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“You didn’t do an internet search on her?” I asked dubiously.
She nodded toward the top-of-the-line cell phone I’d recently bought her and smiled.
“Zen, I’m still figuring out how to turn that thing on, never mind search the internet. The tablet I was issued in my quad, when I first got here, wasn’t even connected to the internet. I didn’t know how to do that. I’m not exactly tech savvy.”
She paused. “Well, I might have been tech savvy, but I can’t remember how to do those types of things if I ever knew. So, no, I never did any kind of online search about your family. And nobody has mentioned any details to me”
My eyes narrowed, but there was a deep reflection on her face.
“Seriously? No one talks about what happened to my mother?” I asked, stunned to hear it.
Mirielle shook her fiery mane again, and I raised my eyebrows, turning back toward the glass, unsure of what to say. I wasn’t sure I wanted to delve into it myself, the whole mood shifting with the mention, but I had been the one to bring it up, and I could tell that Mirielle was waiting for me to elaborate.
“It was last year,” I explained in a rush, suddenly wishing I hadn’t said anything at all. I yanked up my pants and buttoned the front almost angrily as the memory hit me as fresh as the day it had occurred. “She was here, in the sitting room, reading a book when her personal maid…”
I grimaced as Mirielle neared me, compassion clouding her face.
“Her maid killed her?”
Agony pierced me at the memory, my own failings twisting my insides.
“The servant was a member of the Order,” I explained. “We didn’t realize just how easily they’d slipped in and were amongst us in our day-to-day life. Our knowledge of them limited until then. We didn’t vet our staff with nearly as much vigor as we do now.”
“I can’t even imagine,” Mirielle breathed compassionately.
“Please don’t try,” I growled, straightening myself as her hand touched my bicep. “We’ve since upgraded our security, and I already have to constantly reassure Cyndella that it won’t happen again.”
“No wonder the princess is so distrusting,” Mirielle murmured. “Or you, for that matter.”
I swung around to place my own hands on her shoulders, my eyes boring into hers. “I won’t let anything happen to my sister or my kingdom. I will protect those I love to the death.”
Pinkness tinged her cheeks, and she dropped her head. “I believe that.”
Pulling her into an embrace, I kissed the top of her head and released her. “Maybe we’ll hold off on bringing you into my chambers for now,” I agreed, realizing it would be harder to explain if she was living with me full-time. “But we’ll discuss it more later tonight.”
She dropped her head back, bright eyes hopeful. “Yeah? Tonight?”
I smiled and placed a long, lingering kiss on her lips. “Dinner tonight,” I promised. “After I meet with my cabinet, the Council of Ministers, and deal with some other matters in the kingdom.”
She eagerly returned my kiss, and we parted reluctantly.
I chuckled to realize that the door was still partially ajar from where I’d kicked my way through the other night. I had splintered the unit on its hinges, making it impossible to close properly.
“Have someone come fix this,” I instructed the replacement guards outside of Mirielle’s door, Calliver and Landon both gone to catch sleep of their own sometime in the night.
“Yes, Alpha.”
With the grin still on my face, I retreated toward my suites, but as I neared the double doors separating the sections, I found Endora pacing the common hallway in front of the stairs, her long, snowy hair fanning as she moved, her bare feet heavy against the sleek wood floors.
“There you are!” she called out, exasperation thick in her voice. “I’ve been looking for you all night!”
“Here I am,” I agreed, opening the separation doors. “And I also have a phone that you can use for texting and calling.”
“Technology is the bane of the gods,” Endora intoned, hurrying after me.
My stride was long, but as always, Endora managed to keep up.
“Something is off with that fae,” she told me bluntly. “Big time.”
