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“Then, congrats! You’re about as veiled as veiling can be. I can’t sense a thing. You two might as well be perfect strangers.”
I heaved a huge sigh of relief and grabbed the scrub-brush I kept on my desk, breaking the line of the circle with a few hard passes of its bristles. I’d learned the hard way: one didn’t want to leave an activated ritual circle just sitting around for anyone to stumble into.
“So, are you gonna tell me why you needed to use your witch power to make it seem like you two aren’t connected? Most of the soldiers in our quarter have figured it out, and it’s only a matter of time until word spreads to the rest of this place.”
I wasn’t going to say anything and was even ready to endure a pseudo-interrogation scene to keep Kai’s secret, but to my surprise, he answered himself.
“We’re likely going to the capital, and I want to keep eyes off Ayla, which wouldn’t happen if people knew she was my fated mate.”
“Wait, I feel like I’m a step behind, and I never am. Why are you going to the capital?”
“We’re needed there, and actually, I’d like you to come, too.”
Both Darla and my own eyes shot wide at that. Darla was coming with us? I’d been counting on some time apart, giving my curse a chance to leave her the fuck alone. I often tried toforget what it was like rapidly healing her throat after it was slit by glass, stopping her from bleeding out. I didn’t want my curse to keep escalating against her.
“I really need some answers, because why would I want to go to that hellhole? I’m sure you’ve heard what those insane DeLunes were like. Definitely not my type of people.”
To his credit, Kai didn’t react beyond a slight tightening of the jaw, but I could feel a slither of embarrassment trickling through our bond.
“We have work there. A mission, so to speak.”
Darla just affixed him with an inscrutable expression. “Why are you being so cagey? That’s Ayla’s job. I know y’all are partially bonded, but it doesn’t mean you get to absorb her schtick.”
“I am notcagey,” I said. “I’m just reserved. For everyone’s safety.”
“Don’t try to distract me from the matter at hand, which is why your honey boo is acting all shifty about why he wants me to trek my ass to the toxic capital I’ve spent most of my life avoiding.”
Kai looked at me with uncertainty, but I offered him a shrug. She was going to have to find out eventually, so I really didn’t see the point in hemming and hawing. Still, it was Kai’s choice in the end whether she knew.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to verbalize all of this, because Kai looked at Darla as he took a deep breath.
“We are going there because my parents want me to return.”
“Um, shouldn’t you tell your parents you’re serving your country, and although you love them, you can’t just up and leave?”
I had to admit, it was fun seeing Darla have absolutely no idea what was going on.
“That’s the thing. If my parents order it, I absolutely have to.”
“Huh? What, are they nobility or something?”
“You could say that…”
Darla pursed her lips together before sighing. “My dear captain, whom I respect, either spit it out or I’m gonna hit the café and get something to fill my belly. We’ve been at this spell for ages, and I’m getting cranky.”
“Right. Sorry, just years of habit. You see, Reed is not my real name.”
“Oh?”
“No. My birth name is actually Nikolai…” He paused, and it was interesting to see him struggle with out and out saying it. No wonder he’d had a difficult time telling me. It seemed like his secret was his armor, protecting him from an identity he never wanted. “Nikolai DeLune.”
Darla didn’t say anything. She stood there, just staring at him with no emotion before her eyes flickered at him. Then to me. Then back to him again.
“DeLune?”
“Yes.”
“As in… the royal DeLunes?”
