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I could barely swallow back the tiny sip I’d taken. All the while, Vesper openly stared at me like she could fucking see through me, and I was about to snap because of it. Rayne must have sensed the tension between us because he leaned in, dragging away her attention, and whispered something in her ear that I was too distracted to hear.
Lokus and Famei worked as a pair on the dinner preparations as Roderick lingered beside me. His nostrils flared, and a look of concern tensed his features.
Fucking lykos sense of smell.
He leaned towards me to speak discreetly. “Everything ok? You smell kinda stressed.”
“Just a little worried about Nakoa…”
Roderick studied me intently as though he could clearly see there was something more that I wasn’t saying.
“About him going to warn The Uprising members?”
I nodded, consciously relaxing my body language to theoppositeof what I was feeling.
“Is there… Something specific that we should be worried about?”
My gaze met his, and I witnessed his own trepidation blossoming.
And thankAkash,in that moment, Nakoa and his mother reappeared. My sigh of relief audible. Roderick and I turned to face them. Famei and Lokus only glancing briefly as they cooked.
“What’d Val say?” Roderick asked. His relief also palpable as his eyes returned to mine with a question still in them.
Nakoa gave a casual shrug as he strode towards me. “That he would alert everyone and had seen no sign whatsoever of Zurie’s soldiers….” His arm curled around my waist, and the relief that went through my body, both at his arrival and at the news, was difficult to hide. “Told you I would be right back…Were you really so worried just for me?”
His question was just as probing as his gaze.
Intuitively, I imagined a fog shielding my mind and the tether between us before I replied.
“As I confided earlier… I’m afraid you’ll be taken from me… And I… There are decent soldiers in Zurie’s army… No matter how disillusioned. I can’t help but feel some modicum of guilt at their inevitable deaths…”
A half-truth.
Nakoa’s eyes narrowed as though he could sense there was something more I wasn’t saying, but he decided to let it go after a moment.
“I appreciate your concern,lohane thili…”
His eyes lingered on mine, and I visualized that dense fog shielding my mind, my emotions thickening… Finally his gaze shifted to back to hisolana kah’hei.I had to force back my exhale of relief.
Now, I only had to worry about Pomona… How long would it take her to relay the message… I knew Malekai would question where I was and what was happening… Would she tell him about Nakoa?
Malekai and I had never been romantic outside of the way we held each other, or how he pressed lingering kisses to my forehead… Or the way he frequently declared his desire to be with me, and the extents to which he was willing to go to take care of and protect me… Or how I’ve always pined to just finally give in.Katadamna kaza.
My stomach churned.
Malekai would be fucking gutted.
“Val said he wanted to discuss a few things when we arrive tomorrow… I didn’t mention our plan to infiltrate Zurie’s palace without them. Thanks to Mareina and Vesper, I think it’s no longer necessary and is a far lessmessyalternative. Not to mention more discreet… I also mentioned to him that, going forward, I want our members to be more thoroughly vetted…” His eyes returned to mine pointedly.
The clearing of a throat sounded, and I twisted to find Pomona striding towards us without a hair out of place and a grin parting her rosebud lips.
Oh, thank fuck.
I could have wept with relief.
“I think there’d be some merit in that. A lot of those fuckers are awfully crass,” she chirped as she began cleaning up the food scraps peppered all over the counter from Famei and Lokus’ preparation.
Lokus chuckled, throwing a grape at her which she, somehow, caught with her mouth and chomped brightly.Still not meeting my eyes.
