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)
“One hundred percent no,” Cat advised. “I get she digs you, but if you talk shit about her big bro, that’ll go out the window.”
“It won’t be talking shit. He’s genuinely acting weird.”
Her brows knit. “What’s going on?”
“Just come here after you’re done chilling a bit from getting back from the gallery. Do you know where our suite is?”
“No clue.”
“North wing, third floor. Just text when you’ve made it to the floor, and I’ll stand in the hall.”
“Cool. I just need to get changed and I’ll be on my way.”
“Thanks, Cat.”
“See you soon, babe.”
We disconnected. I sent my text comms. I got replies that Gayle was done with work (seemed I did fall down a rabbit hole, it was well after five) and on her way to my suite, and Monique was in a craft heading back to the Palace, and she’d join us when she got there.
I decided to take advice from Cat and not invite Aleece.
After all this, I sat and wondered if Aleksei was still in his latest meeting, which had started two hours before, or if he was being a dick again and not coming to me after it was over.
Since I had no intention to seek him out to discover the answer to that question, I picked up the receiver from the apparatus that sat on a table by the daybed, and I ordered drinks to be sent up.
Chapter 37
Relationships
“Bollocks,” Gayle spat, throwing my tablet on the miniscule free area on the daybed where we were all curled and crunched together with martini glasses (in which, there were martinis).
FYI: I’d cued up the When the Gods Get It Wrong article and shared it with them all.
As such, she concluded, “The gods didn’t get you and Aleksei wrong.”
Although I was heartened by the vociferousness of her response, I said, “You have to admit, we don’t have a lot in common.”
“Tell me one couple, mates or just lovers, who have everything in common,” Gayle returned.
Hmm.
Food for thought.
“You both like animals. You both like hanging out at home. You both don’t like big crowds or attention,” Cat intoned. “You both like real books and get off on vintage things and doing stuff they invented tech to save us from doing. I mean, cooking?” She pulled a face. “Hells no.”
Aleksei and I did like all that stuff.
And it didn’t seem like very much, but maybe it was.
“You both also have a lot to get used to,” Monique put in. “And you would, whether he was the future king, and you were surviving assassination attempts, or not. Relationships aren’t always free and breezy.”
“Actually,” Cat chimed in again, “I was wondering when you two would get out of the first blush phase. It was lasting so long, it was beginning to get weird.”
“Totally,” Gayle agreed.
Moniqe nodded.
“You all thought we were weird?” I asked.
“Not in a bad way,” Cat said. “It was awesome, how loved up you were, how well you got along. But couples fight.”
“There are misunderstandings,” Gayle added.
“Shit happens,” Monique summed it up.
“I’m not sure this is just fighting,” I said. “He’s being so un-Aleksei, I don’t know who this male is.”
“Have you asked him what’s going on in his head?” Monique inquired.
“Not straight out, but I’ve noted his mood and—” I stopped speaking when they all groaned in unison. “What?” I asked.
“Telling someone who’s in a mood that you’ve noticed they’re in said mood isn’t a good way to help alleviate that mood,” Gayle advised, like she had a side hustle as a relationship expert.
Although she didn’t have this side hustle, she wasn’t wrong.
“It’s more about digging into it to see what’s causing his mood,” Monique added.
“I’ve mentioned Antheme, he says he’s not grieving, he’s angry,” I remarked.
“He has a dick,” Cat said. “People with dicks don’t get sad, they get mad.”
Gayliliel and Monique nodded.
This wasn’t wrong either, and Mr. Truelock said much the same thing, without referring to dicks, of course.
“He’s also mentioned me almost dying, which obviously would put him in a crappy mood, but he’s taking that out on me,” I pointed out.
“Suck it up,” Gayle said as Monique reached for my tablet.
“I’m trying,” I replied.
“Well, if giving him grace isn’t working, then give him space,” Cat counseled.
I was all the way down with this option.
Sure, it was avoidance, but that could be good sometimes.
Right?
“I’m considering avoiding dinner,” I told them. “I don’t want anyone else to notice we’re not getting along. And I agree, he needs space. Maybe he’ll sort himself out.”
“You don’t have to avoid him at dinner. I passed Timothee in the admin wing, and he said that Princes Bainon and Cormac had showed,” Gayle informed us all. “He didn’t seem happy that the king and Aleksei were going to be holed up with them in a meeting that would probably go through dinner. But that was probably because he wasn’t invited to the meeting.”