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"Majesty?"

"Tina? Hey, finally! Great to hear fro on?"

"Nothing good, Majesty, I assure you" She made a sound that fro like a snort "Are you well?"

"Oh, sure A bunch of olves stopped by to pick a fight, but-"

"You mean they broke in?" Tina interrupted Since she never interrupted, I assumed she had to be fairly shocked Then I remembered her strict instructions, most (or all? I couldn&039;t remember all of them, to be honest) of which I&039;d broken since we last spoke

Lucky for me she was half a continent, plus an ocean, away She could only scold; she couldn&039;t strangle

"Well, no They didn&039;t break, exactly They, um, knocked"

"And you let theht Which I won, so don&039;t worry" I decided not to ot shot "Turns out they thought ere being sneaky, because Antonia hasn&039;t checked in with them"

"Um"

"But I convinced the er-like powers of diplomacy"

"Um-hum"

"Noe&039;re buddies!" I tried to put as much enthusiasreat? Even as we speak, they&039;re scouring the town, looking for the hair of Antonia&039;s chinny-chin-chin Wait, that was the pigs, right? That lineyou to-"

"I know, I know I&039;ve been answering the phone and the door It&039;s all gone horribly, horribly wrong, and all because I didn&039;t listen to you" I slung Babyjon over eneral direction of the sink "If only I had listened" Babyjon yawned, and I kne he felt The lecture loometh

"Majesty, I do not wish to alar " I whacked Babyjon a little too hard, because he groaned-then belched I plunked him into the port-a-crib so I could pace

"I&039;m sorry, Majesty, but it is the only conclusion that fits the data"

"What the hell makes you think that?"

"He would have answered me by now, Majesty In seventy-some years, he has never not answered encies, and the other one, noin his or her life, the other one must answer And he has not"

"He blew off your super secret vampire code?"

"I realize that infantile jokes are your way of dealing with serious issues, but with all due respect, Majesty, now is not the ti, as you think He is not hiding He is not shirking his duties as your groom And more-"

"What? There&039;s more? What?"

"He would never abandon the queen," she said quietly "Norituals Someone has hi to do?"