Sunny - Mona Lisa Eclipsing

“Beyond Louisiana? Did any of the neighboring Queens die?” I asked, alarmed.

“No, all the current territories and Queens are quite stable and in good health, at the moment. I am confusing you with this roundabout talk,” she said, chiding herself, and paused a moment to gather her thoughts and words. “We always knew that one day we would be discovered. It was simply a matter of time with all this new technology. The choice we are faced with now is whether to use this opportunity to make ourselves known to the world or to sweep it under the rug once again, as we have always done, and continue on with our secret existence. I leave the choice up to you.”

“Me?” My voice squeaked.

“Yes. We’ve determined the male to be a rogue by the name of Jarvis, who fled his Queen three years ago. The girl, however, appears to be human. I’ve asked the DC territory Queen to hold off taking any action for the moment, but that situation cannot hold for long. Both Jarvis and the girl are being taken to a hospital, accompanied, or rather surrounded, should I say, by human law enforcement. What I need to know is if you are willing to serve as our Monère ambassador.”

“Wait . . . wait. You want me to introduce the Monères to the rest of the world? Why me?”

“Can you think of any other Queen able to do so?” Her tone was quite dry.

Okay, put that way, I could see her point. “All right, I agree most of the other Queens are too arrogant.” Beyond arrogant, actually. “But what about the more reasonable ones, like Mona Carlisse?”

“Not as disastrous as the others,” the Queen Mother granted, “but aside from the fact that she is still recovering from the ordeal of being raped and enslaved for over ten years by outlaw rogues, Mona Carlisse’s contact with humans is too limited. She has only the most basic concept of human law.”

“What about my mother, Mona Sera?” She was the territory Queen of Manhattan. “From what Gryphon told me, she has plenty of business dealings with humans. Some politicians, too, I gather.”

“Mona Sera, who abandoned you at birth because of your mixed blood? Who drugs her people with aphrodisiacs and prostitutes them out for monetary gain and economic influence? To have her represent us? I think not,” said the Queen Mother coldly. “I’d sooner trust our peoples’ welfare to a rabid mongoose than to her.”

That put paid to that suggestion plainly enough. “Why does it have to be a Queen? What about the Morells? They spent almost twenty years living among humans.”

“As rogues. They’d be swatted down like flies, assassinated by the first Queen who didn’t like our secrets being made public.”

My voice thinned, became a little bit shrill. “And I won’t?”

“You are the High Prince of Hell’s chosen mate; his mantle of protection over you is more substantial than you realize. The threat of possibly endless torture and punishment during afterlife is a potent deterrent for even your most hateful enemy.”

“That might cover the Monères, but what about the threat from humans themselves?”

“You will have to charm them.”

I huffed out an exasperated breath. “That’s not even close to being funny.” It was ridiculous what she was asking me to do. To risk. “I have absolutely no training for this.”

“You have the best training among us. You have lived among humans all your life, are familiar with their byways and laws, and—what no other Queen or Council member can claim—you are part human. Part human and part Monère. No one else can bridge our two worlds better, Mona Lisa.” Her voice grew softer, though no less urgent. “No one else has a more valiant and generous heart. Trust me on this, when I say there is no other among us that can serve as a more fitting or more ideal representative.”

“And if I don’t? If I select the other option of sweeping this all under the rug?”

“Then the rogue and the girl will be discreetly killed, and a concentrated effort of eliminating other troublesome rogues will follow.”

She gave me a moment to process this before continuing. “You have an opportunity to change things, my dear—our rules and laws and very way of living. Under the current individual court and territory system, there is no room for males who become too powerful for their Queens, other than to desert and become outlaw rogues, or risk being killed. A great waste of talent and strength, not to mention Monère lives. The problem before was there was no useful purpose for them to serve. But that can all change if the Monère come out publicly.”

“How?”

“That is for you and I to decide and negotiate.” The canny Queen Mother knew she had a hard-and-fast grip on my interest now. “I cannot risk the other Queens.”

“Only me,” I said, smiling wryly.

“I value you more than any other Queen,” she said, her voice clipped. “That is the hardest part for me, to give you this choice. I am only willing to allow this risk for the greatest possible gain. Plus, you have proven to be a survivor. I am trusting in that. But enough. For practical matters, I can send only you and those of your people who are willing to tread this path with you out into the public eye. If none are willing, I will send some of my own men.”

“So it’s only going to be a handful of us.”

“Not if you can entice others to join you,” she offered ingeniously. “There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of outcast Monère living among the humans, outside of our society.”

“You’re talking about rogues,” I breathed, suddenly seeing where she was going with this. “And how would I go about enticing these rogues to put their necks alongside mine on this chopping block of a public outing?”

“By granting them full pardon and allowing them to become part of an official court once again.”

I laughed, amazed and appalled, excited and entranced by what she was proposing. “So you would have outcast rogues serve as Monère representatives. How utterly practical. Okay,” I purred. “Let’s bargain.”

THE BARE BONES of it all fell into place within hours: an hour on the phone with the Queen Mother, another hour talking to my own people, one more hour to pack what we would be taking with us. Then we were on our way to the airport.

Amber met us there.

My greedy heart gave an exultant cry as our car pulled up next to his in the short-term parking lot of the airport. “I didn’t know if you were coming,” I said, stepping out of the car.

“When you asked me to build with you what my heart never dared dreamed for or imagined would ever be possible, how could I not?” he said as I flew into his arms.

We held each other tightly.

“The risk . . .” I said against his chest.

“Is one we are all willing to take for that glorious possibility of maybe . . . just maybe,” he rumbled against me.

“Like, just maybe we can pull this crazy thing off,” Quentin finished dryly.

“Hey, pup.” Amber released me and swept his approving eyes over the rest of our group. “Glad to see you’re coming, too.”

“You kidding? Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Quentin said, smiling. “My timing in leaving Mona Maretta couldn’t have been more perfect. Makes me almost, like, prescient.”

“Or just damn lucky,” Dante muttered, messing up his brother’s hair.

“How could I not come,” Quentin said, eyes laughing as he ducked away and smoothed down his glossy locks, “after you jumped on board? Had to make sure my big brother stayed out of trouble.”

“And where our two sons go,” Nolan added, his big arm around his smiling wife, “Hannah and I go, too.”