Page 64 of Shadowborne: Reckoning

“I thought you were coming back without… anything important to do,” she ground out, hands hugging her hips as she glanced at me over her shoulder.

I frowned, then met her eyes and caught the simmering heat there. I lost grip on one of the laces, cursed, and grabbed it up again as Bren smiled softly, then turned her head away.

She’d been waiting for me? Undressed?

My body clenched, but I pushed the need away. This was far more important than… that.

Still, I couldn’t help a grim smile as I got the laces tight and tied. She’d come alive with me since the other night when I’d given her the demonstrable rightness as Kgosi put it.

If I didn’t have a potentially mission-ending note in my hands, I would have fallen into her gladly.

Instead, I helped her pull a dress over her head that buttoned up the front, then slipped my blade out of my sheath and carried it to the oil lantern at the side of the room, lighting it, then holding the blade over the top to heat it gently as I reminded myself that this wasn’t the time to ogle my mate.

Bren kept her eyes on her fingers which were busily buttoning silk up her torso. “How did Benji get back?”

“Kgosi.”

Her head snapped to me, eyes wide. “He rode Kgosi? Alone?”

I kept my eyes on the blade and nodded. The trick to melting a seal without ruining it was to get the knife warm and slide it slowly underneath—not too hot that it would scorch the paper, or actually melt the wax. Just warm enough to soften the layer closest to the blade.

Thank God, Horace’s scribe used thick seals.

“Kgosi offered,” I said through my teeth, slowly testing the blade against the edge of the wax, where the seal didn’t reach in case I hadn’t judged it right. But it slid under neatly, softening the wax edge and allowing me to bend the paper away without bringing the seal with it. “He said Benji is respectful, and young enough to bounce. I couldn’t risk being seen in the city. He’ll be riding him back in an hour, when we’ve copied this down.”

A few seconds later, I hissed a yes, carefully peeling the layers of parchment back to reveal the folded notes within.

Bren hurried over to the small table at the side of the room while I laid the carefully unsealed parchment envelope aside and unfolded the pages covered in scrawled ink.

To her faithful Majesty, Diaan en’ Del Rea,

I blinked.

“The queen?” Bren whispered, peering over my arm.

“It’s not surprising, I suppose,” I said as I considered it. “Alexi uses her a great deal for strategic maneuverings. It makes sense that she’d run his eyes and ears.”

I started reading again, not missing that he must have hurried when he wrote the report, because there were several corrections. Spots where he’d crossed out words, and one ink splatter that he’d leaned on too early and smudged at the edge of the page.

…Majesty, I continue my travels towards Draeventhall, with this short excursion among the Great Lakes.

I am pleased to confirm the presence of the honored Akhane, and her bonded one. We have greatly enjoyed reconnection. Your missive was timely.

As a result, formalities in this kingdom suffer small fractures, though none grave enough to invite remark. We pass the seasons in pleasant discourse and camaraderie. Be pleased by these events you anticipated. Your wisdom is, as always, divinely appointed.

The merchant we discussed remains distant. I fear newly planted roots have yet to take hold in barren soil.

The bustling herd necessitates the shifting of provisions, of which I spoke earlier. However, the sitting queen remarks that wings pass so infrequently, one scarcely notes their number.

Our friends caused no disturbance among the lesser lords. Attentions remain steady, and discourse flows without distraction. Matters advance briskly.

I enjoy the return to protocols. Silence should be trusted.

Our former designs appear unlikely to endure unchanged and may require broad reconsideration; though time presses little, and patience is abundant.

Should it please Your Majesty, orders may be returned at your convenience, for none is urgently required.

Your Faithful Servant.