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)
“Yes, very unexpected,” he muttered.
“Sorry?”
“When I first met you, you were a bundle of contradictions. Spirited, yet shy. Composed, yet awkward. Amusing, yet serious. Some of this was explained when I learned you’d lost your connection to your creature. But I’m being reminded of it now.”
I was getting annoyed.
“Because you’re surprised I give a shit about stuff?”
“No. Because the female who likes to cuddle in front of the screen with a tub of blobs, seemingly willing…no, actually determined to live in her own world and ignore the fact that everyone in four realms, or perhaps all twenty of them, is speculating about her, many of them sharpening their knives while they do so, is not the female who stands before me. This female is willing to hand them the whetstone as she sallies forth to do what she thinks is right.”
“I’m not a crusader, Aleksei. But I still think you shouldn’t hesitate to do what’s right.”
“I’m not a crusader either, Laura, but I am the True Heir. Right now, my mate is reminding me of that and showing me it’s time to take it seriously. I have yet to start defining what will be my reign. And now is the time I should, and shall, start. With my mate at my side.”
Gods!
He was just the best.
“The ritual is in forty-five minutes,” I informed him. “We don’t have time for me to show my appreciation for you being so danged awesome.”
His lips curved. “I’ll call that marker later.”
“Deal.”
He bent and touched his lips to mine.
Keeping them there, he said, “I’ll go change.”
His suit today was navy.
You wore black to a passing ritual.
“I’ll pour myself another coffee.”
He gave me a squeeze with his arm.
I watched him walk up the stairs to change.
Then I poured myself another coffee.
Chapter 25
Night God
The door closed behind applicant number four.
I turned to Allain. “What did you think?”
“She won’t be my aide,” he replied.
This was number four of the refrains of these exact two sentences.
“Okay, yes, she’ll be my aide,” I said. “She and I will be a team. But I’m also a team with Aleksei, and you’re on Aleksei’s team, so we’ll all be a team. Since Aleksei is Aleksei, and he’ll want whoever I want, I need you to weigh in so I know you feel comfortable working with whoever is chosen.”
Given permission, Allain didn’t hesitate to share.
“I think she’s stuck in her ways. She has a good deal of experience, but she and I will butt heads, because she’s older than me, and even though I’ve been in this role with the prince for six years, and she has not ever been a royal aide, she’s the type of female who thinks she knows everything, and always will.”
I got the same impression.
“So, she’s out,” I muttered.
“And the first one was more interested in meeting the prince, or any of the princes, than she’s interested in working for you. Her CV was exceptional, but the entire interview, she kept looking at the door, as if his royal highness would walk through it at any second, and she couldn’t wait.”
I’d noticed that.
“She’s out too,” I said.
“The second one would work, I suppose. There was just something…”
“Not right about her,” I finished for him.
“Indeed. And the third—”
He didn’t finish because the door flew open, Germaine barged in, and the door slammed closed.
By the by, in these hallowed halls, the doors were so old, they weren’t automated. You had to open and close them yourself. They didn’t sense you and had no audio commands. The entire compound had historical designation, and as such, these modernizations were illegal to make.
It was kind of mega.
Especially coupled with the fact the administration area was done up in genteel good taste with a massive dose of expensive.
If the admin area looked like this, I was excited to see the Palace (and Aleksei was coming to pick me up when we were done, and he said he’d take me on a tour before we left—I couldn’t wait).
Allain straightened, and I did too, as Germaine bore down on the seating arrangement Allain had set up with rather comfortable, plush side chairs with tables positioned to rest drinks and digi-pads.
“Have you lost your mind?” she demanded of me.
“Excuse me,” Allain huffed.
“Shut it,” she snapped at him, his whole body jerked in affront, and she came back to me. “You went to Naylyn Biggerstaff’s ritual? With the prince?”
“I—”
She threw up both her hands in exasperation. “It’s flooding social media. It’s a nightmare. A disaster. The next king and his mate attending the passing ritual of the female who plotted to kill said future king.”
“She didn’t plot to kill the future king,” I bit out.
“I know that. You know that.” She flung an arm out. “They don’t know that.”
“You’ll remember who you’re speaking to,” Allain snapped.
“I’m speaking to the female who will be queen who made my job a whole fuckuva lot harder today,” Germaine returned. “And what she did reflects on the entire Palace.”