Page 15 of Night’s Fall (The Four Realms #1)

Not to mention, I was glad he was around, especially after my recent conversation with Madam Garwah .

“Set, this is Laura Makepeace ,” he introduced when we came abreast of the male.

No unnecessary courtesies, Set dipped his chin and grunted, “ Laura .”

“Nice to meet you, Set ,” I replied.

He nodded to me, to Aleksei , and we got in the lift.

Set stood at alert facing the doors.

Aleksei and I lingered at the back.

“Was your entire session a history discussion or did Garwah teach you anything?” Aleksei asked.

Hmmm…

Seemed like someone eavesdropped for a while.

I looked up at him. “ I learned to eat fast when I’m around your dad.”

He chuckled.

Oh yeah, I liked that sound. I’d jump through hoops to get that sound. I could see a time in my life where I might not be able to live without that sound.

“I thought it would be silly,” I told him as the lift doors opened and we remained where we were as Set walked out, scanned the space, and only when he turned back and jutted his chin did we walk out. “ But it was really interesting.”

“I believe it was interesting for Garwah too,” Aleksei replied as we followed Set to the doors of the building.

“ I don’t know Garwah very well, though she’s always invited to events and celebrations at the Palace .

However , I doubt she engages very often in historical debates, and it appeared she enjoyed it. ”

“I was probably being impertinent,” I mumbled, then I blinked because, as we strode over the pavement, the doors to a sleek, black JetPanther 570 boosted up with a sultry purr.

I knew about the JetPanther because everyone knew about the JetPanther , considering it was the pinnacle of land-sky craft in all the realms. Every inch of it was handmade (unheard of), and it was so highly engineered, and as such, high performance, you could actually pilot one to a satellite resort.

I wasn’t all about crafts, so I didn’t pay attention, thus I couldn’t be sure, but if I remembered correctly, I heard it took so much time to make one, not to mention, very few could afford them once they were made, they only built five a year.

Aleksei stopped us at the passenger door that perched high like a wing and turned me to face him, which successfully tore my attention from his elite craft.

“I suspect she deals mostly with the social-climbing daughters of social-climbing mothers who salivate over royal etiquette and twist themselves into knots to be the best at it in hopes of catching the eye of a duke.”

“Or a prince,” I put in, realizing in that moment that he’d been a sort of prey all his adult life.

Also realizing how much that had to suck.

He conceded my point with a tilt of his head. “ Or a prince. In other words, you were probably a breath of fresh air.”

It was unexpected, but I sensed I was. “ I hope so.”

“I’ve little doubt,” he murmured as he helped me into the low-slung craft hovering at the curb.

I settled in, unsurprised at the luxury, but surprised at how roomy it was. It was small, a two-seater, but it had great leg room.

He settled in beside me, the doors descended, and he commanded, “ Stained Glass . Brush Island . Manual .”

The dash lit blue and replied, “ Assessing clear route, your highness.”

Stained Glass ?

He was taking me to the finest restaurant in all of Nocturn and its islands? Maybe even all of Night’s Fall ?

Were we ready for that?

I thought we were doing private things to get to know each other.

As if he knew my thoughts, Aleksei shared, “ We’ll enter from the back.

No one will see us. We’ll have our own room and be attended by bots programmed to confidential.

The only being who knows we’re coming is the chef, who’s a friend of mine.

I would have liked to take you to my flat and cook for you, but there isn’t time to do that and go to the Catalogues , because I have a meeting off-planet in the morning, and I need to leave early. ”

“Why didn’t you leave tonight?” I asked stupidly, seeing as I was in his JetPanther and he was taking me out to dinner.

He shot me a glance confirming he didn’t because I was beside him in his JetPanther and we were off to dinner.

“Clear route accessed and loaded. Manual engaged,” the dash said.

When Aleksei put his hand on the control, the display in front of him showed the elevation we were to attain, my body vibrated in a delightful way as the thrusters under us lit, and up we went, high, higher, until we could clear the tallest skyscraper.

Whoa.

That was a damned fine rush.

The display changed to knots, he flipped some switches, entered some data, the boosters at the rear of the craft engaged, and off we flew, fast and incredibly smooth.

And that was a rush too.

Land crafts used stacked routes accessed above the old grid of streets that used to be traversed by horses, carts, then cars and hovers.

It was a thrill to take to the open sky.

Even so, I had other things on my mind.

I didn’t get to broach them because Aleksei spoke before me.

“I failed to explain, but I will now, though I suspect you already know I always travel with a security detail.”

Yeah, I already knew that, or at least expected it.

“Of course.”

“It depends on where I’m going and who I’m with how big that detail is. Tonight , because I’m with you, its four males and two females.”

“Right.”

“Once we go public, you’ll have your own detail.”

Oh boy.

“Uh…okay.”

“I’ll select them for you personally.”

“Um…all right,” I replied.

“They’re very good at being circumspect and giving me privacy. You’ll get to the point you won’t even know they’re there.”

I doubted that immensely.

Though, this discussion gave me pause to return to something I’d resolutely put out of my mind from the moment Cat lowered the boom on me.

That being, did he assign a detail to every female he courted?

I wasn’t sure it was time to get into that.

But it was time to get into something else.

“Did you change your plans for me?” I asked.

“Pardon?”

“Tomorrow, you needing to be off-planet for a morning meeting. Did you change your plans so you could be with me tonight?”

“Yes.”

Wow.

I shifted my attention from the lights of Brush Island getting closer to watch him navigating the craft, his gaze set to the skyscreen in front of us, his long fingers curled casually around the control, the trajectory we needed to follow so we wouldn’t crash with another craft illuminated on the dash in front of him.

“You didn’t have to do that,” I said softly.

“You’re unable to move forward with your designs without seeing troll skin,” he pointed out.

“I could wait.”

“Or you could see the skin and not wait.”

“Can Allain get access to the Catalogues ?”

“At my command, yes.”

“So he could have shown them to me. Or some other admin person at the Palace . You have a gazillion of them.”

He glanced at me, a lazy (thus phenomenal) grin on his face. “ We have just a few less than a gazillion, Laura . And Allain travels with me.”

Of course he did.

I shook off the effects of that grin.

“What I’m saying is, this means a lot, but I feel badly you had to change your plans.”

“It isn’t that big of a deal.”

“What time is your meeting?”

“Nine.”

I gaped at him. “ Nine ? ”

“Yes.”

“In the morning?”

His voice was rustling velvet with his humor when he repeated, “ Yes .”

“What satellite are you going to?”

“Thoth.”

Holy Hecate !

“That’s six hours away.”

“I can sleep on the ship, bissi ,” he said gently. “ Your concern is heartening but… relax .”

I snapped my mouth shut and looked forward.

I did this because his gentle voice did a number on me.

I did this because his change of plans was a pain in the behind for him, but he did it anyway, to be with me, and that took sweet to a new level.

I did this because he called me “ bissi ,” which was old-world language, a term of endearment for females only, used for all ages and all relationships, but it was definitely affectionate.

Now , even more so, because it wasn’t used that often, so it was usually used only for those who meant a good deal to you.

And it meant “my little love.”

No one had ever called me that. My mom, dad, even Mr . Truelock .

So yes.

Oh yes, I needed to take a big, long pause and think about what was happening here.

I wasn’t seeing a midnight mass marriage in the future. Not at all.

But this was… something .

I just had no clue what it was.

And on our first date, it wasn’t the time to ask, “ Hey , what is this?”

I knew one thing. It was without a doubt he was going that extra mile, even if he barely knew me. So to him, it was definitely… something .

Still, no female in her right mind would press a male she liked very much, and liked more every time she was with him, to share his intentions for the future on the first date.

It would have to wait for the second.

Or maybe the third.

(Or perhaps the fourth.)

I just knew it wasn’t going to happen now.

We were going to eat at Stained Glass . He was going to show me something very few beings ever got to see. And we were going to get to know each other better.

When it came to all of that, it was definitely enough to deal with.

For now.