Page 34 of Night’s Fall (The Four Realms #1)

“This isn’t for Tim ,” Aleksei bit. “ This is because you threw Laura right under the bus this morning, and now I have to pull her out. Last night, she faced a threat, and I took a male’s life because of it.

Right now, you sit in the shelter I provide for her, and you guided an onslaught right to our door .

This is about my mate . Get used to this, all of you.

From here on, it’s going to be all about my mate.

Unless you find yours, you won’t understand, but that’s the only way it can be.

But even if it wasn’t, I’m done with this bloody fucking circus. ”

And with that, he disengaged from me and stormed out of the room.

There was complete silence after his exit.

No one said anything for a long time.

So I did.

I looked to Germaine and suggested, “ I’m so sorry. But I think it would be best to carry through with his requests. I don’t think he’s going to change his mind.”

“Would you—?” she started.

“I would very much consider,” Mr . Truelock cut in coldly, “what you’re about to ask next.”

Germaine rubbed her lips together.

She then said, “ I’ll just head back to the office.”

She hit the elevator and was gone.

Timothee stood. “ Well , now that my high and mighty brother humiliated me in front of my new sister and all her gang just because I got my rocks off with a bitch who isn’t smart enough to cover her shit, I’ll go self-flagellate or whatever.”

“ Timothee! ” the queen snapped.

Timothee looked at me. “ Don’t fool yourself he hasn’t dipped his wick in a fair few honeypots himself. His saint act is pure bullshit. Ask Anna . She’ll tell you all about it.”

Queen Calisa stood. “ You have my sincere apologies, Laura . And I haven’t apologized for a damned thing since a crown was put on my head.”

“Ah, Mom , the glamorous screen star who landed herself a throne. Always so humble,” Timothee sniped so viciously, it took my breath away, before he turned, sauntered to the door to the landing pad, ordered it opened, and I watched him jog up the steps before the door closed behind him.

“Errol, call the craft and have them stop circling and pick us up,” the queen ordered.

“I’m an aide now?” Errol asked.

She whirled on him, squared her shoulders, took a breath, but hissed (albeit elegantly), “ Just do it .”

He stared at her in shock, clearly never having been spoken to like that, and then he pulled out his Palm .

It hit me then that one of her sons was, lamentably, what Aleksei called him.

A fuckwit.

The other one seemed to lean that way too.

But her first son had been the target for murder the night before.

I knew how it felt being intimately involved in the sitch. It was zero fun.

So I could just imagine she was worried as all heck, and the antics of her other boys were exacerbating an already very bad situation.

At a quick glance, I saw a king who was embarrassed, sulking and furious.

No help there.

“I have Aleksei’s glorious kitchen, and I’m really good at eggs and toast. Why don’t you all stay while I make breakfast?” I offered.

Queen Calisa pulled her dignity around her and replied, “ You are kind, but my schedule today is packed. I’ll just freshen up before I meet the craft upstairs. I look forward to our tea. Excuse me.”

She swept out of the room.

“I’ll just head to the landing bay,” the king said. “ Errol ,” he called him like he was a dog, and like a dog, Errol jumped up and followed his father to the stairs.

They didn’t bother to aim their gaze, or a farewell, to that first person before they disappeared.

We all remained painstakingly quiet until Queen Calisa rounded the corner, offered smiles, head bobs, and a “ So lovely to meet you, dear. My aide will be in touch about tea,” to me, before she disappeared too.

When the door whooshed closed behind her, Gayle and Cat jumped out of their seats and practically raced to the kitchen bar.

“One could say, never look behind the magician’s curtain. Holy Hecate ,” Gayle whispered.

She was very right.

“I think I need to find my mate,” I replied.

“Yes, honey, you do,” Mrs . Truelock called from living room.

I swallowed, nodded to my gals, caught Sirk’s gaze as I walked toward the hall, taking encouragement from his chin lift, then went in search of my mate.

The place was so big, with so many rooms, it took a while to find him.

He was in what was obviously his office, a way more official one than the one off his bedroom. He was seated behind a big desk, a display in front of him, and he was obviously on a business comm.

I wandered to his desk, and his gaze came up to me.

You okay? I mouthed.

“One moment, please. Video and audio mute,” he said to the screen, then came back to me. “ That’s my question.”

“That wasn’t my family.”

“Yes, darling, it was.”

Eek!

“You were really angry,” I noted.

“I will be angry again. And again. And definitely again.”

My poor Aleksei .

“Quiet night in tonight to talk about family dynamics. This will, obviously, be accompanied by a great supply of alcoholic beverages,” I suggested.

He gave me a soft smile. “ I’ll cook.”

“It’s a plan.”

“The team has removed the Benzobytine delivery system and otherwise has done a full sweep of both of your spaces. Your loft and studio are safe. You should feel free to go to your studio to work if need be. But I’ll need to call Antheme to put your detail together so she can check things out, transport and secure you if you need to work.

She’s rather good at secreting people away.

She can get you there without anyone knowing you’re there. ”

“Are you okay with me being that far away?”

“Will you be home later?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll try to be okay with you being gone.”

“If things get, well…too intense, just comm and I’ll come home.”

“I’d appreciate that.”

“I’m really…” Gods , this was hard. “ Dang , drahko , I’m really sorry all that happened this morning. We should have just stayed in bed.”

“Although I sense it will be rare I ever decline such an offer, I’m not sorry.

They could paint a veneer over it, but it would chip, crack and fade eventually.

That is the family you get from me. You need to know it.

The family you bring to this union needs to know it.

Now , you all know it. It’s out there, unvarnished. And we move on.”

His matter-of-fact attitude about this was a tad bit alarming.

“You’re right,” I whispered. “ I’m still sorry.”

“A quick kiss before you go,” he dismissed me sweetly.

I really wanted to take some time with him, make sure he was okay.

I also wanted to ask about the PR60 business, just in case he hadn’t processed I’d mentioned they’d used one on me during the attack. I felt the investigators needed to consider this.

But he was indicating he needed space, needed to retreat to doing something he enjoyed, like work, and my instinct told me I needed to let him make that play.

Thus, I rounded the desk and knew how upset and distracted he was because that was all we did.

A quick kiss.

And then I went.