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“I didn’t ignore you. We’re talking now, aren’t we?” I scratched my head. “But then, you didn’t bother to knock.”
“The time for knocking is past, Draven. You have an empire to oversee.”
My jaw clenched. “Morgan’s empire.”
“Not Morgan’s. Yours.” Her voice was gentle. Gentler than I deserved. “You made this mess. You’ll clean it up now.”
It was very close to what Morgan had said. The words hit home. Not to mention how much Odessa was reminding me of my old governess.
“You sound almost maternal, Odessa.”
“Save the insults,” she snapped, finally losing a little of her carefully maintained control. “If I have a maternal bone in my body, then it serves this empire. Our people. Just as you should.”
“Admirable,” I acknowledged. “You’re right.”
“You made choices. Only you can say if they were the right ones, the only ones you could have made.” She drew a deep breath. “Nevertheless, Morgan is your wife and my empress. So, tell me this. The bond—you can sense her through it? Is she... alive?”
“The bond is weak,” I hedged. “But yes. She lives.” I could sense that much, even from this distance.
She nodded, a small hint of satisfaction on her smooth, mahogany face. “It will grow stronger with time. We both know this, even if she does not. And the sooner she accepts it, well...”
There were ways a bond between mates that had been forged in the way ours had been could be strengthened or enhanced.
Not that Morgan seemed keen on finding out what those ways were.
“I doubt she’ll accept it anytime soon,” I said, not a little sourly.
I had told her that I loved her.
She hadn’t exactly returned the sentiment.
It shouldn’t have changed how I felt—and it hadn’t. But still, the words she’d used had hit me like a blow to the gut.
She’d confessed she felt the same emotion. But it was false, she’d said.
False.
Odessa waved a hand dismissively. “Who knows what that woman will do? She’s nothing if not unpredictable. Regardless, she’s not coming back anytime soon. I think we can agree on that.”
My lips thinned. “Agreed.”
“Then perhaps it’s time you took up the mantle and began to rule.”
“Rule? I’m not the emperor, Odessa.”
Odessa’s mask of patience dropped. “Ifsheis the empress, thenyouare her consort. In her absence, the throne is yours. That is, unless she specifically decreed otherwise before she left. Did she?”
“Not precisely...” In fact, Morgan had said much the same thing Odessa was saying.
“Or assigned someone else as regent?”
“No, but...”
“I didn’t think so. Because she assumed you would do what needed to be done.” A distinct look of impatience crossed her face. “I wonder what she would say if she could see you now.”
“Smashing pillars and feeling sorry for myself, you mean?”
Odessa sniffed and looked around the suite. “One might think you were a true Siabra nobleman at the rate you’re going. All you need are decanters of wine to slosh all over the room.”
