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“Fine. The lab is adequate.” I still don’t look at him.

“We’ve prepared quarters for you in the east wing of the palace,” he says. “Griffin thought it would be safer than offering you another cottage.”

At this, I turn and stare at him. “Safer?”

Erik’s expression is grave. “Griffin now believes the fire was started intentionally and that you may have been the intended victim. Your mother was simply...there.”

A chill runs through me. I always thought it was a possibility. “What makes him think that?”

“The timing. The missing security footage. The fact that it happened during a major palace event when most of the guards were reassigned.” He shrugs. “Either way, he’s taking no chances with your safety this time.”

“How thoughtful,” I mutter, the sarcasm thick in my voice. “But I don’t care where I sleep. As long as I can do my work and leave, everything else is irrelevant.”

Erik studies me for a long moment. “Where have you been all this time, Maya?”

I assume he already knows the answer, but I say, “Seattle. Working for a biotech research company.” I turn back to my samples, trying to signal the end of the conversation.

But Erik doesn’t take the hint. “And have you been...seeing anyone?”

The question makes me laugh, a short, harsh sound with no humor in it. “No. The worst advice my mother ever gave me wasto trust Griffin with my heart. I’m not making that mistake again with anyone else.”

“Maya—”

“I don’t want to talk about this.” I face him fully now, letting him see the coldness in my eyes. “I don’t care about love or relationships or anything like that anymore. I’m here because Leanna and her children could end up affected by this disease. That’s it. So please, stay away from me. I’m not here to reconnect or reminisce or whatever it is you think might happen. I’m going to develop this antidote, and then I’m gone.”

“He’s been miserable without you,” Erik says quietly. “Barely sleeping. Hardly eating. The kingdom functions, but the man is a shell.”

“I’m sure he found comfort in Aria’s arms,” I retort. “Speaking of which, her name is on the list as one of the affected. Is that the real reason he wanted me here? To save the woman he loves?”

“It’s not like that—”

“So, that’s exactly what it is,” I cut him off, a bitter smile twisting my lips. “How convenient that he only needed me back once she was in danger.”

“You don’t understand—”

“I understand perfectly.” I turn back to my work, hands steady despite the storm inside me. “Don’t worry. I’ll save her for him. And then I never want to see either of them again.”

“Maya, you have it all wrong.”

“Do I?” I look up, meeting his gaze. “I heard him, Erik. The night of the ceremony. ‘Maya will never be my mate.’ His exact words. He made his choice, and then my mother died, and I was alone. He didn’t even come back.”

“Because he—”

The lab door opens again, and this time it’s him. Griffin. Standing in the doorway like a specter from my nightmares. Inotice for the first time that he looks the same as he once did, yet different—still impossibly handsome, still regal, but there’s a hardness to him now, a coldness that matches my own.

Our eyes meet, and for a moment, I feel it—that cursed pull, that magnetic draw that I’ve spent six months trying to drown in alcohol. I hate that my body still responds to him, that my heart still skips at the sight of him.

“Your Majesty,” I say, my voice dripping with formality. “How kind of you to grace us with your presence.”

Griffin’s jaw tightens. “Maya. I came to see if you have everything you need.”

“Everything except privacy, apparently.”

Erik clears his throat awkwardly. “I was just explaining to Maya that we’ve arranged a room for her in the east wing.”

“I see.” Griffin’s eyes never leave mine.

“I don’t care where I sleep, as long as I can work uninterrupted.” I turn back to my samples. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have forty-seven critical patients to save. Including your precious Aria.”