Page 91 of Retrograde

Disgusting.

“Everyone will be signing something because I will not allow any of you to traumatize her over this,” Darren said loudly.

“Or I can just take your memories magically and not care if I take too much,” Belinda added when people argued that was a bit much.

Then they were suddenly on board.

I thanked them and went to get my flowers out of there, Onyx and Thorn right on my heels. I turned to Onyx. “I thought they were my dates being delivered and I wanted treats. Thank you. I’m sorry that—I’m sorry.”

He cupped my face and brushed his lips over mine. “You have nothing to be sorry for. I just wanted to make sure you knew I wasn’t trying to make a show of anything. It was to spoil you, not make an ass of myself again.”

“I believe you.” And I did. He’d looked beyond annoyed. I shot Thorn a pissed look. “It’s his job to make an ass of himself and embarrass me.”

I walked away while Thorn was chuffing. Fuck him. It was beyond over the line he’d done that even if I’d outed myself or—fuck him.

Onyx didn’t hover, more just walked with me to make sure I was okay as I found Pearl who was in charge of my suite. I asked her to find the best spots for the arrangements. She let me know the new nightstands had been delivered and asked if I wanted to inspect them or just have them brought up.

I smiled at her. “I trust you to look them over. You’re doing a great job. Really, thank you. It’s nice to feel—thank you.”

“You’re very welcome, Your Majesty. Thank you for the opportunity.”

“I’m glad she’s working out,” Onyx said as we headed back. “She’s very protective of you, and I heard her tell one of the guards to shut it about your stopover at that local shop. They were saying it was cute you had such a soft side, but she said gossip is gossip and not appropriate in the castle where youlive.”

“She’s right, and it’s a point to bring up to Raquel,” I said after a moment. “This is their place of work, but it’s my home. And yes, Pearl is amazing.” I shot him a shy look. “You are too and yes, come over later. Just be discreet.”

He stopped us by grabbing my arm but then let me go. “That’s not why I did it.”

I smiled up at him genuinely. “I know. If you thought flowers could get you a sleepover, you wouldn’t be someone I’d want.And three would be—thank you.” I gave him a quick peck and then hurried off.

Yeah, Myriam wasn’t wrong that I needed to work on not being such a dork.

He caught up with me again before we reached the meeting. “I’m going to have a chat with Kael though.”

I gave him a look not to but made it clear I wasn’t mad, just warning him. He frowned, but then his eyes went wide realizing something serious was going on. He slowly nodded and looked nervous.

Yeah, Kael Blount was powerful and had his claws into a lot, so he wasn’t someone most would fuck with.

Well… I wasn’t most people, and what I’d said to Thorn was the truth. Most wouldn’t take the risk, but this was about more than it was the right thing to do given my situation. His uncle wasn’t what was right for Starhaven.

I was exhausted when the meetings wrapped up but still did the side chats and everything. Onyx jumped in on the one with some western areas that were on the ocean or close to because there were some fishing issues… With a neighbor that the elders had ruined our relationship with.

I made a point that I hoped they really heard me that instances like this were why Thovudin couldn’t pretend to be an island or the only ones in our world. I knew they agreed, but speaking out on that probably would have been too difficult before.

Bullshit. They were weak. Dray had spoken up on it and more.

Onyx glanced at his phone and frowned. “Excuse me, I need to make a call. Apparently, there’s a problem with my replacement at the university.” He glanced at me. “Can I join your training in the morning with Belinda? I really do want to see if I can help given my education.”

“If she’s open to it,” I agreed. “Otherwise, it’s always nice to have more help to get me in and out of her torture devices.”

“I heard that,” Belinda drawled from a few conversations over.

I wasn’t the only one who snorted.

Onyx leaned in a bit like he wasn’t sure if he was welcome, but I leaned in too and gave him my cheek. He seemed happy with that. “Please get some rest, okay? You’ve worked enough for ten people today and forty this week. You can’t handle all of our problems if you don’t take care of yourself and rest.”

“I will. Myriam and Velle are going to work on the budgets after the updates and—I can rest tonight.”

“Good. See you in the morning.”