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“Don’t worry your mind over it. She’s a means to an end and will remain that way. I have no need of her after her task is done.” Every word sickened him, but he pushed on. “However, I have the decency to treat her fairly.”
Now it was Gunther’s turn to tilt his head and observe Henry. Henry let him until the younger man was satisfied, albeit still miffy.
“You have always been about fairness and morals, so I will grant this little episode as your morals not agreeing with what you think isn’t right. But there’s nothing to worry about, since Emerald has moved on,” Gunther assured, visibly pleased with his reasoning. “Anyway, I’m just relieved that you’re still all about justice, even after meeting that—Pearl.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing,” Gunther backtracked, waving a hand in dismissal. “Now, can we move past this and can you go take a shower? We have dinner tonight with the rest of the family.”
The urge to tell his brother to go to hell was strong—a first in many firsts tonight—but Henry managed to keep it in. There was time to dig in and assess what else Gunther was hiding from him.
He just had to get through a Lyra dinner first.
Pearl was avoiding him. It wasn’t noticeable at first, mostly because the dinner had meant a lot of requests—and demands— being voiced out, and Henry was left with no choice but to add them to his already growing list of responsibilities. It filled his days and nights with papers up to his eyeballs until sleep was non-existent and he had to function on energy candies and magic zaps to keep him awake. He also had to surrender the investigation completely in her hands, something that would have been fine—except Pearl had stopped talking to him altogether.
There were regular, formal updates, mostly handed in sealed notes to his butler to be passed on to him. But the woman who had repeatedly barged onto his property and insisted on the use of his magic was gone, and in its place was a hollow yearning in his soul.
“Martin, did Miss Sutton say if she was coming in today or not?”
His butler had just come into his office to deliver a tray of food, along with more paperwork that Henry needed to read and sign. They were getting tiring, even though he liked to read…
“She was here this morning to check on the throne room’s security. She verified there was no breach and showed me the proof.”
Henry looked up, latching on to the first words. “She was here?”
“Yes, sir.”
And she didn’t look for him or try to talk to him. Again. She didn’t even bother showing herself.
“I see. Thank you, Martin.”
“Do you need anything else, sir?”
“Not at the moment. Please put a do not disturb sign on the doorknob.”
Slowly, he put down his pen. He waited for Martin to leave the office before he snatched his coat and snuck out the window—another first, but Henry was tired of explaining all the time and he was getting used to his list of firsts. He debated between a few destinations before locking in on her cottage home, the reasons for his appearance already recited in his head. When her door flew open before he could knock, all those reasons went out the window.
Pearl was dressed in her regular robes, opting for slacks rather than a skirt this time, but it did nothing to hide those curves—and now that he had touched them, he knew how soft and warm they were. Her hair was braided tightly and left her face bare, and her mouth looked good with the red tint she had on. Everything about her was the same, but Henry couldn’t look at her without remembering her moans, her grip…the way she moved against him. The way she climaxed. Pearl didn’t share the sentiment, her eyes widening before studiously looking away.
“Henry, what are you—”
“What’s happening, Pearl?”
The abruptness had her gaze returning to him in puzzlement.
“I gave your butler some written updates. If you read them, you would know—”
“What I meant was what’s happening between us?” he cut in. She didn’t appreciate that, but her puzzlement cleared and she shook her head.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, you do. We just went from spending all of our time together to having zero interaction this whole week.” Her features flared, not expecting him to get right into it. Suspicion rose. “Was it because of—”
“You’re busy,” she said firmly. “So am I. Contrary to what you believe, I’m a hardworking woman and I do have some other tasks outside yours.”
He would have believed the excuse except… “You had those tasks before and still managed to talk to me.”
A light entered her eyes at his challenge. When she tilted her hips to the side and placed her hand on it, emphasizing it, his nostrils flared. Pearl caught the movement and smirked.
