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Namir laughed. “Maybe if he didn’t look so much like me, I could agree with you on that.”
Horvis grinned and stood, striding toward the rest of us. His hands were in the pockets of his shiny white pants, his muscles looking ridiculously good with the light shining down on them.
It had been so long since I’d been with a man…
Stars, he was suddenly looking even more attractive.
“You’re his fated mate?” Horvis asked, studying me with interest.
“Depends who you’re talking to,” I drawled back.
He chuckled. “I’ll show you to rooms you can claim, seeing as how Espen is otherwise occupied.” When he said those last few words, he pointed up to the sky, and I knew he was gesturing toward the moon. The Night King had to hold it in the sky, or else our magic would fail when it set every day.
“Thank you.” Namir nodded toward the man, and the man nodded back.
We headed off toward a grand staircase, and the tile felt strangely warm beneath my dirty bare feet as I walked. My fingers brushed the metal handrail off to my side, and I hid my interest when that felt warm too.
It probably had something to do with the moonlight, right? And the way it connected to Espen’s magic? But mine never felt warm, so I didn’t know why his did.
“What have you been up to these last two decades?” Namir asked Horvis, as we walked.
“Guarding Espen and keeping shit running, mainly.” Horvis shrugged as we headed down a hallway. “Knocking boots with gorgeous women when he tells me to fuck off for a bit.”
Diora scowled, and the other girl beside her snorted. Both other men just looked amused.
“How many attempts has Laith made to take his magic?” Namir checked.
“None. He wants to take your magic before he claims Espen’s, according to the bastard himself. Our attacks mainly come from the dragons of Thunder Isle and the dream fae and elves who roam the Savage Domain and islands between us and them.”
My eyebrows shot upward.
I knew Espen’s portion of the court was the furthest south, and his people were at peace with mine in the northern solar courts, but I hadn’t considered they might be in danger because of that.
Then again, I’d been a little preoccupied with trying to find the will to stay alive for the last twenty years.
“Does Espen side with Laith?” Diora didn’t hesitate to ask the question, though I saw Namir squeeze her hand afterward, as if telling her to let him run the conversation.
“Espen sides with peace. Laith has never been concerned with that,” Horvis replied. He seemed to be choosing his words carefully, which was a bit infuriating for me even though I wasn’t the one whose life or court depended on Horvis’s answer.
“And what’s his current definition of peace?” Namir countered.
“You’ll have to ask him that.” Horvis stopped in front of a door, and gestured toward it. “Here’s one room. I assume you two will be sharing?” He arched an eyebrow toward Namir.
“We will,” the king replied easily, “But Jesh and Lavee will take this one.”
The other couple that had been walking with us slipped into that one with a few murmured words for Namir and Diora that I didn’t make out.
We continued down the hallway for a minute, then stopped in front of the next door.
Diora shot me a look that I didn’t have to ask a meaning for out loud.
She wanted to know if I was okay.
She’d given me the same look—and asked me the same question—so many times that my chest ached a bit as I remembered them.
I’d lied to her so many times that it was a bit disgusting, but I’d fallen into a motherly role with her so long ago that another lie would’ve come more naturally than the truth.
But this time, when I nodded, my answer was honest.
