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I shrugged. Comparatively speaking, I was in a fairly safe situation, spoiled with my lavish quarters and food whenever I wanted. But I still needed to get free, with no coven, curse, or anything else forcing my hand.
“I will be,” I said finally.
I had to believe it.
Chapter 10
Kai
It would have been easier if different members of the court didn’t constantly intercept me. Some of them were just nosey, eager to get juicy gossip, while some were genuinely concerned, and some just seemed happy to see me, which was odd. I didn’t care to see any of them. Not really.
Which was why I’d taken the opportunity to get some of my team alone when I could. It was quite possibly the only time Oren and I had been without some tail or entourage, and I’d wanted to seize the moment.
Then the damn fae had ruined it. He’d taken the brush-off well, but I wasn’t particularly pleased with his comment singling out Ayla.
I understood why someone might want to talk to my beautiful, intelligent, powerful, engaging mate, and I largely wasn’t a jealous person, but every moment he took up of her time, the less I could steal away from her in the scant few moments I had.
Now I was walking away, pretending like I hadn’t just left my heart behind in the old study with Ayla when I wanted to turn around and move right back into her arms.
I couldn’t. I had to keep a pretty strict leash on myself if I wanted to make sure our plan didn’t go down in flames.
“Any response from Yvonne, by the way?” I murmured to Oren as we strode along.
“We just sent out a missive to her last night, sir.”
“I know, but you know how magic users are. Sometimes they’ll send a raven who flies faster than dreams, and sometimes a century or two pass.”
“Let’s hope she’s a bit more expedient.”
“Yes, let’s,” I said. “Perhaps you could go into Merrik and request her immediate presence? With upmost humility, of course.”
“I could, sir, but do we know where she is?”
“No,” I said with a frustrated rumble from my chest. “Apparently she hasn’t been seen by any civilians in quite a while.”
“Do you think she’s, uh, she’s expired?”
“I feel like word would have spread through the magic circles in this city.”
“All right, sir. I’ll see what I can find out.”
I wanted to say more, but then a family I vaguely recognized interrupted us. I plastered my diplomatic persona on my face while Oren quietly slipped away.
It was troubling sometimes how easy it was for me to slip into my persona from six years earlier. I’d long since thought of Prince Nikolai as someone removed from myself—someone I’d grown past. But it seemed he was always a shadow with me, an eternal reminder of where I came from and what I could be if I was just a little more selfish.
I wrapped up my conversation with the family, citing duties I needed to return to, but I only got down one hall before I was intercepted again, this time by a diplomat pair from the north.They were less socially keen than those of the court, but they still had plenty of questions.
Of course, right after them, there were more nobles. Always more nobles. I just wanted to get down to the armory to see just how ill-equipped we might be, and then to requisitions to see what could be sent out to the front, but it was taking me forever to get anywhere.
In fact, I hadn’t even gotten to the necessary floor when I heard a gentle voice call my name, a voice I’d long since missed in my life.
“Nikki?”
Turning, Seraphina appeared out of a room just down the hall. It was one of our dozen or so green rooms, as my younger sister called them. They were spacious places with glass ceilings and a nearly overwhelming number of plants within them, some of them from quite far-flung places throughout the neighboring kingdoms.
“Seraphina.” I nearly gasped the name, my jaw going a bit slack. Somehow, my tiny little sister had grown into a young woman, with her head held high as one would expect with a princess.
I knew five years was an awfully long time, and two years with absolutely no contact was bound to see changes, but it was the first time I felt well and truly shocked with the flow of time.
