Page 28 of Night’s Fall (The Four Realms #1)

I jumped guiltily when Aleksei appeared on the lower level, just beyond the edge of the upper landing, where I could see him, but more to the point, he could see me. He was holding a tablet, but his attention was on me.

He lifted a hand, crooked a finger, and I had no choice but to leave my eavesdropping spot and join him.

“Are you listening to us?” the man demanded from the tablet.

Aleksei met me at the bottom of the stairs, guided me back to the freestanding kitchen bar, slid an arm around my shoulders and turned us both to the display.

I gasped and then immediately dropped into a clumsy half-curtsy that was hindered by Aleksei’s arm around me when I saw King Fillion and Queen Calisa scrunched together on display.

Her famed burnished-brown tresses were arranged in an elaborate updo, and she was dripping in jewels at ears and throat. His black hair was swept back, and I could see the ends of an untied bowtie dangling at the sides of the opened collar of his pristine white shirt.

Unlike any time I’d ever seen them before, when they were always collected and completely put together, now, they both appeared wildly harassed.

Then again, their son’s life had been threatened, and he did indeed commit a number of rather alarming felonies that night.

Aleksei sounded amused when he told me, “ You don’t have to curtsy over a comm.”

I straightened.

“As delighted as we are in this time of strife to know you are not alone,” Queen Calisa began crisply, “perhaps we can speak to you without your female present.”

At this juncture, with no warning (to me!), Aleksei landed it on them.

“Mother, Father , it is with great pleasure I introduce Laura Makepeace . My mate,” Aleksei announced.

Oh boy.

Both the king and queen froze so completely, I thought there was a glitch in the comm.

And then Queen Calisa crowed, “ Dear Lilith , this is brilliant ! Germaine will make a meal of this. All is saved! It’s perfect .”

“Your mate?” the king asked.

“My mate,” Aleksei confirmed.

The king’s eyes narrowed. “ How long have you known you had a mate?”

“I believe we met five days ago.”

The queen focused in on the important matter at hand (or, the other one).

“And you were going to share this with us…when?” she queried.

“When we got to know each other better.”

The queen studied the ceiling like it could deliver her from her independent-thinking and living son.

“Excuse me…but let me get this straight. The assassin took aim at my son’s mate?” the king inquired.

“Strictly speaking, she put herself in the line of the stream to protect me,” Aleksei drawled.

Red instantly infused the king’s face to the point I grew concerned he was going to have a stroke. It wasn’t common in shifters, but it wasn’t unheard of.

“Where is this cretin?” King Fillion demanded in a tone I could only describe as kingly.

The queen looked at her husband. “ Fillion , calm yourself.”

He snapped his head around to face her. “ He’s found his mate, Caly . And she was in the line of fire ,” the king retorted, looked beyond his display and asked someone in the room with them, “ What’s that? The Hold ? I’m going there promptly.”

And then he began his journey to go there promptly, because he disappeared, and Queen Calisa danced on our display until she got control of their tablet.

“Dad is only going to get in the way of the RS’s investigation,” Aleksei noted.

She waved a hand in front of her display. “ Let him do what he has to do. He’s a male. All that ‘protect my female’ rubbish.” She rolled her eyes.

“Laura is not his female,” Aleksei pointed out.

“Ah, say that should your son find his fated mate,” she returned. “ It is as if she’s his, but in the daughter-type way.”

It was?

Really?

Mega!

Her eyes shifted to me. “ You’re lovely dear.”

“Thanks,” I replied shyly.

“The vids are already flooding the social tapes,” she informed me. “ You looked quite stunning in that satin gown astride my son’s beast.”

Aleksei cleared his throat.

I kicked his ankle.

He broke out in a broad smile.

“Mind out of the gutter, son. My goodness. Males ,” Queen Calisa griped. It was her turn to look beyond her display and she called, “ Excellent , Germaine . You’re here.”

“I wish to speak to her,” Aleksei requested, though no one was under any impression it was anything other than a demand.

“Always needing control,” Queen Calisa mumbled irritably. The visual showed her lovely, beaded dress as she said off display, “ Comm from the prince. Good news, the female is his mate.”

“No kidding? That’s exceptional ,” a female replied, then she appeared, platinum and honey hair pulled back in a bun, her lavender fae eyes staring at me through the display. “ And you’re fabulous. Even better.” Her attention shifted to Aleksei . “ Hello , your royal highness.’

“Release a statement,” he ordered. “ Along with agents of the Royal Service , His Royal Highness , Prince Aleksei , thwarted an assassination attempt this evening at the art gallery, Tempera . One suspect is in custody. The other lost his life during the attack.”

She dropped all pretense and exposed the relationship she really had with my mate by retorting, “ This is not going to fly, Lex , and you know it. Yes , there was drama and danger, but no one, not even you, is allowed to lose control of their creature, no matter what the circumstances.” She took a dramatic pause and made her point by slanting her gaze to me then back to Aleksei . “ Except one.”

“This is not true, and you know it, Maine ,” Aleksei shot back. “ If a beast is defending his being’s life, it is absolutely considered lawful.”

“You had twelve RS agents defending your life,” Germaine pointed out. Before Aleksei could retort, she said quietly, “ I get you. You know I do. But you’re going to have to let her out, my prince.”

Aleksei made a ferocious noise in his throat.

“The socials are eating this up. There’s vid from every direction,” she told us.

“ And yes, you are definitely getting positive commentary for saving the life of some beautiful, random female who stepped in the way of danger to defend our True Heir . But you are also getting a lot of very negative commentary about privilege and acting as judge and executioner by immolating a suspect holding a PR60 , which is not known to do much but stun a beast unconscious. And your beast? It would only daze you.”

“However, on the setting he had it, it would have burned a hole through Laura’s body,” Alexei gritted. “ Or anyone he might have mistakenly hit.”

“Yes,” she agreed. “ And the courts would have decided his punishment for that.” She hurried on again before Aleksei could.

“ There is not a single being, be they shifter, fae, demon, vampire, witch, conjurer or human who would even begin to question a shifter changing to his beast to defend, protect and even annihilate a threat to his mate. There is no question this is what you did. It’s on vid from at least two dozen directions.

You did what any species would do, and in doing it, it is not only lawful, it’s championed.

You know that, Lex . We have to use her. She has to be outed.”

“ Her name is Laura Makepeace ,” Queen Calisa chimed in from off display.

“ Fuck ,” Aleksei clipped right beside me and looked down at me.

I understood his unspoken question and shrugged, because unfortunately, this Germaine chick was right.

“Do it,” he grunted to the display.

Germaine excelled at not openly appearing victorious, but her eyes did light with excitement.

“I need her brief,” she said.

“Get it from Allain ,” Aleksei replied.

“Any skeletons?” she asked me.

Aleksei answered, “ Her parents are pieces of shit.”

Sucky.

But accurate.

Her brows shot up. “ Are they going to be a problem?”

I got a few words in. “ I haven’t seen them in thirteen years, but if I had to guess…yes.”

“Don’t look so downhearted,” she assured. “ If they’re the only problem, then they’re the problem and everyone loves the story of a plucky heroine plugging away at life against all the odds and eventually finding her prince.”

I was realizing why this female was the royal spin doctor.

Her gaze shifted back to Aleksei . “ We need to plan her introduction.”

“We have other things going on at the moment, Maine ,” Aleksei drawled sardonically.

“A week,” she haggled.

“A month,” he stated.

“That is not going to fly either, my prince. If you make them wait, you both will be hounded, even if you escaped to the Clan Caves ,” she returned.

“We’re going to be hounded anyway,” Aleksei pointed out.

This was sucky too.

But indisputably accurate.

Germaine suddenly disappeared from the display and Queen Calisa filled it. “ Two weeks. That’s all you have, son. Two . And she’s getting the purple topaz ring. There’s a matching coronet that will work perfectly for the wedding, and she can make it her signature.”

At what the queen was referring to, I stopped breathing.

“Perhaps you’d allow me to select my own engagement ring for my mate?” It was sheer sarcasm from Aleksei that time.

And yep.

That was what I knew the queen was referring to.

“Like males can pick jewelry,” she muttered.

And seriously.

The queen really had a thing about males.

“Fine,” Aleksei grunted. “ Two weeks.”

“We’ll chat,” Germaine’s voice was heard.

“And we’ll have tea, dear,” Queen Calisa said to me.

Fabulous.

Eek!

“ Au revoir , you two,” Queen Calisa finished it, and the display turned blank.

I looked up at Aleksei . “ Did I just have a vid comm with the queen of our realm, also the king of our realm, and a master PR guru?”

Aleksei didn’t bother confirming I did since he didn’t have to.

He asked, “ How are you doing?”

“About what?” I asked in return. “ The assassination attempt? The knowledge all those I hold most dear are right now sweating under the heat of a lamp aimed two inches from their faces as royal agents fire questions at them? Or about the fact someone out there wants to torture me, and not only that, they succeeded, and they’re very good at it? ”

What I did not add was how I was not real thrilled to learn, when he got angry, Aleksei was more than a little bit of an ass.

“Any of that,” he answered quietly. “ All of it.”

My answer was planting my face in his chest.

He wrapped his arms around me.

In the top of my hair, he murmured, “ The doctor is on his way. Allain and Muriel are dealing with Nova , Comet and Jupiter , bringing them, along with other things you’ll need, here, so we can settle in and start to process all that’s going on.”

“Right.” My word was muffled by his chest.

“Before my parents commed me, I made the decision the RS will interrogate the male in custody about the plot tonight, because it happened on their watch. However , the RIC and RMI will collaborate, cooperate and communicate fully, because I’ve tasked the RMI with taking over the investigation of your earlier attack and what happened subsequent to that. Obviously , they overlap.”

“Obviously,” I mumbled.

By the by, the RS was the Royal Service . They were responsible for the security of the royal family, royal lands and properties, and sacred relics, artifacts and other things of historical significance and value, including the Catalogues and jewels.

They were known as the best of the best of the best.

The RIC was the Royal Intelligence Commission .

They were spies.

The RMI was the Royal Ministry of Investigations .

They were cops who operated on a realm-wide level and held higher authority than local constabularies.

Aleksei kept speaking.

“I want that investigation closed with no delay.”

It was safe to say, I did too.

I just nodded.

“Allain has checked the brief, and he has a comm into the investigators who compiled it. There’s no mention of your assault, the police report or the stay at the hospital. He’s going to get down to the reason why there wasn’t.”

That was interesting.

And scary as all heck.

I didn’t have the energy to think about it.

I tipped my head back. “ You got a lot done while I was swiping at my makeup.”

His lips curved up. “ It’s important to know how to multitask and communicate succinctly.”

Mm.

Moving on.

“Is your mom sort of…” How to put it? “ Anti -male?”

“She gets like that when my brothers are up to something, and when she and my father are arguing. When they’re not, all that disappears.

They’re not overtly affectionate. Their marriage, it probably won’t surprise you, was strategized by someone like Germaine .

But they did grow to love one another. And just to say, my father is a decent male, but he can be spoiled, thoughtless and obtuse.

My mother is none of those things. She worked hard to get where she was before their marriage, and she considers her role as the of Queen of Night’s Fall being the second most important occupation in this realm, and as such, Dad’s position as king is the first. So when Dad acts like an idiot, it gets on her nerves, and I don’t blame her. ”

Hmm.

Moving on again.

“Jupiter is not going to be happy in a new space,” I told him.

“Jupiter would prefer to be here with his momma than be alone in your flat without you. Jupiter would also be happier his momma continues breathing while agents work to uncover whatever plot is unfolding than having to be rehomed because you are no longer of this earth. I cannot claim to understand the feline mind, but my guess would be, he wants you safe, like I do, and is content to do what he must to make that so.”

The ultimate in sucky.

But definitely accurate.

I asked the question that was most important last.

“Do you know how soon benzos wear off?”

His face softened, his eyes twinkled with pinprick stars, and he whispered warmly, “ No . But we’ll ask Dr . Fearsome . However , I must warn you, what I do know is that, after long-term dosage, it does take a while for the sedatives to fully leave the system.”

“A while as in a day or an hour?” I pressed.

“Several days, bissi . Maybe even a week,” he told me, making it clear he wished he didn’t have to share that bad news.

“I miss her,” I whispered my colossal understatement.

Those pinprick stars shone brighter as his affection for me was taken over by his anger on my behalf.

“ I can’t even imagine. I don’t want to.

And we will get down to why that was done to you, Laura .

I vow it. And those who did it will be punished to the farthest extent the law will allow. I vow that too.”

I believed him.

With that look on his face, I believed him.

He cupped my head and pulled my cheek to his chest, tightening his other arm around me.

There was a whole bunch up in the air, but even so, this felt good.

It felt very good.

He heard something I didn’t and murmured, “ The doctor is here.”

Excellent.

Answers.

And…

Hope.

At last.