AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Perhaps I didn’t.” Moving one shoulder in a move too elegant to really be considered a simple shrug, Meridia said, “As I said, it’s been a long time since I’ve been to these parts. Some of these people don’t even know who I am. And I was... detained for longer than I thought polite. Excuse my petty payback.”
“Now that, I believe.” Zee sighed and looked around while trying to make the action seem casual and innocuous. She could feel the weight of a hundred stares and she wanted to crawl out of her skin. The heaviest look of all, of course, came from Niko. Even from yards away, she could sense the stare of a wolf on the hunt.
“Perhaps I should go give my regards to the Prime,” Meridia said. “I’d hate to be accused of impoliteness.”
“Meri.” Closing her fingers over her friend’s forearm, she halted the Atargarian Regnar before she could move.
She knew the only reason such an action was tolerated, by Meridia or her escorts, was because of the relationships she’d built with the Atargarians from the cape. Chassy met her eyes and rolled them expansively while Felipe remained expressionless.
They, too, were friends and because of that relationship, it was easy to speak to Meridia on just that level—as friends. Not as a Therian of no particular rank or importance, which was how the world would see Zennia Day, to the Regnar of the Atlantic Atargarians, but as two friends.
“Don’t... ” Zee hesitated, uncertain what to say.
Meridia’s face softened. She dipped her head to kiss Zee’s cheek gently.
In a voice too low for anybody else to hear, she murmured, “I scent him on you, my strong little willow. As long as he doesn’t cause you more grief, I don’t plan to cause him harm. If I’m honest, for the first time in all the years I’ve known you, I think you might actually have a chance at being happy. But... you can’t expect me to not be me.”
