone, hard and cold. He lifted a black brow. He tossed his gaze to the Overlord’s back, then back at me. “Practice makes perfect.”

My eyelashes hooded my gaze. I spoke sweetly, “Of course, my lord.” I turned my attention away from him and placed my hand on Lord Pippin’s knee again. “Go on and sit in your chair. Or keep pacing. I think we’re done walking down memory lane right now.”

The Overlord was upset.

He was just an expert at hiding it.

Lord Belshazzar sighed heavily. “For fuck’s sake, do not touch him during the press conference either.”

I snatched my hand back from Lord Pippin’s heated knee. I hadn’t even noticed I’d done that.

Lord Pippin snorted, humor lighting his gaze. “Maybe I should do the talking with the media. We’ll put you in the back.”

I shooed my right hand at him. “Hush. Off with you now, my lord.” I picked up my pencil and twirled it in my fingers to keep my hand from wandering where it shouldn’t. I stared down at the paper before me. “I have to fix this shit. In a hurry.”