The King's Captive (Gate of Myth and Power, #1)

by K.M. Shea

This guy was in a league I aspired to never encounter in my whole life. If I stuck around, it was definitely going to use one of my proverbial nine cat lives.

They must be some offshoot of fae. Maybe they’re European, and that’s why they feel so different?

Finished—or at least I assumed so, unless he had knives hidden in places I didn’t want to see—Noctus sat back down and stared at me. As if I had something to contribute. Sorry, I didn’t know this was the “little free library” of weapons. He petted me, but a troubling furrow burrowed between his eyebrows. He picked up one of my paws—daring to touch my toe beans—and pressed, making one of my claws pop out. “You are relatively helpless,” he said.

Noctus looked down at me. I quirked my tail, opened my eyes wide, and did my best to look cute. It worked too well. Noctus picked me up, propping me against his chest.

I almost fell off the desk when he also opened an Excel document—who knew kings actually had to do work?

“Ama is mine,” Noctus said. “I should be her everything.” “She’s a cat. That’s never going to happen,”

It was remarkably beautiful, and somehow both foreign and so familiar. Outside a hair salon, a scooter was locked to a lamp post that had an unlit lantern on top of it. Next to the scooter was an actual horse tied to a hitching post.

“It seems Ama has done more for you than all the detailed instructions I’ve given you about ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’,” Ker said.

“Her presence did seem to ease their usual anxiety.” Cuteness is a valuable weapon to wield as a cat. I’ve practiced in front of a mirror so I know how to look as charming as possible. It works great on humans.

“Do I look like I need to make friends?” “Noctus,” Aristide said. “I can’t see, and I think you look like you need friends.”

“It seems Ama is an omnivore.” Ker clapped for me. “How very forward thinking of her!” “Would you two stop it?” Aristide complained. “She’s a cat—not Noctus’s child.”

“Besides, what’s the point of—what are you always saying?—meeting companions and dictating to people, if you can’t use your skills to get things?” “First of all, it’s Win Friends and Influence People. And you do it because it’s nice to be confident and liked,” Ker said.

If I had no morals, I could have been a cat burglar—haha! I was so amused by my own joke, I licked my chops.

“Tell him, Charon.” “Sir is very capable and skilled,” Charon said. “I can imagine with as much power as he has, even if it is restrained, it would be possible for him to form a bond with Ama.” “Charon, that was the opposite of helpful,” Aristide said.

Aristide is the only sane one of the bunch.

Noctus blinked. “You’re willing to help?” “That’s my job.” “Even though I’m not with the department?” “You’ve got a cat. You can’t be bad if you own a cat.” “That seems ridiculous and easily disproven.”

I sat down on the map and resorted to my final ploy. I rolled over on my back and presented my belly.

No one noticed my rarely seen belly. Not even Noctus. What the heck? Normally I can’t get a moment’s peace with you all running around the villa and carrying me around. Now when I actually want to communicate something important, you ignore me?

Well done, Charon! I take back my mean thoughts. With just a nudge, you lot are off and moving. You’re very smart!

“Yes, you can come in, but only because the Home Owners’ Association informed me I cannot leave the elderly outside, crying.”

I’m paranoid enough to wonder if he somehow found out about me, but my gut says he’s just that much of a cat fan.

He crooned a few Elvish words to me which were pretty, and kind of soothing because they sounded curly and sparked with magic.

unless you would rather that I tell you ‘yes, you just happened to adopt a magical cat who has the best temperament I’ve ever seen and she doesn’t care about you at all’?”

“Did he seriously find the cat?” Aristide asked. “I’m really hoping not, or he’s going to be unbearably smug for weeks.” “I found her,” Noctus said as we drew closer. “She was running here, absolutely terrified. She was trying to find me.” “Do we need to be concerned about how smart he thinks his cat is?” Aristide asked. “It’s a forgone conclusion Ama is not a normal housecat,” Charon said. “Even if we don’t know exactly what she is, she is obviously more intelligent.” Aristide leaned back and sighed into the night sky. “That’s right, I forgot, you’re an enabler.”