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nodding their heads and grunting their praises of the delectable juice. The servants quickly skittered around to collect the empty goblets, returning to the edges of the room and disappearing into the walls. Or so it seemed.
    “So…New York City. Has anyone been there?” Shade scanned the room, but no one answered.
    “I have,” Dylan offered, “but it was over a century ago. Much has changed.”
    The room seemed to stand still as Shade’s thoughts ran over the possibilities of the situation. She knew of one person who’d been there recently. Almost every year since birth, they had returned to the Big Apple.
    “I know someone who knows the city pretty well.” She straightened, elated to have the chance to see her oldest and closest friend in the world, Brisa. “Brisa’s gone there since she was an infant. She knows it better than anyone. She could come, take us around and show us where this Stanis lives…”
    “Absolutely not!” Ursad’s calm face had morphed into horror and suspicion. What the heck was wrong with him?
    “Wh−what? Why not?” Shade stammered. His reaction was confusing, and her stomach sank at what he said next.
    “Because, she’s human . She shouldn’t know about us.” His face tensed at the mention of Brisa. It threw Shade off her train of thought and sent rage surging through her once more. He was never opposed to mingling with humans before. Why the sudden change?
    Shade stood up and glared at the prince. Her temper was so volatile since she’d returned from the inferno of the Unseelie Queen’s grasp. It threatened to send her into a stampede if she didn’t rein it in now. “ So am I , your majesty.”
    Ursad flinched at her words as she spat them out. Shade’s fingers were turning white, clenched tightly at her sides. The room was even quieter than before, if that was even possible. Wild eyes flew from her to the prince and back. No one wanted to interrupt the thickened air that hovered around them now, electrified with fury. Even some of the glamoured servants had their eyes wide open and mouths agape at her outburst.
    “She comes with us, or I will not pacify this Stanis creep you’re sending us to. He sounds like a nut anyway.” Shade flew out of her chair and out of the room, spilling into the hallway where the air was easier to breathe. Why would Ursad treat her so? He knew she was human. How had he forgotten so quickly?
    Something felt wrong, misaligned in some way or another. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she was sure that the Prince was not acting the same as he had the last time she’d visited here. What had happened in all the time she was trapped at the Unseelie castle and the weeks on the isolated beach? She wasn’t the same either; she felt it in every cell, every expanse of her skin—in the hollow inside where her magic had resided. She knew the reasons for that, though. She’d have to question Ursad alone later, when she’d taken a break from it all and could think without seeing red.
    Brisa was coming with them, whether the Prince liked it or not. She’d make sure of it.

Chapter Five
     
    “YOU’RE KIDDING, RIGHT?”
    Brisa gripped the door to the off-campus apartment she shared with her two roommates near the UCLA campus. It cost a bit, but it was so much more spacious and convenient for her to have her own space. The waitressing job she worked at on the weekends helped her pay her share of the rent.
    “Are you going to let me in, or do I have to stand out here the whole time while I convince you otherwise?” Shade lifted a brow at her oldest friend. Brisa had squealed like a pig when she’d opened the door to her but then expressed her suspicions. Shade didn’t just pop out of nowhere for no reason. Brisa was too smart to ignore that fact.
    “Oh, yeah, come on in.” She opened the door enough for Shade to slip on in. “What about your, um, friend out here?” She eyed Camulus suspiciously, even though he was wearing his