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“That’s not comforting.” I inhaled and cocked my head, not wanting to ask her the question I’d been holding in the back of my mind. “Have you heard from Sandor?”
She frowned. “Why would I?”
“For payment, Aradia,” I groaned. “He hasn’t requested a payment for the locator spell. It’s been a month.”
“He will,” she answered, avoiding my eyes.
“Yes,” I growled. “I realize that. I wish he’d get on with it. I want to put this all behind me.”
“Maybe he hasn’t thought of a payment yet. Or maybe he’s holding onto payment for a later time.”
“Then he should say that. I really don’t like it hanging over my head like this.”
Aradia sauntered closer to me, cocking her head in concern.
“You’re very tense, Cade,” she said with that familiar, motherly concern she’d always used since my boyhood. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I grumbled.
“Cade…”
Sighing, I blurted out exactly what was on my mind, unable to hold it back any longer. Besides Zephy, Aradia was the only other that I fully trusted to speak with frankly, and this wasn’t a matter I could easily discuss with my mate for the simple reason that I told the enchantress.
“I’ve barely spent any time with Zephy since our wedding night. We see one another at the end of the day, and we’re exhausted at that point. We’re like two ships passing in the night.”
A glimmer of sympathy twinged in Aradia’s clear irises at the mention of my mate, the corners of her mouth twitching.
“Thatisa problem,” she conceded. “You can’t create heirs that way.”
I grimaced, our sex life hardly her concern, but again, she wasn’t wrong. “I would like to have more personal time with her. And take her on a proper honeymoon.”
“A honeymoon is out of the question for now,” Aradia told me firmly. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t take a night off. I do believe she’ll appreciate it as well.”
Alarm spiked through me, her tone striking something inside my gut. “Why? What’s wrong?”
She turned away before I could fully catch the expression on her face. “I didn’t say anything was wrong,” she replied evasively.
She was lying. I could hear it in her tone, but pressing her was futile. “But you said that you haven’t had the occasion to spend time with her. I’m sure she’ll appreciate it.”
Nodding slowly, I stood. “Cancel whatever we have planned for tonight—what is planned for tonight?”
I could barely keep the endless functions straight anymore. It seemed the steady stream of delegates flooding from all territories was ceaseless lately.
“Nothing that can’t be rearranged,” Aradia reassured me. “Shall I make the arrangements for your date this evening?”
“No,” I told her, an idea forming on my own. “I’ll handle it myself.”
* * *
“What are you doing?”Zephy laughed, my hands still placed over her eyes as I guided her toward our bedroom. “I feel as though I’m going to run into a wall.”
“I won’t let you,” I promised. “Don’t you trust me?”
“Of course I do… I just wasn’t expecting you to collect me in the middle of the day.”
Gently, I led her into our suite, closing the door behind us, and dropped my hands, turning her to face me. She smiled at me, but my own smile faded when I saw the drawn expression on her face. There were dark shadows under her eyes, as if she hadn’t been sleeping, and her shoulders were hunched in.
“Zephy, what’s wrong?” I asked, concern overcoming me as I drew her into my arms.
