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)
He didn’t want to, I could tell, but he nodded.
He tucked my hand in his elbow, so it was me who slid it up to his biceps and leaned into him as we walked to the door, Aleksei being careful to close the cats in behind us.
As we made our way to the stairwell, I noted, “I know we’ll get into it later, but I take it from the little you said in regard to Arnaud and Errol, and the fact all the princes are here, Arnaud is behind all of this, and something not-so-fun is brewing.”
“Tanyn has some spies in Arnaud’s inner sanctum. When things started to go down with you and me, he directed them to ferret out if Arnaud might be behind it. Unfortunately, they learned of the plot to take out a member of your detail only minutes before it happened.”
That was unfortunate indeed.
However, since time travel hadn’t been invented yet, I couldn’t do anything about it, so I had to set it aside.
We continued walking even as he said, “We’ll have this conversation now, since there really isn’t much more I can tell you, because most of it is tactics, diplomatic discussion and details, and although I’m interested in that, for most, it would be boring. Though, if you’re interested in the details, I’ll share them.”
I had a feeling I’d be part of that “most” because I could get down with the detail in every stitch of an elaborate gown from the Dark Epoch, but I wasn’t sure I could get fired up about details of tactics and diplomatic discussions.
“Tanyn is poised, Laura, should he need to take action,” Aleksei informed me. “Bainon and Cormac are on board. They all have few doubts, if something sparks in Sky’s Edge, all their reps will vote to support Tanyn, and this has been confirmed because many of the ones those males can trust have been polled, confidentially.”
“Good,” I murmured.
“It’s just that we can’t be sure what else Arnaud might get up to in the meantime,” he warned. “And he’ll be in this Palace tomorrow night. So we must be wary.”
“Great,” I pushed out sarcastically.
“They’ve lost their tie to us and our family, love. He won’t know it, until we share the memories that were scrubbed after it’s over, but Errol is our agent now. Whatever comes in Sky’s Edge may be ugly, but it shouldn’t last long.”
I was a lover of history, and not just the clothing part of it, so I knew many had said that before, and something ugly lasted far longer than anyone could expect.
I didn’t share that.
If Aleksei was going for optimism, I was going to stick with him.
By the time we made it to where we were to have pre-dinner drinks (it wasn’t the parlor this time), I wanted to throw my shoes out the nearest window, but the vibe of the place took my mind off my feet.
The king and queen were there.
He looked tired. She looked drawn. They were both talking to the Vinestrongs, with Aleece, who probably took some time with a spa-visor because she appeared her normal self, but her eyes were haunted.
This was expected.
What was unexpected was that Cat was alone on a couch, arms crossed over her chest, poison in her eyes aimed at Prince Tanyn, who was talking to Mr. Truelock, as well as Prince Bainon and Prince Cormac.
Gayle and Monique were in another group, speaking to Mrs. Truelock, and although Monique appeared normal, high color was in Gayle’s cheeks, and her eyes seemed unnaturally bright.
If this wasn’t enough, having Tanyn, Cormac and Bainon in the same room with Aleksei was too much for your average female to bear.
I’d seen pics of them too, of course.
But like Aleksei, the real thing packed one serious wallop.
Tanyn was tall, with that lithe, muscular demon frame, and elegant features. His thick hair was a lustrous dark brown. His expression seemed like it was never anything but different degrees of very serious, which was somehow hot. And he had electric-blue eyes that weren’t even aimed at me, and I felt the sizzle.
The Dayrise Dynasty was famous for its members having sunny, golden hair.
However, Bainon’s tousled mane was a dark gold that was almost brown, like the color of caramel. He, too, was tall (in order of tallness, Cormac, (shocker! he was even taller than Aleksei), Aleksei next, then Bainon, and Tanyn last—still, they were all taller than average).
Bainon had the fit, athletic body of a male who spent a lot of time in the surf. His skin was tan. His features skimmed pretty, but the maleness of him was so off the charts, they didn’t go there. And his eyes were a warm, dark brown.
Cormac was a revelation.
The male was huge.
He had hair the opposite of Bainon’s (it didn’t make sense unless you saw it). It was brown and golden, and this was due to natural highlights that flirted with the dark. He had a beast of a body that gave him the look of a shifter. His features were ruggedly hewn. And his eyes were a startling bottle green.