I recognized her as Amelia, the event coordinator from the baking competition. I didn’t know the other guy, though.
Amelia stopped directly in front of me, her gray eyes blazing. “Tell me who hurt Sam.” Her hands trembled at her sides.
The young man put a hand on her shoulder. “Yes—please.” He bowed his head to me. “I’m Kenta.” He pressed a palm to his chest. “Sam’s partner. Do you know where he is?” He looked behind me, like I might be hiding him somewhere.
“Enough chitchat!” Amelia’s chest heaved. “Tell us what happened to Sam.”
“Whoa now.” I held up my palms and leaned back.
A tall guy who stood next to Maple, the former head baker, strode forward. He grabbed the event coordinator by the shoulders and guided her away, turning to flash me a smile. “Hey, Jolene, I’m Wiley.” He dipped his head next to Amelia’s. “Let’s hear Jolene out. But if she was involved in attacking Sam, I’ll let you at her, cool?”
As he turned his back to me, I spotted an odd black creature perched on his shoulder. The little guy’s monkey-like tail whipped from side to side. It turned its head upside down and flashed me a pointy-toothed Cheshire grin.
I instinctively recoiled. This was a weird group. Then again, celebrities were never normal, right?
“Alright, lady.” Madeline looked to me and nodded toward the royal group. “You’re up. Tell ’em what you know.”
12
SHIFTER SECRETS
I took a deep breath. Taking Ludolf down and saving not only my own hide but also those of tons of other shifters depended on me convincing this group that I was telling the truth and that we needed their help. I lifted my chin.
“First, you should know that I’m a shifter.”
“What do you shift into?”
“Iggy!” The princess whirled around and clicked her tongue at her little flame. “That’s rude to ask… I think.”
I waved it off, grinning. “Nah, that’s okay. An owl… or at least I used to.”
The vampire shot his girlfriend a triumphant look and drawled in his deep voice, “I knew it.”
The little fire sprouted flaming arms and crossed them. “See? She said it’s fine.”
The princess crossed her own arms over her chest and shot her flame a pointed look. “Well, it could’ve been super offensive.”
The little flame huffed, bits of ash puffing out of his mouth. “Like those Hallmark movies you make me watch, sometimes?”
“Hey! Those are fun.” Princess Imogen whirled on him, and the little guy devolved into cackles.
“So touchy!”
Amelia cleared her throat loudly, breaking up the bickering. The princess and her flame shut their mouths, eyes wide. Amelia tugged at the lapels of her tailored suit—it was flattering and expensive. The kind I would’ve worn back in my lawyering days.
Then she threw a hand my way. “She says she’s got information on Sam.” She nodded at me. “Let’s hear her out.”
I licked my lips and prayed to the sea goddess that my way with words wouldn’t fail me now. “You should also know there’s a whole community of shifters that live underground, in the sewers. Thousands—I’m not even sure how many.”
Prince Harry gaped at me. “How am I just hearing about this now?”
I lifted a palm. “It’s a tightly guarded secret—I’m basically betraying my own people by revealing it to you, so, uh, keep it on the down low?” I shook my head at myself—not how you address royalty, Jolene.
But Prince Harry seemed to take it in stride. He nodded, solemn. “Understood.” He glanced at Madeline. “And you’ve seen this?”
She shook her head. “No, but I believe her. I’ve been doing a piece on the secret shifter underground, and I think I’ll win even more accolades for this than the Carclaustra piece.” Her dark eyes twinkled.
The little flame rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, you’re an award-winning journalist, we get it.”
I swallowed and went on. “I grew up in an orphanage in the Darkmoon District.”
Princess Imogen turned to her blond friend, Maple. “That’s on a lower tier of the island, right?”
Maple nodded as the bizarro black creature scampered into her arms. It flexed and shook its strange little bat wings. “It’s where the night market is.”
Wiley grinned. “Growing up, I spent most weekend nights with my father in gambling halls down there.” He inhaled deeply. “I can smell the familiar odors of sewer and cigarette smoke now.”
“Ah, you know it well.” I grinned, then tipped my head to the side. “It’s also impoverished and home to a lot of shifters—those who don’t live underground. Shifters have been methodically oppressed, to a degree that I myself am just becoming aware of.”
I snuck an uneasy glance at Prince Harry. “King Roch deployed a propaganda campaign during the end of the Monster Wars, likening shifters to monsters. He successfully kept the blame away from himself and focused the public’s attention on ostracizing us as ‘others.’”
The prince’s expression darkened, and I was afraid he might have taken offense. Instead, he lifted his chin. “More and more of my father’s atrocities are coming to light, and it’s only right that we now do our best to repair the damage he did. On his behalf, I apologize.”
I raised my brows. Wow. Not what I was expecting. “Thanks.” I shifted on my feet. “Speaking of which, there is something you might be able to do to help make it right.”
I felt the attention of the group perk up.
The prince rubbed his wrist. “In what way?”
Madeline waggled her brows. “This is the juicy part.”
I cleared my throat. “A shifter named Ludolf Caterwaul sold out activist leaders who were fighting, decades ago, for shifter rights. Those leaders disappeared, and in exchange, King Roch basically established Ludolf as mob boss of the shifter underground. He’s the one shifters go to for jobs, housing, and justice when they’re denied all these things by the citizens and government of Bijou Mer.”
Maple, cradling
