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“Hmm?”
His smile was smug. He knew what he did to me. “My hawk will get the message to Tibris.”
My cheeks flushed, and I forced myself to focus. “What do we know about Rekja and Eryndan?”
“Rekja is an only child. His mother died when he was young, and Eryndan oversaw every minute of his education. I vaguely remember Conreth mentioning that Rekja is in love with one of his father’s guards. The guard is well-known, and she has spent years moving up the ranks. Eryndan would not be pleased if he learned of this. In fact, her life would be in danger.”
Would I weaponize Rekja’s forbidden love if it helped my people?
Without a second thought.
I rubbed at my temple. A headache had begun drilling through my head. If the plan I was putting together was going to work, we needed to stay for a few days.
And I knew just how I was going to get invited.
Lorian moved closer, raising his hand to my head. “I’ll call for a healer.”
“I’m fine.”
He smoothed my hair back from my face, clearly unhappy. I gave in to the impulse and leaned my head against his chest. His heart thumped, steady and strong, and I wished we could stay just like this for hours.
“Do you know exactly what time the ambassador is due to arrive?” I mumbled.
He stroked my hair. “I can find out.”
I nodded against his chest, breathing in his scent. His other hand found my waist, holding me against him. “I wish we could have one day,” I said, lifting my head. “Just one day to spend together.”
Lorian leaned down, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “We’ll have it. We’ll have days and days just like this.”
I met his eyes. His gaze was so serious. For just this moment, I couldn’t think about all the reasons those days would never happen. Instead, I gave in to the urge to daydream with him. Taking his hand, I pressed a kiss to the center of his palm. “You promise?”
“I promise.”
A door opened. “Nelayra?”
Lorian turned me so we could both see Telean, standing in the doorway. A pillow crease lined one of her cheeks, but she didn’t look any more rested. The travel had been hard on all of us, but especially her.
“It’s time to dress for dinner.”
I nodded, reluctantly pulling away from Lorian and following Telean into the room.
She’d unpacked, and her bed was a mountain of lace, silk, velvet, with glimpses of tiny pearled buttons and thin gloves, all of it in colors that would suit my skin tone.
“How did you have time to find all of these?
“I took your original measurements from the castle and added onto them slightly to account for the regular meals you’ve now been eating.” My lips twitched and she shrugged. “I began designing the gowns when we were still on the ship.”
Something about the thought of Telean working so hard even after leaving the castle made my eyes burn.
“Thank you.”
She shrugged one curved shoulder. “Thank the prince. He insisted on paying for them.”
“He did?”
“You gave most of our money to the others. Demos left me more than enough should we run into problems, but your fae insisted he be the one to provide you with what you needed.”
That sounded like Lorian.
