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“Your Highness.” The fae dipped his head as a sign of respect. His gravelly voice was one he recognized. The crashing waves rumbled in the distance, just as Cyrus’s wings materialized on his back. They were as black as Orion’s, not something common in their kind. Right now, it helped him blend further into his surroundings.
“Are there any more of you here?”
“No, sir. It’s just me. I didn’t mean to bother you.”
Full fae couldn’t lie outright, which made Orion inclined to believe him. The real question was, how much of the truth was he hiding? “Did you just find me this afternoon, and have you told my father?”
Cyrus tilted his head forward in acknowledgment. Something the fae usually did when they didn’t want to answer straight away. Cyrus’s armor screeched with the movement as raindrops dripped over the curves of the metal. “The king has sent two sentinels to watch over you ever since you escaped. We found you when you left the Crow’s nest, sir.”
Orion blinked rapidly as his mind caught up with Cyrus’s words. “You have been following me all this time?” He couldn’t believe it. How had he missed this?
But the guard nodded. “We have, Your Highness.”
“Where is the second sentinel?”
“He’s back at the inn, guarding your mate, sir.”
Fuck. “If either of you hurt her…” Orion snarled. His wings fluttered up and down, sending debris flying off the roof as he readied himself to take off and return to Nava.
“The king commanded us not to harm the future queen, nor to be seen by either of you.” Cyrus’s voice held shame as he looked down. “Which I failed to do tonight.”
Orion’s chest tightened. After what had happened in the castle, his father had put it all together. He clearly understood Nava’s importance in this entire story, so much so that he’d commanded a sentinel to stay with her.
Yet Leela had said that Nora, one of his father’s concubines, had told her everyone believed Nava had put him under a spell.
Did his father believe a soulmate bond was a spell that clouded a person’s judgment? A weakness? Wasn’t Orion’s mother rumored to have been the king’s soulmate?
His throat went dry all at once as Orion focused on the bond he shared with Nava. Thankfully, she was fine, for her overriding feelings were nerves about their assignment—not fear or anger. And she was getting closer.
“My father commanded you to leave us alone?”
“That’s correct, sir. We are here to secure your safety.”
There was something not being said here, and Orion knew better than to fully believe all that the guard shared. “So long as we don’t leave the kingdom?”
“If you remain in our land, sir, then we are supposed to stay in the shadows.” The guard hesitated in silence, then pulled off his helmet, revealing bright blue eyes that shone in the night as they met Orion’s from across the rooftop. “We lost track of you for a few days, and we feared you’d gone into the forest to fight the demons on your own.”
Ah. So they’d known the Zorren were attacking but hadn’t come to help? “Why didn’t you come to my aid if you thought that was the case?”
“The king commanded us to report back if you left the city. I attempted to follow you while Eris went to the king. But with the storm, I lost your scent, and by the time I reached the fires, there were no demons, and you were gone.”
Somehow Orion doubted his nervousness was the city warning him about the guards. Especially if this had been going on for so long. Was he feeling watched because something had changed with Cyrus, or was it a warning about something else entirely?
No matter what Cyrus had said, Orion had to ensure Nava was safe. “Don’t follow me anymore,” he commanded.
“Your wish shall become my command, Your Highness,” Cyrus said after a long pause. He put his helmet on, beginning to fade back into the shadows. A well-considered choice of words. For in the future, Orion would come to overrule everyone else. But tonight, King Oberon still had the final say.
Cyrus was smart enough to know to give Orion space, and he wasn’t ready to get into a fight and harm this guard because he was following orders. Not unless either of them hurt Nava.
Intent on following the soulmate bond and intercepting Nava as she approached the tavern, Orion leaped off the roof.
He found her fast. Her steps clicked against the wet stone, speeding up as she shouted over her shoulder at a nearby man. Her gown was puffier than what she usually wore, adorned by a corset that shimmered beneath the gaslight.
He could stop her. Tell her all he’d just learned. Then they could leave, still with no idea of how or where to get an artifact. Trouble seemed to pile higher with each passing day, but the threat to the world and the Beekeepers remained.
Now more than ever, they couldn’t go to his father for help.
Orion landed on the cobblestone and rushed into the alleyway where Devon awaited. He’d allow his mate to go into the tavern on her own—for now.
