Cael dipped his head, tracing patterns on the dusty floorboards. “Because the path I was on would’ve given me—and by extension, him—power. Vestian to Vasilikan to head of the Imperial Guard.”
“You wanted to serve Eamon Erabis?”
“I hadn’t given him very much thought. It was more about the position. Moot point now, anyway,” Cael said with defeated finality, rustling his wing.
Xenia didn’t know what to say. When she’d tried to talk to Cael about his injury in the Desolation, he’d always shut her down. And he didn’t seem any more inclined to open up tonight. So, she changed the subject.
“I ran into Elodie in your father’s office.”
Cael’s head jolted upright. “Elodie? Why?”
Xenia shrugged. “No idea. She looked like she was going to jump out of her skin when she saw me. Then got all huffy and entitled. Like she was supposed to be there. Like she had business with your father.”
“What business wouldElodiehave with my father?”
“That’s what I want to know. She barged right into the room. Didn’t even knock. Don’t you think that’s suspicious?” Cael lifted a shoulder, unconvinced. “And then when I asked her if I should tell Arran she was looking for him, she shoutednoand ran from the room.”
Cael shook his head. “I wouldn’t worry about it. We’ve got more important shit to deal with.”
Though Xenia bristled at his dismissal, his mood dissuaded her from pressing. But no way would she let it go that easily. She’d figure out on her own what his fiancée was up to.
He stood and helped her up. “You should get back to the estate.”
“Okay,” she agreed, though she didn’t want to leave him.
“Go ahead of me. Best no one sees us together. If you run into anyone, just tell them Hildreth sent you out here to read bedtime stories to the horses. Stablemaster’s a bit odd. And very attached to the animals. No one will question it.”
Xenia nodded, opening her mouth to say more, though “Goodnight, Cael” was all she landed on.
He cocked his head, staring at her in a way that made her believe he wanted to say more, too. “Night, Blondie.”
She exited the stables into the pitch-black night, ruminating on Cael’s mood and Elodie’s questionable behavior.
She was halfway up the path to the lodge when a deep voice slithered from the trees to her left.
“Well, what have we here? An escaped housemaid, creeping around the property in the dead of night?”
Tomas Zephyrus oozed out of the darkness. He was shorter than Cael, but slightly broader in the shoulders. Waves of golden hair spilled to his shoulders, and the path lights created ghoulish shadows beneath dark gray eyes that held not an ounce of kindness.
“I was just?—”
Faster than she could blink, Tomas was upon her. “No need for excuses, pretty little maid. It’s best when your kind keep your mouth shut anyway. Or use it for something other than talking.” He tugged her off of the path. Toward the dark woods. “Walk with me.”
Xenia pulled uselessly against his grip. Though the softness around his middle hinted at centuries of overindulgence, he was still Fae.
“Oh no, I don’t think?—”
“Tomas!”
Cael’s voice boomed through the night and Tomas, startled, released her.
She stumbled backward, catching herself against a tree.
“I’ve been looking for you,” Cael said, keeping his eyes on his brother.
Tomas furrowed his brow, glancing back at the lodge then over Cael’s shoulder. Toward the stables. “Have you?”
“Father asked me to debrief you on my meetings.”
