“The better question is, does your wife hear you? Because it’s some bullshit to say that right in front of her. Don’t you have any respect? I won’t even need to kill you—hopefully she’ll suffocate you in the middle of the night with a pillow. You’d deserve it.”

“Alexis,” Kieran barked, and I could feel the worry threading through his middle. I’d pushed my hand as far as I could.

I straightened, beating my stare straight into Aaron’s head. I’d meant every word—someday I would have my vengeance. This clown’s clock was starting to wind down.

“You might want to control your woman,” Aaron said to Kieran in a lofty tone as I walked back to my place. His wife stood beside him with a bland expression and a blank stare, clearly just enduring what had to be the latest distasteful conversation in her life. “She’ll get you in trouble one day.”

Kieran spread his hands. “I can’t really blame her. Like she said, you attacked our family in the middle of the night and almost got her kids killed. She has a right to her anger. She hasn’t harmed you, though. She has not broken the rules of this promenade, which is more than I can say for you. If your person in the trees attacks us one more time, I’ll let Alexis tear them down, gain control of their body, and send them right back to you in a way you won’t love. Consider yourself warned.”

Dead silence filtered through the scene as Aaron’s face turned red. He opened his mouth for a rebuttal of some kind, but Chaos dove for his feet, batting at the golden tassels. Aaron danced away like his feet were on fire, bumping into those behind him and tripping. Chaos bounded back with the grace of a cat a quarter of his size and darted through the trees. Havoc stretched out her paw and bent to lick it, not bothered.

“Your camp is a madhouse,” Aaron hollered, tripping over someone else and staggering, nearly falling. “Despicable. You’ll never amount to anything in this place, I will personally make sure of it!”

Kieran looked away, exuding bored arrogance. “You’ll personally see to it, will you? Wonderful. I won’t worry, then, given you haven’t been able to follow through on anything else. Wave to Amber as you pass. Your ridiculous attempts to kidnap her were laughed about at our dinner table.”

Kieran walked on, channeling every bit of the cool grace and infallible confidence I’d come to expect from him. His feelings through the soul link, for a wonder, matched. He wasn’t the least bit intimidated by Aaron.

“Excellent,” Amber murmured when we’d passed his collection of people and the gawking bystanders to either side. We’d held up the path for so long that we’d essentially gathered an audience. “I worried that Alexis had gone too far, but that played out perfectly. He will be your number one enemy, and extremely dangerous for all of us, but if you continue to make a mockery of him, you’ll discredit his naysaying of your political ideas. People will think his gripes are personal and not professional. You’ll make it harder for him to tear you down.”

“Magnus wasn’t lying about her Chaos magic,” Zorn said as the male cat loped back toward us. “The cats just add to the effect.”

“Hence their names, yeah,” Bria said from the back.

As we continued on, the number of people standing or sitting along the sides increased, leaders taking a break to watch the crowds go by. I felt the heaviness of their stares—many calculating, some curious. As I passed, their looks slid to the rest of the group, probably landing on Dylan or Jerry next, maybe Thane, one of the stars of the YouTube videos released six months ago. Kieran made eye contact with a few, nodded very seldom, and only bowed once to an important-looking woman wearing designer labels from head to toe.

“Zander,” Amber murmured as a man in a tailored suit ambled toward us. His style was impeccable, from the pocket square that perfectly matched his pale pink dress shirt to the accenting tie. His graying goatee and salt-and-pepper hair didn’t match his smooth face, devoid of lines or wrinkles. A polished wooden cane swung lazily from his hand and tapped the ground every so often, clearly for show. His free hand held that of an elegant woman wearing a beautiful, flowing dress without any sort of bedazzling, her hair up in a French twist, her features embellished with a touch too much makeup. Her skin nearly glowed, enhancing her loveliness tenfold, and I knew that was Zander’s mark burning brightly for all to see.

A flurry of nervousness bled through the soul link. Zander had a large, thriving territory and had been well regarded within the magical world for a long time. He would be a great ally for Kieran, but from what the others had said, he was slow to make new acquaintances and much slower to trust. He voted according to his personal set of morals and principles and only backed a couple of people.

I knew for a fact that Kieran hoped to someday be one of those people.

“Remember, Zander gave nothing more than a mutual nod of respect to Valens when they occasionally met on this walk,” Amber murmured. “That’s typically the most he gives anyone. You should openly look at him, but do not feel slighted when he ignores you. Alexis, keep your crazy to yourself with this one. Daisy, Mordecai, if you act up, I will literally peel the skin off your hide. With a very precise knife.”

I swallowed down a sudden lump in my throat. It was clear she meant that threat.

Their procession drew closer. Chatter died down to a hum, then cut to silence as people watched from the sidelines, clearly wondering what Zander would do. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Zander’s wife. The serene look on her face was that of a woman in love.