Aerinne.
Death enters the room, and not mine.
Not now.I curse internally. The last thing I need is to be distracted by Darkan. As soon as I hear his voice I forget. . .what? I haven’t forgotten anything.
Édouard approaches the limit of my tolerance.
So much threat in so quiet, so stark, a statement.
It’s a family dispute and he isn’t trying to hurt me. I don’t need you right now.
No, my instincts have never failed me, but they also rarely fail to confuse. They’re directing me to diffuse, to get. . .Darkan. . .out of this room. He isn’t here. He’s not even a real entity.
Every internal warning bell is screaming something different.
You need me. Though there may come a time when that isn’t true.He’s silent a beat.Very well. But Aerinne, if he bleeds you, I will return his tender care in kind. So prove to me my intervention is not required. You are weak when it comes to your family.
The door opens, distracting me from the oddity of this conversation. Édouard and I stiffen as if caught making out on the desk. Well, no, no one would blink at that. If we were caught making out on the desk with Baroun, however.
Though, honestly, they wouldn’t blink at that either.
Half my family would assume it was a kink and congratulate me for my very Fae streak of perversion, the other half would assume it was a tactic to get close enough to slit his throat. Not sure what Baroun’s motivation would be in this scenario.
Tereille shuts the door behind him with a quiet click and takes us in.
Then he levels his mate with a thin-lipped stare. “I’m disappointed in you, Édouard. This isn’t how we behave towardeach other.” His lowers his voice. “Do I need to put you in time out?”
Édouard and I wince. The Commander backs away from me, sheathing his blade. He tries to play off the trouble he’s in with an impassive expression, folding his arms over his chest. But his mate is six feet plus of Fae warrior anddisappointed.
I almost laugh.
Arddie boy is going to be punished tonight.
Saved by the puppy,Darkan says, voice slithering through my mind before his presence fades again.This time.He hadn’t meant me—Tereille’s intervention hadn’t saved my life.
I straighten as the mates face each other. “Before you fuck off out of my office, remember that six of our people died.” My voice cracks. “Bad timing for a debriefing, Édouard. I promise you my tutor isn’t a threat. And I can promise if you ever follow through on the threat you made, I can’t protect you.”
“From what?”
Interesting. He doesn’t ask from whom.
Chapter
Thirteen
TO THE FIELD
We waste our lights in vain, like lamps by day.
—Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 4
Iwrest a few hours to sleep and prepare after my little talk with the Commander. Once Faronne and our allies decide to strike, we organize within the day, mount horses and ride out through Faronne District toward the palace the next afternoon.
Cobalt-and-vermillion leather clad warriors line the cobblestone streets, falling into formation as I canter past, Édouard, Juliette, Numair and Tereille at my sides and rear. Our mounted knights clop behind us, metal armor with the trident at the shoulder reflecting the anemic sunlight.
I also wear armor, the gold trident and kraken of my ancient ruling House etched in full on my chest; pauldron, breastplate,vambrace, poleyn and greaves, a spring weight House cloak over my shoulders, my hair tightly braided on the sides and left flowing down my back—for style points, because Tereille and Juliette insisted.
Rain scents the air though the storms gathering on the distant mountain horizon have been teasing us for days; no clouds move, no rain falls. But the threat is felt. Why it feels like a threat, rather than weather, I don't know.
