Page 27 of Night’s Fall (The Four Realms #1)

Spin

O ne could assume the aftermath of an assassination attempt was a chaotic time.

I could confirm this was correct.

But at first, it was just Aleksei and me.

My mate let me weep into his skin for a while, but this was interrupted when the sounds of the blades of a heli-craft could be heard overhead.

Rattled, I pulled away from him.

“Shh, love,” he murmured, cupping the side of my head and tucking my face back into his throat.

“ The RS will have mobilized a unit. Agents on the roof. More in the lobby. Others on the street. The Constabulary won’t want to be left out, and they’ll position a heavy presence around the building.

Regardless , I was involved in the design of my security system, and it rivals the Palace .

No one can get up here unless I wish them to. ”

“Okay,” I mumbled, sniffed, then said, “ I think I’m done crying.”

The gentle pressure of his hand lessened and I lifted my head.

He placed both hands on either side and swept my cheeks with his thumbs, his eyes watching them go.

I wasn’t over our fight, or how much of a dick he acted during it. I also wanted my family released from interrogation immediately.

But even so, I couldn’t deny his touch was sweet.

His gaze captured mine. “ I’d like to call a doctor to have you looked over.”

Panic filled me, he sensed it and continued swiftly.

“She’s there, Laura . I feel her. But I’m certain you’ve been drugged for months without your knowledge. It’s my understanding this doesn’t have lasting effects. But I want you checked out.”

I wasn’t a big fan of doctors (anymore).

But give a little, get a little.

Right?

“Okay,” I agreed. “ And I want Gayle , Cat and the Truelocks released.”

“Darling—”

I pulled from his hold and planted my hands firm on his chest. “ No , Aleksei . They would never, ever hurt me. Not a one of them.”

“I’m afraid this has to be ascertained without a doubt.”

“You said you vetted them.”

“Beings manage to hide a variety of things in order to get into a number of mischiefs.”

“Not my beings.”

“This has to be done.”

“It’s a waste of time. I don’t want them frightened, or?—”

That purple glow started to seep into his irises, and the sleek of his voice abraded when he stated, “ You almost died tonight. And someone has been fucking with you for an unknown purpose, but whatever that purpose is, it’s nefarious and has to have caused you no small amount of pain.

We are who we are, and it cannot be cast aside you are the future queen of this realm, which means you’re the future mother to a monarch, and as such, what’s been happening to you is high treason.

But to me, that’s beside the point. You …

are… my mate . And I will be without a doubt as to those who are in your life who might, no matter the outside chance, wish you harm. ”

Without a doubt .

Oh gods.

He couldn’t be considering…

My voice had pitched high when I asked, “ Are you going to give them truth serum?”

Gayle probably wouldn’t care ( I hoped). Neither would Mrs . Truelock (and she simply wouldn’t, she was just as lovely with me as her husband).

But Mr . Truelock would think it was the height of indignity, and Cat , who hated to be out of control in any situation, would be pissed as all heck.

“It’s illegal to administer truth serum without a being’s consent,” Aleksei said.

I relaxed.

“However, if they refuse the injection, this will be taken into account and not in a positive way,” he concluded.

I tensed again, and was about to say something, but he beat me to it.

“If they love you, they won’t blink at taking it.”

“I can’t lose them, Aleksei ,” I told him, sounding just as panicked as I was, which was to say, a whole lot of panic. “ They’re all I have.”

The purple glow was not as fierce as it was when I was in danger, and after he’d transformed back to human, and he was ticked.

But that glow lit in his eyes now, and it was both wonderous and frightening.

“We will discuss your parents later, not as late as you’d like, far from it, Laura . I’m warning you. I will know how they scarred you.”

With that glow in his eyes, I had no choice but to placate him.

“All right.”

“And your friends are no longer all you have,” he bit off.

Oh dear.

He was right.

Crap.

“I didn’t mean to offend you,” I promised.

He ignored that and declared, “ If they love you, not one of them will balk at the injection after what happened to you tonight. They’ll be eager to be cleared, so they can be done with it and get to you.”

He was right again ( I hoped).

I just hated that they had to be put through it.

He returned his hands to the sides of my head, pulled me in to kiss one cheek, the other, and then my nose ( I was finding there were times where his sweet could be inconvenient, this being one of them, when I was still smarting from our fight, and I’d just lost in an important discussion).

He released me and said, “ Go . Up the stairs, my room is the only room on the upper level. Hit the bathroom. Clean up. It’s going to be a long night, and I have comms to make.”

“I should probably get back to my cats,” I told him.

He did a slow blink, ending it studying me like I’d grown a third eye.

“If you send a team to my place, it’s going to freak them out,” I explained.

“I’ll handle it.”

“You can’t handle it. Jupiter is?—”

“Darling,” he sighed. Massively . “ Please , go clean up.”

I huffed, slid off his lap and decided to revisit this discussion after he had time to make a few comms. He had to have a ton on his mind, so he needed to check on things and probably issue a bunch of orders.

I found the floating tread, switchback staircase next to a long dining room table that seated twelve and sat perpendicular to the kitchen.

The stairs led to a large landing and enormous double doors, both open, that led to his bedroom.

I got the sense the lower level of his penthouse took up the entire floor of the building, but the upper level was half of that (the other half was the landing bay).

Which meant his bedroom was colossal.

Therefore, obviously, I was impressed with its sheer size, but downright stunned at how ginormous his hover bed was.

And the nuanced change in décor (this was silvers, with hints of black, gray, purple topaz and some sky blue) was masculine, attractive, yet somehow inviting and even… homey .

I could design in this room.

I could laze here for weeks, reading, watching vids…

Cuddling with and making love to my mate.

Ahem.

Moving on.

There were a number of doors that led from the sleeping space, and it took to door number three to find the bathroom.

(For your information: the first door led to a library/small office stuffed full of books that I would absolutely explore at a time when my world hadn’t just exploded; the second, a deeply masculine closet that smelled like leather, pepper and cinders, Aleksei’s scent that was so a part of him, I hadn’t noticed it until I scented it without him there.)

His bathroom was mammoth as well (yep, matte black tile abounded, with silver towels and chrome fixtures) and gave more credence to the fact he was into vintage, because he not only had a bath pod, he also had an actual bathtub and a real shower that could easily fit two, and it sported a dizzying array of shower heads.

I squeaked just a little when I saw myself in the mirror.

The brilliant cosme-mask setting I’d selected of cocktail party, nighttime, drama, playful, sophisticated was now a disaster.

My mascara coated my eyelids, and there were a few smears at the sides of my eyes, but Aleksei had cleaned some of the mess of that. My cheeks were high pink, and my eyes were already swelling from crying.

I should have gone waterproof, but how was I to know all that would befall me that night?

I doubted he had a cosme-mask or a spa-visor to help me out, so I did what I could with an old-fashioned washcloth.

Once I wrapped the cloth over the edge of the sink, I took in a huge breath and returned to the mirror.

I lifted a hand to my chest.

Tears threatened again, so I closed my eyes and pressed into my own flesh.

“You’re not gone,” I whispered.

Nothing from my beast.

I wondered how long it would take for the sedative to wear off and was tardily thrilled Aleksei had thought to call a doctor.

Maybe there was a reversal.

I opened my eyes and stared in the mirror, feeling the warmth of my skin under my hand, and such gratitude, such profound gratitude, it was unreal. I had to tamp it down, or I’d be overwhelmed and unable to function.

“I’m so fucking glad you’re not gone,” I whispered.

Still nothing from my beast, but she was there.

Praise Hecate , she was there .

Another deep breath while I pulled back my shoulders, then I ran my fingers through my hair to bring some semblance of order to the windswept mess.

With that, I decided I was ready for whatever else was going to happen that night.

Or at least as ready as I would get.

I headed out to the landing.

I stopped there when I heard voices.

And at what those voices were saying, I rested a shoulder against the wall of the alcove around the double doors, and I listened (okay, eavesdropped).

“Son, you incinerated a man in an art gallery for Beelzebub’s sake,” a man stated hotly, and I could tell it was over a comm. “ We have due process in this realm!” he nearly shouted. “ This is a PR disaster .”

“We need to spin it. Immediately . I’m calling Germaine .” That was a woman’s voice.

“And then you destroyed said art gallery and flew over the city with an untethered female on your neck.” The man’s voice was back and going at Aleksei like the woman hadn’t spoken.

“ The safety issues you ignored with that alone are going to dog my reign, and yours, until our deaths. I can’t even begin to imagine what got into you. ”