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)
“Nurse Fitzgerald turned herself into the authorities at Sheer Drop this morning,” he announced.
My torso jerked in surprise at this news.
Sheer Drop was a city in the Center.
“She’s been transported to Nocturn,” he carried on. “She’s not saying anything, but instead, demanding a trade of information for leniency.”
“Oh,” I said stupidly because I didn’t know what else to say.
“I’m against this. Ideologically, I have an issue with this practice across the board. You do something heinous, you shouldn’t get a deal to experience fewer consequences because you rat out your accomplices. I understand it can be expedient, as it saves time and resources that are always stretched too thin, but committing a crime is committing a crime. You should pay the penalty for it.”
“Okay,” I said, simply because he stopped talking.
“In this instance, since her crimes were perpetrated against you, I’m experiencing even deeper emotions around it, and have no desire in the slightest to be lenient.”
Well, at least it was good he could say, even in the monotone he was using, that his feelings for me made this difficult for him.
“However,” he continued, “we’re piecing the puzzle together, and the more pieces we have, the clearer the picture, so I might not have any choice. I’ve ordered them to use threats first, in the hope she’ll understand I will use all my power to see she gets the maximum penalty, which, for high treason, since she’s the first to commit it in centuries, would be the resumption of the guillotine.”
Lord in hellfire!
I was so shocked at this, even my beast lurched at the news.
“Obviously, we won’t be doing that, but she doesn’t know it,” he concluded.
I pushed out the breath I was holding. “You’re, uh…piecing it together?”
“What I say next, you can tell no one,” he warned.
“Who would I tell?”
“Your females.”
“I don’t tell them this kind of thing, Aleksei,” I said softly.
“Continue in that vein,” he ordered inflexibly.
I pressed my lips together.
When he said nothing, I nodded to confirm I would tell no one.
“After we lost Antheme, we had a rogue agent of the RS, infuriated, as he would be that one of their own was brought low, who defied law and administered truth serum to the assassin caught at the gallery,” he informed me.
“By the gods,” I whispered.
“This agent is being dealt with. But it can’t be denied, the information gleaned is crucial.”
“What is that information?”
“I’m afraid I can’t tell you that.”
Space, patience, space, patience.
“Simply rest assured, the picture is becoming clearer, Laura,” he carried on. “You’ll be safe in the meantime. And the best minds in four realms are working together to handle it.”
The best minds in four realms?
By Lilith, it had been confirmed.
It was Arnaud.
Arnaud was up to something.
Something big.
And terrible.
“I don’t mind you coming to bed late or sleeping fitfully,” I said quietly.
“I won’t sleep at all if I must worry I’m disturbing yours.”
I was down with space, but I wasn’t sure about this.
“Aleksei—”
He cut me off.
Unwaveringly.
“The decision has been made, Laura.” He said this like what was left unsaid was, And now you’re dismissed.
“If you need to talk—” I began.
“I’m fine.”
“Even so, so much is going on, if you—”
“I said, I’m fine, Laura,” he clipped.
Okay, back off and patience.
I wanted to find it, but there was so much fretting and yearning and aching going back and forth between our creatures, along with me feeling all those same things (crushingly), it was muddling my head.
I honestly wasn’t sure I could sleep without him. I couldn’t imagine being just rooms away, and not being with him when the stars were out.
Oh yes.
In all that I’d gotten used to without even noticing it, sleeping with Aleksei by my side was the one that was the easiest.
Because us tangled together through the night was the most natural thing in the world.
“I’m setting up a Palace tour for tomorrow,” I forced out. “And your mom has agreed to the loan of the royal garments to the MdV. I’ll be taping an announcement that’s going to happen tomorrow as well. Along with sharing there’ll be a fundraising ball.”
“Excellent.”
“Would you like to…”—I flipped out a hand—“share a drink before we both go to bed?”
“I need a clear head. I have some business comms to return before I retire.”
So, that was a no.
“Right.”
He said nothing.
I said nothing.
This continued as my heart grew to feel like it weighed a ton in my chest.
I stood. “I’ll just…go read for a bit.”
He nodded.
All right.
This was the hardest thing I’d had to do in my life.
I hadn’t even been “giving him space” for a whole half an hour, and this was torture.
“Can I kiss you goodnight?” I requested timidly.
A flicker of something warm and lovely glimmered in his eyes before he murmured, “You may always kiss me, love.”
Okay, at least that was good.
Right?
I moved around his desk.