AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He didn't trust Lady Frexin, yet he wanted me to work with Frexin's team to retrieve some relic? And what kind of insanity were those damned mechs?
Saints save me.
If it were possible, I'd have declined in a heartbeat. Or at least delayed it so I could get this charisma replenished. But working for the kings as a spy, and for the Rogues as a double agent, I walked an extremely thin line.
The last thing I needed was to jeopardize the efforts Dimiri and I had been working toward these last few years. We were so close to the truth.
I could feel it.
Clothes gathered, I walked to the kitchenette, plush blue carpet whispering softly beneath my feet. Tea would help. It always helped.
Withdrawing my favorite cast-iron pot, I filled it with fresh water, lit the burner, then set the pot atop it and turned back to the piles of clothes on my bed.
Oh hells, and what about Liam? If Kaiya found out the man she knew as Eli was alive and that I'd hid that fact from her this whole time …
The lordling might survive her wrath, but I highly doubted I would. I'd talked to her dozens of times, watched her grieve, then move past that grief — and, at his request, never said a thing.
As far as Kaiya knew, Eli had sacrificed himself to save her in Gleyma.
I just had to make sure she didn't find out the truth.
Gritting my teeth, I slipped more clothes into my pack. As they slid in, a note fluttered softly out and fell to the ground, a familiar golden crest emblazoned on the front of the silky white paper.
My heart twisted uncomfortably.
Nope. Absolutely not. I didn't have time for them.
Jaw clenched, I jammed the paper into the bottom drawer of my desk with the dozens of similar papers already there, and slammed the drawer shut.
A small, framed photograph on the desk wobbled for a moment, catching my gaze. A teenage Liam and I stared out of the image, grinning happily as we held up a huge trostell we'd caught near his home.
That was five years ago.
Saints, had it already been five years?
I only had —
No. I shook the thought away and swallowed the knot in my throat.
It didn't matter.
I grabbed the last few items and stacked them in my pack.
Like it or not, I was ready.
The tea pot let out a soft whistle, and I strode over, filling my cup with the hot water and dropping in a pre-tied bag of chamomile.
As always, the scent made my shoulders loosen.
I quickly pulled my hair into a topknot and changed into a loose pair of sleep shorts, waiting for it to steep.
My windup timer chimed just as a sharp knock sounded on my door.
"Jaiel, you there?"
Tye? What's he doing here, and so late?
Shaking my head, I pulled out the tea bag, grabbed the cup, and took a seat in the wing-backed chair overlooking the palace gardens.
