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My expression flattened. “It’s good to see you too, Bianca.”
She fixed the shock on her face, then sat down in front of me, setting the pile of folders she’d been carrying on her lap. “I didn’t mean . . . It’s just. Look, I call it like I see it. You look like a pile of shit.”
Huffing through my nose, I said, “It matches how I feel at the moment.”
“Permission to speak freely?” she asked, and I raised my eyebrows in response.
“I’m sorry, weren’t you doing that already?”
“Perks of growing up with you.” She grinned, lifting a single shoulder. “But seriously. Are you okay?”
I nodded. “I haven’t slept much. Just a lot going on.”
Twisting her lips, she considered me. “Whatever you said or did to Dannika, fix it.”
Her perceptiveness caught me off guard. “I . . .”
“Don’t lie to me. I’ve known you your entire life. Give me more credit than that,” she deadpanned.
I sniffed, then turned to look out the window. “I might have said something I didn’t mean in a moment of heated discussion.”
“That’s a very diplomatic way of saying you were a righteous asshole in the middle of a fight.” Bianca cocked her head to the side, and I frowned. “Just make it right. You clearly regret it. Tell her. She’s the one for you, Elias. Fate be damned, you know she is.”
I snapped my head in her direction, wide-eyed. No one knew the truth except Ysa. “How?”
She rolled her eyes. “Seriously? You’re like my brother, Elias. I know you. Are you really telling me you wouldn’t be able to figure it out if I were pulling this same scam?”
I stared silently, considering her words. I would’ve noticed. I knew Bianca as well as she knew herself. I also knew her loyalty to my family was as strong as my loyalty to hers. I pressed my lips together, then dipped my chin. “Fair enough.”
She nodded once. “No one knows. No one even suspects. I mean, there’s Ysabeau, but you tell her everything.” I acknowledged her assumptions, and she smirked. “Whatever it is with Dannika, I’m sure you can fix it. She loves you.”
I barked a laugh. “You aren’t as all-knowing as you think you are.”
“Yes, I am,” she said, her tone flat. “You’re just blind to it. I’ve seen the way you two act when you’re together. You are head over heels smitten with that shifter, and she is just as besotted as you. Maybe you can’t see it, but I can. It’s obvious, and it’s not just the show you’re trying to put on for everyone.”
A knock sounded at the door, and I cleared my throat, thankful her interrogation was ending.
“Ysabeau,” I said, after she came in. “Do you have?—”
“Ask her,” Bianca interjected, jutting her thumb in my second’s direction. “She’ll tell you.”
“Tell him what, exactly?” Ysa asked, her words slow with caution.
“That he and Dannika are in love with each other.”
Ysa turned to look at me through her dark glasses, keeping her stoic face, giving away nothing.
I frowned, nodding my head. “Yeah, she knows.”
She tilted her head back, letting out a raucous laugh. “Then yes, Bianca is right. I will tell you the same thing. And you’ve been a moody bitch for two days now, all because you got into an argument.”
Bianca grinned like a fool. “See?” She stood up, setting the files on my desk. “Dannika brings out your better nature, brother,” she said softly, using the term of endearment reserved only for moments we shared that involved matters of intimacy. Never once had she used it at Court, or in public. “Don’t let that go.”
“I’m not sure I have a better nature,” I muttered.
“True,” she agreed, tilting her head to the side. “But if Ysa and I see what both of you really are when you’re with each other, that means something.” She walked to the door, leaving the files she’d been carrying on my desk.
I pointed to them. “What are these?”
