Gem’s eyes flicker to Atlanta. It’s quick, but I catch it.Dude, you should never be a spy. They’re hiding shit from us. “Spill, you two.”
“Gem,” Atlanta growls. Gem’s eyes immediately shine over with tears. Atlanta shatters like moon glass. He pulls Gem into his lap, surrounding him with his big energy. “We know about the Prince of Caimia. I’ve made his acquaintance.”
I know what that means, especially with the murderous look in his eyes. “Did you kill the Prince of Caimia?”
“Of course, not,” he says. “Just two of his warriors.”
“Goddess help us all,” I say. “Atlanta.” That’s how you start a war.
“Why don’t you tell ‘em, baby?” Atlanta says. “It’s making me want to break shit.”
Gem tells us the tale of two dicks. One of them is my brother, my words not Gem’s. I don’t blame Atlanta for his actions—mine wouldn’t have been much different—but I agree with Gem, not mentioning his name would have been smart. My brother’s a barbarian.
“I’ve tried to get it out of Father without letting on that I know about the prince,” Gemini explains. “But he won’t go into detail. All he does is insist that my marriage is being taken care of and as soon as it’s done, I’ll be notified.”
Cold.
“I’ve scared him off,” Atlanta says with his gruff voice, absolutely sure of it. “The prince has had plenty of time to mention the altercation. He was in some kind of hurry to have Gem.”
Atlanta’s fist curls. He slams the table. Gem wraps a hand around Atlanta’s.
“Not to rile anyone up,” I say even though I’m hoping to do just that. “But none of that sounds good. You need to leave now. Today. Yesterday!”
Zhang’s arms tighten around me, preventing my abrupt departure from his lap to check for the army of palace guards that I’m sure have come to arrest Atlanta.
“Calm down,” Atlanta says. “He doesn’t know who I am, and by the time he figures it out, we’ll be long gone.”
“It’s not hard to figure out who you are. Gods, you might as well have told him you drank from the cup while you were at it.”
Drinking from the cup is a serious crime. If he’s caught, he’ll be reduced to stardust for sure.
“Even if he does figure out who I am, he’d be a fool to run to the king. Not with what he was up to. For all his foibles, the king cares about his children. He’d never have agreed to Gem being stamped with a shackling rune.”
“Shackling rune? Fuck, no wonder you killed them,” I say.
“For the shackling rune? No. That’s what makes me want to bring them back from the dead to torture the fuck out of them. Gem told me about thatthinglater. I killed them for touching my man. If I had known about the rune, the prince would be dead, too.”
Yeah, that’s my brother’s brand. He wouldn’t be him if he wasn’t an utter barbarian. As if to prove this, he takes a monster-sized bite from the leg of meat he’s been inhaling. He has to keep up his strength to fend off Gem’s predators.
Atlanta continues to eat without care, and Gemini cleans off his greasy hands with all the love in the galaxy for him. I’m left with a hollow feeling. This event is yet another question mark, and things should only ever have one question mark.
Conversation moves to lighter things. I enjoy pilfering Zhang’s plate from his lap as he combs his fingers through my hair like I’m one of those luxury kittens on Earth.
“Now that you’re married,” Gem says, “when’s the first starlet coming?”
“Gemini. We haven’t talked about that yet,” Zhang says.
“Treyu wants a million babies,” Atlanta adds, unhelpfully.
“I wanted to steal Trinket. Dad said no. Since that didn’t pan out, I think we should wait until we’ve practiced making babies for a little while longer, don’t you?”
Gemini shrugs. Clearly, he disagrees.
“On that note, let’s go do that,” Zhang says. “I’ve let the palace guard know we won’t be home tonight. We’re staying here a few nights until the Merrick thing is sorted out.”
I make him carry me on his back up to our room for the night. It looks like a Pottery Barn threw up in here. Had to be Gem—there are no Pottery Barns in the Nebuli. The room has been spruced up. Candles have appeared. There are flowers in the windowsill I know weren’t there before. The bed is covered with a new quilt that bears the royal crest. Gem’s been stealing from the palace.
We fall into bed and practice making babies for a while. Nope. Turns out I still can’t get pregnant, but man do we deserve a medal for our efforts.
