Total pages in book: 192
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
It was a cozy nook I could see Aleksei using and wondered if he had. If this was one of those quiet places where he retreated in order to escape his brothers and the duties he’d been born into.
I hadn’t asked him about this last night before he’d gone off to do whatever it was he’d been called to do. His mood didn’t invite conversation.
But, because I wanted to know all about him, I made note to ask him about it later.
In the suite there were also two bedrooms, both sumptuously appointed, but Aleksei’s was bigger. Each had attached bathrooms and rooms that used to be dressing chambers that had been converted to closets.
The bathrooms were old-fashioned, though they’d been modernized since the Palace was built, but before it was historically designated, so now, there could be no more changes. As such, they didn’t have bath pods, instead, bathtubs and showers.
The bedrooms were situated at opposite sides of the suite, and Aleksei explained there were two, because in olden times, husband and wife didn’t sleep together.
That said, my stuff was moved into his room, and it was my mate who directed it there.
The last rooms were found off the old dressing chambers. They used to be the bedrooms of the prince’s valet and his princess’s maid.
Aleksei’s valet’s room had been fitted with a state-of-the-art Body-Tone unit.
The room where my maid would have stayed had been set up for Queen Calisa to be her personal retreat when she was a princess.
That room was my favorite in the suite.
It was a stark contrast to the heavy masculinity that dominated the rest of the space (save the princess’s room, but even that was a feminine version of the rest, featuring furnishings and fittings in deep wines and bright roses).
The princess’s retreat was decorated in soft, cool tones of delicate green and misty blue, with a lush daybed, a big display and a cleverly crafted cabinet that held a small fridge and cupboard for drinks and snacks (due to Bev-Buddy and Snack-Sensations needing access to supply tubes, they couldn’t be outfitted in the Palace).
I wondered if Queen Calisa had a room like that to get away from it all in her current situation in the Palace, and I hoped she did.
Knowing I’d never get back to sleep, I kissed Comet on his downy head (he mewed mildly angrily at the indignity of that) and he scampered when I slid out from under the covers.
I went to the bathroom and gave Aleksei a sleepy smile as his stormy gray eyes (apparently, the weather boded rain that day) followed me in the mirror on my trek to the little room that held the loo.
He’d showered and had a towel wrapped around his waist, and my vintage-loving mate was shaving rather than using a Beard-Raze.
This made me smile again.
I did my business, came out and used the basin beside his to wash my hands, doing so watching him wipe off shave foam.
“How are you doing, honey?” I asked.
“Shit,” he answered.
Hmm.
At least that was honest.
“I was wondering if you thought it would be appropriate for me to contact Antheme’s parents.” I inquired. “To tell them—”
He cut me off. “Ask my mother about that. I’ve no fucking clue what you should do about it.”
With that, he prowled out of the bathroom and into the closet.
Seemed Prince Aleksei got cranky when he didn’t get decent sleep.
Understandable.
Especially after yesterday.
I fit my Denti-Clean in my mouth and hovered over the basin so the water that often dribbled out didn’t wet my nightgown. A quick donning of the Ultra Paint on cleanse setting, and then I headed to the closet.
Aleksei was wearing suit trousers, shoes and buttoning a light-blue shirt.
I wanted to ask about what he’d learned when he’d been called away last night, but other pressing things were at hand, so I asked about that instead.
“Okay, I was also wondering if maybe I could go to this meeting with you this morning,” I queried.
“No,” he replied.
I waited for him to say more.
He did not.
This made my head titch. “Just…no?”
“These are affairs of state, Laura.”
“I’m aware,” I replied. But yesterday, a female I liked and respected dropped dead beside me after taking a stream for me or taking it to manipulate my mate and his realm. So I’d kinda like to be in the know about what’s happening, I did not say.
“The Masque will go on,” he announced. “Security will be heightened, of course. You being here at the Palace and available, with nothing else to do, can help Mom with that.”
I couldn’t get into his mentioning the Masque would go on, something I wasn’t sure was a good idea, but it also wasn’t my choice, nor did I suspect I had any say in the matter.
No, I had to dive into the other thing.