Queen of The Hill (Knight Games) by Genevieve Jack Page B

he finished shifting, he couldn’t open his jaws without risking her release.
    I grasped for Nightshade, jumped over Rick’s dragon-like tail, and with a swipe of my blade, sent the shrieking thing to hell. The smell of sulfur filled the alley. I brought the back of my hand to my nose.
    Shifting back to his human form, Rick turned to face me, now completely naked. “Poltergeist,” he said.
    “You shredded your clothes.”
    “I had to. You were distracted.”
    “Sorry.”
    “Do you need the night off?” he asked.
    I considered it. He was right. It had taken me way too long to draw Nightshade. I needed to get my head in the game. For tonight, I would save the Tabetha analysis for a safer time and place.
    “No. I’m fine.” I helped him pick up the pieces of his shredded apparel. None was salvageable.
    “Good. I will go to the car for a change of clothes.”
    “Wait! Your cell phone!” I held up the pocket from his torn pants. “The screen’s not even cracked.”
    He rolled his eyes. “Thank the goddess for small favors.” He plucked the phone from my hand, and then dissolved into a mist and blew from the alley.

CHAPTER 7
The Invitation
    I wasn’t naive. Eventually, Rick and I would have to talk out the Tabetha situation. Keeping it bottled up was toxic. But even after a good long sleep and a few more nights of putting him off, I wasn’t ready.
    Three days later, a tree sprite arrived at my door with a rolled up parchment made of birch bark. How did I know she was a tree sprite? Picture a female Peter Pan wearing a dress of dead leaves and looking like she might pass out from fatigue at any moment.
    “Her Highness Tabetha, Queen of the territories of Salem and Smugglers’ Notch, requests the presence of Grateful Knight, Queen of Monk’s Hill, to dine in her presence at six o’clock in the evening, the last day of January.” She lowered her head in a deep bow and extended the parchment with both hands.
    “Thank you,” I said. As soon as I backed away from the threshold, the sprite limped slowly to the dormant oak tree in my yard and slipped inside. What a bitch Tabetha was. She could have sent a pine or fir sprite. Coming out of hibernation like that had to hurt.
    I unrolled the parchment. Poe landed on my shoulder and read the invitation along with me.
    “Six o’clock. After sundown,” Poe said.
    “Of course it’s after sundown. It’s a dinner party and we aren’t over eighty.”
    “The cover of darkness is her advantage. You’ve never been to her residence. Taking away your ability to see clearly is a ploy meant for her benefit.”
    I pulled out my phone and texted Rick the details. “We need a plan, something to offer her in lieu of Rick.”
    “What did you have in mind?”
    “I’m not sure, but it has to be something Tabetha can’t do herself, something worth the value of Rick to her.”
    “May I suggest you move up the retrieval of your grimoire on your to-do list?” Poe asked.
    I squeezed my eyes closed, kicking myself for waiting so long to force the issue with Logan. “You’re right. I will.”
    * * * * *
    I showed up at Logan’s penthouse later that day, hoping his sunny disposition would pull me out of my funk. Things weren’t exactly going my way. I had a date with a homicidal witch at the end of the month, and I was still holding Rick at arm’s length.
    “Hey, stranger,” I said when he opened his door. “I was beginning to think you were avoiding me.” I strolled inside, beaming with anticipatory gossip. I hadn’t seen Logan in weeks, and our communication during that time had consisted of a handful of texts. I had so much to tell him, I was bursting at the seams.
    “Uh, sorry about that. I’ve been busy at the restaurant. I bet you’re here for your book.” Logan closed the door behind me. Something was wrong. He wasn’t making eye contact. I’d stored The Book of Light , my powerful magical grimoire, in his penthouse condominium to keep it safe during