A wordless growl rumbled in my chest, but Leena pressed a finger to my lips. “Please tell her highness that I will join her shortly.”
“Yes, my lady.” And with that, our lazy morning went down the drain.
Bleary-eyed and clearly still longing for sleep, Leena yawned. “Duty calls.”
“I suppose so.”
“Don’t look so sour. You don’t have to go anywhere.” Sighing, she peeled back the sheets and stretched her hands to the ceiling. Her muscles tensed and loosened, and then she stood, picked up her discarded clothes from the night before, and shimmied into her undergarments. After pulling her gown up to her waist, she touched her chin to her shoulder and glanced at me. “Do me up?”
“And if I say no?”
She rolled her eyes. “What happened to my calculating, tactical pair bond? He’d never go along with me slighting the princess of Rhyne.”
“He’s still sleeping,” I mumbled. “This pair bond wants his love to join him in bed.”
“Another time.” Her smile was soft, if not a little forced. Clearly, she didn’t want to be awake any more than I did. But she was right, and if speaking with Jayla before our larger meeting today resulted in a greater possibility for success, then getting out of bed was the best thing to do. Relenting, I came to the edge of the bed and laced her up as quickly as I could. I hadn’t been able to replicate the exact way the strings had been threaded before, but I gave them a tug for good measure and the dress seemed to hold.
Running her fingers through her tresses, Leena untangled a few knots before skillfully tying it all back with a thick lock of her hair. “How do I look? Presentable?”
She was ravishing, as always. Leaning forward, I gave her a quick kiss. “Beautiful.”
A blush crawled over her cheeks, and she waved me off. “See you soon.” And with that, she made her way to the door and left. I’d hoped I’d be able to fall back asleep, but the rapidly cooling space where Leena used to be was jarring. I tossed and turned, contemplating all the reasons the princess would ask for Leena to speak with her privately. Perhaps she didn’t trust me. I couldn’t blame her—there was no telling what her mother had told her over the years. And while entering into an alliance with Lendria inherently meant trusting me to some degree, maybe Jayla felt she’d be more willing to do so if she understood the woman who stood by my side. In any event, at least it gave Leena a chance to determine whether or not Jayla was worthy of owning a beast, if it came down to that.
But when the minutes dragged by and the sun rose fully, darker thoughts slipped into the recesses of my mind. There was no reason for Rhyne to take Leena prisoner. Or worse, harm her. Elianna might have fashioned Leena’s capture as some sort of revenge plot for what I’d done to Amira, but not Jayla.
I’d long since abandoned the bed, dressed, and started to pace. Senses straining, I listened to the sounds of the castle waking—the scuttle of feet on stone, muted conversations between attendants, idle chitchat from the guards. Nothing out of the ordinary. I was just about to give way to the shadows, to attempt to sneak through the foreign castle, when another knock sounded from my door.
“Prince Noc? The royal family is ready to meet now.”
The attendant had barely finished speaking before I’d wrenched open the door. “Take me to them.”
Kost, Ozias, and Calem joined one by one as we passed their rooms, their silent, wary gazes speaking volumes about their concern for Leena’s absence. I offered one slight shake of the head. One tense action in the hopes they’d remain calm—or at least as calm as I was pretending to be—until we found out more.
Instead of the throne room, the attendant ushered us into a small library with a polished oak table centered beneath an unlit chandelier. A semicircle of bookshelves enclosed the space, broken up only by large picture windows open to the morning light. A warm glow filled the space, and Elianna, Jayla, and Maddox watched us quietly from their seats at the table. I scanned the room, surprised to find only two unknown guards manning the door. Before I could consider what that meant, my gaze snagged on Leena. She was lingering, unharmed, by the nearest bookshelf and fingering a stray tome. She turned as we entered and offered a reassuring smile. My hand found hers in an instant, and the worry that’d clawed up my throat died.
Taking the seat directly across from Elianna, I slid into my chair just as Leena slipped into the one on my right with Ozias beside her. Kost and Calem sat to my left. Elianna glanced at us all before allowing her hard stare to settle on me.
“We’re concerned about what aiding Lendria would incite with our southern enemies,” she said, voice terse but not overly argumentative. A flicker of hope ignited in my chest. Not an outright no, then.
“Understandable,” I said. “I wish circumstances were different. I wish I could offer forces to eliminate those threats first before requiring your assistance. Unfortunately, I don’t have the power to do so until I reclaim the throne—an action that requires your backing.”
She pressed her lips into a fine line. “I know. But I cannot budge on this matter. If we send forces to Lendria to aid you in your cause, we leave ourselves vulnerable for an attack. What’s to stop them from invading?”
I turned to Kost, and he lifted a stiff shoulder. “We could offer them some of our numbers, but that defeats the purpose of why we came. We need all our strength focused on Varek and Yazmin.”
With a tight nod, I looked back at Elianna. “What is the scale of the threats you face? How brazen are they?”
“A few ransacked villages, their stores depleted.” Elianna tapped her fingers on the smooth table. “We’ve been fortunate in our haul of grain and were able to replenish those towns from the capital’s reserves, but there’s only so much more we can take. The local guard can’t seem to keep the raiders from returning, so we’re looking into stationing some of our forces for their protection.”
As I grappled with a solution, I snuck a glance at Leena. She hadn’t seemed surprised by the news, and instead reached beneath the table to give my knee a gentle squeeze. My brows drew together. What was she trying to tell me? What did she know? My gaze turned to Jayla, who was studying me with a calm look. There was no telling what information had passed between them, but if there was no chance of this working, Leena would’ve been more distraught. Instead, she held her chin high and regarded Elianna with conviction.
“You’re looking for a show of strength.”
“To a degree,” Elianna answered, her words edged. “War with the southern countries would be costly. They’re testing the transition of the crown to see what they can get away with. If we show them—”
“If you show them an unyielding throne, it all goes away.” Leena removed her hand from my knee and braced her forearms on the table. “That’s what you really need. A way for Jayla to be viewed as a powerful queen beyond contest. Soldiers will quell the threats for now, but what if I can provide something much more…lasting?”
Elianna raised a purposeful brow. “Such as?”
