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‘Changed my mind when I remembered I only had tinned beans and bitter coffee in the cupboard. This way, you’ll get breakfast.’
‘It really wouldn’t have mattered,’ she offered dryly, sitting up straighter, tucking her hair away from her face and looking out of the window at the darkness thrown by a quarter moon and a cloudless night. ‘How far away are we?’
‘We’ll be there in an hour.’
‘I need to call Cas. Ildris vouched for my safety when we went north and I don’t know where my guards are. I don’t want to start another war.’
‘Call him by all means, but your guards are a couple of miles behind us and have been all the time. Cas knows where you are, even if he doesn’t know the why of it yet.’ Silently, he gestured towards his phone. ‘You’ll have to turn it on again and hope for a signal. And it’ll come up as me when you dial anywhere so don’t expect to have a direct line to the King.’
‘Okay.’
Casimir picked up on the first ring.
‘Huh,’ she murmured. ‘I guess you have a direct line to the King now too. Fancy that.’ She put the phone on loudspeaker—a courtesy Tomas hadn’t expected. ‘Cas, I’m with Tomas.’
‘So I heard. Ildris says your abduction was quite the spectacle.’
‘I enjoyed it,’ she answered dulcetly. ‘We’re almost in Aergoveny. My fiancé—that would be Tomas—has arranged a night at the inn for us before we travel on to the manor.’
‘So you’ve told him about the baby.’
‘Well, someone told him and I confirmed it, so yes. Let’s not sweat the details. He knows. We’re eloping. Think of the money you’ll save.’
‘I see.’ Cas didn’t sound impressed.
‘As if you’ve never got ahead of yourself,’ she reminded him.
‘Put him on.’
‘I can’t, he’s driving. Very safely, I might add, if I wanted to ram home the point that I’m in good, safe hands. We’re working out our future and it’s a delicate negotiation, as you might imagine. Can you tell the guards to keep their distance?’
‘You wouldn’t be sitting there if I hadn’t already done so.’
‘You’re a wonderful brother. The best.’
‘I’m glad you think so. I’m also Byzenmaach’s King, so put your fiancé on the phone and turn the speaker off. I want a private word.’
She hesitated. Tomas didn’t, reaching out to pick up a set of earphones from the console and handing them to her. She gave it all back, set up for privacy, and he sighed and put the earbuds in his ears. He’d known he was pushing his luck. It was a measure of the King’s trust in him that no one had yet interfered. He wanted to keep it that way.
‘Your Majesty.’
‘Ballsy move, Lord Sokolov.’
‘Unavoidable. Your sister was being uncommonly indecisive.’
‘That or she’s playing the long game and has you exactly where she wants you.’
‘Maybe.’ He hadn’t ruled that out. ‘Makes no difference to me. I need special dispensation to wed. The innkeeper’s a celebrant.’ He’d discovered that on his last visit. ‘It can happen tonight if required.’
‘Hey!’ said Claudia indignantly. ‘That is not required.’
Tomas liked to think he quelled her with a glance, but it seemed unlikely. ‘Tomorrow, then.’ Look at him, changing his plans at a moment’s notice. And they called him intractable.
‘Sunday,’ she countered.
Two days away.
‘Your sister says we’re marrying on Sunday. I say tomorrow evening.’ There he went, being tractable again. He shot Claudia a swift narrow-eyed glance. ‘That’s it. I’m done negotiating.’