I sighed. “And the princess with the fuck-me eyes?”

Spike shot me a warning look. “The king is possessive of his only child. The queen nearly died giving birth to her, and they didn’t have further children.”

“Ah, she must have witch blood. We don’t breed easily or often without the assistance of magick,” Astrid added.

Spike put his hands up helplessly. “The king keeps his daughter locked up in the palace—”

“And as a result she’s a repressed little demon of her own, I bet,” I interjected.

Spike coughed, the corners of his mouth twitching. “I’m sure the princess—”

“How long do we need to be here?” I interrupted again.

Every second here was a second longer that Wren was in pain. I refused to let her languish there any longer than she had to be. Spike sat on the armrest of Astrid’s chair.

“A few days, I would imagine. Erias will want to know about our forces, how the drakens fight, and enough details that he feels he can make a decision on whether or not the war is winnable.”

I scowled and retreated to my own chambers.

The king sat at the head of the table, his queen on the opposite end and as far from him as physically possible. Astrid and Spike sat on his left, with the princess to his right. Next to Kali was the only remaining free chair. I halted behind it, everyone nervously eyeing my wings and the spiked ridges on my back. Erias’s eyes gleamed with a sick sort of satisfaction, then froze as Kali stood, straightening her long skirts.

“Gareth, fetch the bench and switch it out. Apologies, King Benedict.”

The servants looked warily to their king.

“There is no need,” I answered carefully. My wings and ridges disappeared as I shifted into my human form and threw myself into the remaining chair. I’d rather be in human form than feel like I owed the princess any favors. Once again, I didn’t bother wearing a tunic, and I could tell from the tightness of Spike and Erias’s face it was wildly inappropriate to appear shirtless to a royal dinner. Good.

“We have prepared some of our finest courses for your stay here.” The queen’s voice was demure and soft, everything that was expected of a human queen.

I was sharply reminded again of the true queen I had, accompanied by a sharp bolt of pain through my chest. The servants came forward and delivered our meal, practically dropping the plate in front of me before flinching away. I blinked slowly as I took in the artfully arranged bat, its leathery wings pinned and arranged in a mockery of flight. I refused to look at the king. I knew it would make it only more likely I’d lunge for him. Instead, I shot a glance at Astrid. A twitch of her wrist replaced our plates with fresh chicken and herbs. I didn’t want to know which noble she’d stolen it from to switch out our plates, and frankly, I didn’t care. The corner of my mouth twitched in acknowledgement.