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“I’m back for now. Yulia arrives tomorrow evening for a visit to express political solidarity with our father’s reign.”
“The woman our father tried to set you up with and your should-be mate together in the same town? That’ll be fun.” Alys’s tone said she thought it would be anything but that. “Our parents coming home to meet with her, or is this agenerals onlykind of meeting?”
“Nothing formal or official although we both know she likes to arrive in grand style so she makes the flashiest entrance. I’ll arrange dinner at our best restaurant, ask you to talk with her about your origins research, and then I’ll try to recruit her in our fight against the Order since she saw their facility in Lithuania.”
“Joelle’s your best weapon to find allies for us against the Order. Gods help her since she doesn’t have any skills in war, fighting, or weaponry, but the woman will make a damn fine diplomat.”
What?“You tested her combat abilities?” He couldn’t keep the rising anger out of his voice.
“Someone had to entertain her with you deserting her, and who doesn’t love playing with heavy artillery?”
He kept silent, knowing anything he might say would simply bait her to continue.
“Anyway,” Alys said with a sigh. “Since you’re finally back where you belong and can keep her company, we’ll be taking off. No way my lady love or I will put up with your cranky ass. We ordered pizza, but there’s none left for you.” She pulled a box out of the fridge that suggested otherwise. “Any special passwords needed to unlock the new wards you installed?”
“No, they’ll stay on the same rotation as the others. Need me to power everything down when you leave?”
“Nope. I got it. Now do us both a favor and head to the library to plead for mercy and forgiveness although knowing Joelle, she’ll go too easy on you.”
As if he could be that lucky. Wishing he had time to process the news that Alys had just dumped on him, he considered leaving again. It’d be the easier choice, the safest one for his heart.
But he needed to check on her, to reassure himself that she was safe. He walked through the house, his feet thumping heavy against the marble floors as though he’d been shackled in the leg irons he’d found Joelle in. His desire to see her battled with his very real fear that she might not want to see him.
Blocking the doors to the room, Eddie sat in one chair with his feet propped in another, his arms folded across his chest and glaring as though he’d heard some of the discussion with Alys. The guard’s mouth in that tense line and his angry gaze suggested he’d prefer to fight with Alexei rather than let him inside his own office.
He didn’t have the time or patience for this after arguing with his sister. “Where is she?”
“Inside researching like she has been whenever Alys hasn’t had her training or helping with one of her science projects. You’ve been gone over a week.”
“I called.” Which he didn’t bother to do on most of his hunting trips. “I checked in with you or Alys almost every night.”
“But you didn’t talk toher.” Eddie lowered his voice, tipping his head toward the shelves obstructing the view of the table where she must have chosen to work since his desk stood empty except for an untouched sandwich and unopened soda. “She thinks you don’t want her.”
His words hit Alexei like a punch to the gut. He’d based his entire existence on taking command and pushing through difficult situations, but what if he’d played this one wrong?
Eddie rose to his feet in a slow stand that held both respect and menace. “We’ve been friends a long time, yeah?”
Alexei didn’t like where this conversation might be headed when it started with those words, but he couldn’t deny they’d been friends since childhood. “We have.” He hoped they still were.
“You’re a born leader so we all follow. She’s your mate. Any idiot can see that. But if you won’t accept her, stop making her miserable and get out of the way so someone else can make her happy.”
Fury lashed through him, a hot flush that sizzled with the molten edge of his magic, and he had to force the control that’d come so easily for years until he’d met Joelle.Don’t think about heat or lava.Her brother’s fire witch had nothing on Alexei’s powers. He balled his hands into fists at his side, holding on to restraint as if it might be a physical leash he could wrangle. “That’ll be all, Eddie. You can go now.”
“She’s in my care.” A low rumble came through the man’s words, a hint of a growl.
“She’s inmyhome, and I’myourprince.” He didn’t often pull rank in such a bold manner—hell, his title was as much of a burden as a privilege—but she’d made him lose his reason and possibly his sanity.
“Make sure she eats something, Your Highness.” Eddie snarled the last and stalked out of the room.
Alexei waited for the bang of doors and following silence. The tingle of magic being undone and done again settled against his skin as the wards locked back into place. And then he was alone with her. He glanced up to where scrolls had gone missing out of their normal stacks on top of the bookcases.
Walking to the end of the row, empty spaces on the shelves let him peek through to the other side. A mess of open books and stacked papers filled the table that usually stood empty and polished, the scents of flipped pages and cracked leather overtaking the chemical smell of cleaners.
No, not a mess. Upon closer inspection, the books had been organized according to topics in a much smarter order than he’d had them on the shelves. What did she intend to find in the pages he’d collected and already combed through?
Rounding the corner, he expected to dodge thrown books and prayed she wouldn’t toss the first editions. He wouldn’t have made it this far without some near misses if he’d pissed off any of the women in his family. Instead, he found Joelle standing on a stepladder and bopping her head along to whatever played through the massive headphones that appeared to have sparkly cat ears on top. She held a stack of books in one hand and reached with her other for a heavy volume on a high shelf.
Her short top rode up to reveal a sliver of skin at her waist, and the desire to trace the exposed strip made his fingers twitch, his magic coming alive at the thought. The fabric looked as soft as she might be, cashmere perhaps, although fashioned into a luxurious, slouched version of a track suit with a wide neckline that flirted with the base of her collarbone. To have only those bare peeks of what lay beneath the pale silver that picked up highlights in her braid? The sight tantalized as much as any erotic lingerie. Stretching even farther, she went onto her tiptoes, wobbling on the ladder.
