Angel of the lake

Chapter Thirty-Two

With time running out before the end of the year would be whistling around the corner, Meg sat at one end of an awfully long table in a room she hadn't been in before. A room she'd been told was rarely ever used.

Castle staff were making a fuss of her, making sure she had enough to drink and wasn't hungry, offering to grab her a refreshment if needs be.

They seemed to like her almost as much as Claudio did. Only no one would ever surpass his coddling.

Caspian sat to the side of her, more papers in his hands relating to his latest mission. Beside her at the head of the table was another empty chair waiting for Claudio. He was busy right now. Understandably so.

As she'd already been made aware of, they had many guests on their way.

Speaking of the war, Claudio was getting antsy.

"You've got nothing to be nervous about Megsy," Cas said, glancing up from one of those many papers. "None of these people would get away with hurting you for starters, and above that, everyone coming over is an ally. Do you think King hot head would let anyone near you that might pose a threat?"

Claudio wouldn't dream of it. Of course she knew this. But it didn't make much of a difference.

Ruby was in her head more than she cared to admit.

Today, she needed to act a certain way. Only she wasn't a demon and she was never going to be one. How was she supposed to act when she didn't know what to do?

"That's not what I'm nervous over."

"Spill."

Cas wasn't going to drop it until he got what he wanted.

She'd, of course, learnt this already.

"I haven't done anything remotely Queenly since being here," She confessed, for the first time feeling truly insecure about her position. "And that's what Claudio's going to want from me. I don't know anything about these people. What if I mess up and look an idiot? I have a tendency to put my foot in my mouth."

Cas snorted. "You only do that with Claudio. And he likes it so don't act all sad and embarrassed about it."

Could she do any wrong in that King's eyes?

Her attitude, as she'd been made aware, did nothing but turn him on. She was his troublemaker, stirring up a storm wherever she went.

Always a good thing.

The same couldn't be said for it in a room full of important people.

"Still, I don't know these people. I don't want to rub them up the wrong way. Like you said, they're Claudio's allies."

What if she messed that up?

What if she did something wrong and made a divide?

What if she made a complete fool of herself?

"Okay, look at it this way," Cas said, bumping his knee with hers beneath the table. "You've already met Lorcan and Evette. Evie loves you, and Lorcan does whatever Evie tells him. You've got nothing to worry about there. Besides that, you already know Kyra and Fallon. That's half of the people coming."

Suppose, as intimidating as the Amazons could be, a familiar face or two would be nice. Besides, she'd learnt how to behave around those two warriors.

"Which means there's another half I don't know a single thing about."

"Then I'll key you in. There's Chronos and Annaliese. She's the Queen of the witches, but she's in charge of the vampires right now too. Crazy, I know. Chronos is Lorcan's werewolf brother. In all honesty, I've seen the guy around and he's got a bit of a temper—but he keeps it together now because his Queen has got a worse temper than he has."