Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 165618 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 662(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 165618 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 662(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
“That must have been why you left me there to fight those training bots by myself,” Tanyn drawled.
Nayden flashed a sexy grin. “You took them all out.”
Tanyn made my stomach knot when he returned, “I was tagged three times.”
Nayden waved a dismissive hand and went back to his (excellent, according to me) shrimp scampi. “None of them were mortal wounds.”
Tanyn cast his eyes to the ceiling before he trained them again on his friend.
“Though, thanks to you and the rest of the team not initiating a rescue or, say, helping me out at all, I would have bled out before anyone got to me.”
“War sucks,” Nayden mumbled and grinned again. “Thank Lilith that was a simulation. That said, my mark was so poor on that assignment, my dad was pissed.”
Tanyn released a beleaguered breath.
Nayden looked to me. “He was a loss to the forces when he decided to chuck it all and fight for the throne that was rightfully his. By now, he’d be a commander, at least.”
“Youngest one in the Blood Scythe, if that happened,” Aleksei noted.
The Blood Scythe was what all the arms of the military in Sky’s Edge were called.
And really, these males needed to give it a break.
I should just announce, “Relax, I’m into him.”
But I didn’t want Tanyn to hear that for the first time at a dinner table with company.
I wanted to tell him just between us.
I was far from ready for what doing that might bring, but I knew I had to share it anyway.
Instead, I said to Nayden, “Not to rain on your parade, we all can agree Tanyn is awesome.” It was a heavy burden to bear to continue speaking when Tanyn’s gaze locked on me after I said that. “But even talking about simulations, I’d rather not chat at dinner about my fiancé getting tagged by war training bots.”
Nayden was unoffended in a way I wondered if anyone could offend him.
And he stated, “It was still mega times a thousand when we went back to that forest and saw downed bots littering the quarter mile arena.”
“Without a single blast coming from your mag,” I reminded him.
Proving my theory correct, he was still unoffended and simply lazed back in his seat, smiling and saying, “Yeah. Like I said. Mega times a thousand.”
It was me releasing a beleaguered breath then.
More members of staff I hadn’t yet seen (except when they brought in all the other food) came in to take away our scampi dishes.
“We should go to some museums while we’re here, dear,” Mom said to me. “And maybe do a spot of shopping.”
“For the two of you, a ‘spot’ of shopping means I’ll need to sell some stocks to reimburse my credit line,” Dad put in.
Annnnnnnnnd…
No stories of how mega Catla was.
“No museums. No shopping. Not until we understand it’s safe,” Tanyn declared.
“Agreed,” Dad said.
“I’m sorry, we’re stuck in this castle?” Mom asked the table at large.
“It’s hardly stuck when the castle is over six hundred thousand square feet,” Dad returned.
“You don’t have to remain here,” I remarked. “Your lives haven’t been threatened.”
“And we will not be leaving until Tanyn assures us you’re safe,” Dad retorted.
“I’m hardly going to be comfortable, courting with my betrothed with my parents hanging around,” I pointed out.
“We’ll give you space, my love,” Mom assured.
I turned Do something to get rid of them! eyes to Tanyn.
He ignored my inaudible plea.
The staff came back with platters of shaved, perfectly roasted rare beef, garlic sauteed asparagus, and Hasselback potato gratin.
Even though a demon’s metabolism was off the charts, I was going to have to start doing something physical, or Tanyn’s menu selections were going to force me out of my dress size.
I still tucked into the platters to fill my plate because it looked and smelled divine.
Mom asked Laura, “Are all the plans set for your engagement party, dear?”
Laura answered.
The conversation around the table continued.
And I learned something new about my fiancé.
He was not one of those beings who avoided your eyes or attention when he was pissed at you.
Oh no.
Often, I found him staring at me broodingly, like he didn’t know what to do with me, but he didn’t really want to do anything.
Because of this, my panic was rising. So, after dessert (a delicious lemon syllabub that was the perfect tart acidity to end the rich meal), and when we all returned to the antechamber for an after-dinner drink, I cornered Tanyn.
“Hey, can we—?” I didn’t quite begin.
“During dinner,” he cut me off, “the staff moved you to the queen’s chamber. During your tour, I trust you were shown that room?”
Struck speechless at this news, I could only nod.
“Excellent,” he clipped. “Now I have to meet with my team to decide whether we want to share the information with my realm that their king and queen were murdered, and if we do, how we intend to do that. Someone will be in touch tomorrow after I speak with Jorda to see if I have an open slot in my schedule so we can speak.”