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Stop whatever you’re doing right now, mi cielo, and get to our bedchamber. It’s urgent, so for the love of Dios, make haste.
I stood up from my chair, the parchment starting to rip under my fingers with how tightly I was clutching it.
I know I always forbade you from snooping and spoiling the fun for yourself, but you have my permission now I’m dead. You’re welcome. Open the top drawer of my bedside table, and you’ll find a black box that holds something I’ve never used on you before. You’re going to take it out, oil it up, and stick it up your-
I scowled. Flicking through the remaining four pages of parchment revealed it was more of the same frivolous filth, with not a single word about ruling or politics or coping without the other half of my heart being fuckinggone.
“Svoloch,”I muttered, crushing the entire letter in my hands and shoving it into my coat pocket with all the vicious abruptness it deserved.
I gave the four councillors the same pissed off glare when I raised my head and found them all staring at me.
Del Olmo bit nervously on a fingernail. “What did it say, Your Highness?”
“Nothing at all relevant,” I said crossly.
“May we read it?” Vidrio asked.
I tried not to choke on the sheer humiliation of that idea. “Absolutely not.” Then I promptly changed the subject. “Thoughts on how we’re handling the Lukian delegation? Do we somehow delay their arrival, or try to keep them from getting suspicious while they’re here?”
“We could-”
“May I have a word in private with you, king consort?” asked Morales, giving me a look that was certainly meaningful but I had no idea what that meaning could be. Had I fucked up again?
Probably. That wasn’t exactly new.
When I nodded, the other councillors obediently filed out of the room, followed more reluctantly by Aitor. He closed the door behind him, its click echoing around the empty chamber.
“I know I’m not Ren,” I gritted out, “but I promise you, I’m trying. He just makes this shit look easy, and I’m-”
“I think it was Vidrio,” Morales whispered in a rush, catching my gaze and holding it. She looked like she was going to be sick, with her mouth twisted as if she’d eaten something unpleasant, and pain scoring her eyes.
“Vidrio,” I repeated slowly, knowing where she was going with this but hoping I was wrong. “Who…”
“Who was involved with the king’s abduction.” She glanced at the door by which he’d just left, dropping her voice even lower.“He didn’t bother to hide his surprise when we all learned about the hidden door in the room His Majesty disappeared from, and then he lied to me about meeting with Lord Hierro this morning. Have either of them mentioned anything to you?”
I snorted. “Hierro has taken to avoiding me since Ren threatened to have him executed for his slight last month.”
Morales cocked her head, intrigued. “What did he say, if I may ask?”
I deepened my voice to emulate the man’s husky growl. “You’re a wild little thing, aren’t you, Prince Velichkov? Your husband really should get you under better control.”
Her mouth opened in surprise. “He dared to insult you like that?”
Her obvious shock made me laugh. “Insultme?Councillor, ‘wild’ is the least of what they call me. Ren was more pissed about his failure to use my Quarehian title. Not that I care about such things.”
“Yes. You never have, have you?” The searching intensity of Morales’ gaze made me uncomfortable, and I was the first to look away.
“About Vidrio…”
She cleared her throat. “He’s also said a few things this last month which were merely odd at the time but which I now view as…suspicious.”
The softly-spoken Councillor Vidrio had been the one to insist on entering the room Ren was supposed to have been in. The one who had ‘discovered’ the king missing. Was that to divert our attentions from him?
“I will not condemn someone as a traitor without proof,” I said flatly. “Oddorsuspicious, neither constitute sufficient evidence.”
“I agree, king consort.”
I blinked, startled. I’d expected her to put up more resistance. “So…”
