Free Steal the Sun by Lexi Blake

introduced to Dev earlier. I made amends now and my vampire happily greeted the troll. Like me, he had a soft spot in his heart for the Huldrefolk. They were a part of our childhood.
    Albert had been true to his word and now we were all happily ensconced in the east wing of the palace. Once we’d gotten rid of Mara, we’d had plenty of help moving into Dev’s part of the palace. I had a whole room for nothing but getting dressed and primping. Sarah, Neil, and I had spent the afternoon getting settled in and talking to Bibi about palace life. Neil had been right about the troll. She knew an awful lot about the nobles. She knew who was sleeping with whom and who was cheating. She knew who was feuding and she liked to gossip. Once we got her talking, she had gone on for an hour as Sarah, Neil, and I had all gotten ready.
    “It’s time for you to depart,” Bibi reminded me. She had a notebook and a clock to tell time. Though her voice was quiet, I knew she was trying to take her job seriously. “You and His Highness and Master Daniel are supposed to enter last. It’s a great honor. All of the nobles want to see Prince Dev’s first meeting with his mother after so long a time.”
    “You mean they want to gawk at a train wreck,” Dev complained. He was nervous. Dev was dressed in traditional Seelie clothes, the emerald color of his tunic making his eyes even more green than normal. I smoothed back the midnight fall of his long hair. It was just past his shoulders. Normally he pulled it back, but now he left it long for the more formal occasion.
    Danny had gone the same route I had. Modern. Contemporary. He was in a Hugo Boss suit that had been custom fit at Neiman Marcus. His sandy blond hair was slicked back. He looked hot and dangerous. He glanced at Dev and gave him a reassuring smile. “It’s going to be all right. What’s the worst she could do?”
    Dev blanched at the thought but took my arm anyway. Danny took my left side and we began to walk toward the formal dining room where the nobles awaited our arrival. Our friends had gone in earlier and Lee and Zack had chosen to skip the formalities in exchange for taking guard duties.
    “I don’t even want to think about that.” Dev shook his head as if to clear it from his dark thoughts. “Are you feeling better?”
    It was said to Daniel, who as a vampire should only feel crappy when he was low on blood.
    “What’s wrong?” I asked, startled at the thought of him being ill.
    “It was nothing.” Danny shook it off. “Just earlier today, I felt weird. I got weak. Maybe I’m coming down with the flu.”
    “You can’t get the flu, baby.” I touched his forehead with my hand, seeking any sign of illness. Not surprisingly it was cool. Vampires don’t do sick.
    “He was in that hot coffin for two hours,” Dev pointed out.
    That shouldn’t make a difference. It might have made Daniel uncomfortable, but from what I understood, it shouldn’t have made him ill.
    As we approached the uniformed guard who would announce us to the party, Danny shrugged away his earlier discomfort. “I’m sure that’s what it was. I feel great now. It was actually kind of cool. It made me feel almost human. If it comes up again I’ll be sure to tell Z because she likes to baby sick people.”
    “Well, I had to,” I admitted. “When you were alive you turned into the biggest baby the minute you got a stuffy nose.”
    Dev nodded that we were ready to be announced and then we walked down a magnificent marble staircase. Twenty steps led us into a huge ballroom that had been set for the royal banquet.
    I held on firmly to both their arms because the last thing I needed was to tumble down the stairs and break a limb. I looked out over the crowd and realized Dev had been right. Everyone was hoping for a big scene. They were whispering behind their hands and gawking. They moved their attention between the three of us and the woman at the end of the hall.
    I glanced around the room