Page 65 of Night’s Fall (The Four Realms #1)

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“W ell?”

Antheme looked to Gayle , then to Cat , then to Monique .

Once she did that, she put her finger to her chest and inquired, “ You’re asking me?”

“Yes, I’m asking you,” I replied.

“I haven’t worn a dress in my life,” she told me something that did not surprise me.

“It’s not a dress, petal, it’s a gown ,” Lancet huffed.

We were at my final fitting.

The Masque was only a few days away. And although I was a little anxious to put all of Madam Garwah’s training to use on such a big stage, and a little more anxious, because tons of people around me, almost all of them strangers, definitely all of them curious about me, wasn’t my thing.

But I had to admit, I was also a little excited.

This magnificent gown would make any female excited.

Except Antheme .

On that thought, along with riding the crest of the Aleksei wave that had become my life, I smiled.

Not much but normal stuff (or, my new normal) had happened since Aleksei and my love fest at Spikeback Castle over two weeks earlier.

And that was good.

The fittings I had scheduled for the vid were done, the adjustments made, and I was ready to roll when we were ready to shoot (except getting Mardel outfitted, he wasn’t available to me, but his costumes were constructed).

I’d scheduled my first royal appearances, these to happen after the Masque .

Thankfully, Aleksei was going with me to these appearances.

The first was at a school’s theater department in the city, the second to the Royal Vulnerable Person’s Bureau to meet their overworked staff and bring attention on the vital work they did.

We hadn’t moved to Spikeback yet.

It was even more historical than the Palace , so any modernization that could be done (like electricity and plumbing) had been done.

But it required a full staff, and Allain and Nata were going to take offices there. This meant they were busy hiring, and settling in themselves, then, again after the Masque , Aleksei and I were moving.

The plans for the engagement party were in full swing, a much smaller affair (seven hundred and fifty people attended the Masque , Queen Calisa was thinking two-fifty for the party, but I’d been warned the wedding would be a thousand, so obviously, I wasn’t thinking about that now, I’d fret about it later), and we’d even made inroads into planning the wedding.

If that wasn’t enough (and it was, but the idea was so good, we just couldn’t sit on it), Nata and I were also working on a project we wanted to present to the king and queen.

This included offering the history of royal wedding garments to the Musée de Vêtements for a limited-time exhibition and working with the other museums around the realm to display items of historical significance from the Catalogues .

This was Nata’s idea, and I loved it.

So much was going on, but she was on top of it all at the same time taking the initiative.

I’d so made the right decision with her.

Totally.

I wasn’t sure how the king and queen would take to that idea, but I did know Aleksei thought it was an excellent one, because he told me.

The only downside was that my father had indeed been hiding money from the HMRD .

He’d been charged and was awaiting trial.

And I was perplexed by the consolation I felt that his trial was scheduled months from now, so he was free and living at home, and Aleksei told me he’d retained very good representation.

It had been a big news story for a few days, and I was further confused at the complicated emotions I felt whenever I saw him on the newsfeeds, scurrying to avoid the cams.

My mother didn’t appear, but then again, Aleksei’s sources shared either she’d left him, or he’d kicked her out.

As far as I was concerned, this happened twenty-nine years too late ( I couldn’t say thirty, because, obviously, that would mean I wouldn’t exist).

One could say I understood the depths of his grief at the loss of his mate. And I couldn’t deny that his remorse and hope for some kind of reconciliation had seemed genuine, and not about me being the next queen.

But one could not say I condoned how my father treated me all my life. I’d had to wait thirty years for him to show even an iota of care for me, and in the time he had me, what he’d shown was habitual inattention, punctuated by bouts of fury with instances of physical abuse.

See?

Complicated emotions.

His arrest, albeit very public, had not had any effect on me, except to put a fine point on what I’d shared during our engagement interview.

My approval rating remained steady at ninety-four ( I’d been very right about being so open about my childhood, and not only my rating proved it, the outpouring of mail I was getting at the Palace did).

Aleksei’s had climbed to ninety-one. And even the king, queen, Aleece , and both princes had seen upticks in their ratings.

Add to all of this, the very not insignificant fact I was in love with the finest male on the planet.

Not to mention, I was getting great sex on the regular.

And I was right then wearing the most beautiful gown ever created.

In other words, life was good.

“You’ve known Aleksei a long time,” I said to Antheme to explain requesting her opinion about the gown.

“You could wear a potato sack and he’d like you in it,” Antheme replied.

That was sweet (and true, and again, I was in love with the finest male on the planet).

But she wasn’t getting it.

“It’s about me wearing this dress and being on his arm,” I explained.

She rolled her eyes. “ Stop stressing. You look gorgeous. And that dress is…fit for purpose.”

Cat snorted.

Gayle choked.

Monique outright laughed.

Lancet gasped in affront and snapped, “ Fit for purpose? ”

“Anyway, there’s no going back now, right?” Antheme ignored Lancet and asked me.

She was very right.

“I do not know why you subjected me to this creature’s opinion,” Lancet complained.

“Because I’m going to have just shy of eighteen million pics taken of me in this gown. I love it. It’s stunning. But those pics are going to travel twenty realms, live forever, and I’m freaking out,” I explained.

His mood changed immediately, though I didn’t know if it was about wanting to console me, or the reminder that eighteen million pics would be taken of his gown.

“Oh, dearest,” he cooed. “ You’ll wow them all.”

I turned on my gals, my heavy skirts swirling with me, almost taking me off balance (note to self, don’t move too fast at the Masque or I was going down).

“You three are set with gowns?” I asked.

“I was set two months ago,” Cat drawled.

“Only because, after you very belatedly invited us, the aide to the True Bride made comms and got the two top designers in the Fall , not including you, of course,” Gayle said her last to Lancet , “to rush gowns for us. Mine is nowhere near as lush as yours, but it’s mega .”

“Mine is a shooting stars theme,” Monique shared. “ I thought that was an awesome idea, but butterflies beat it by a mile. Even in Nocturn .”

“Laura, you need to be at the Palace for your weekly tea with the queen in less than half an hour,” Antheme warned.

Oh.

Right.

That had also been added to my schedule.

I couldn’t say Queen Calisa was warming up to me, as such. I had a feeling she was already as warm as she’d ever get. But I could say I loved our chats, mostly because Aleece always joined us, it felt nice getting to know them better, and it felt fabulous being inducted in their crew.

Although the queen wasn’t a demonstrative person, her closeness with Aleece was clear, and the indication they wanted me to be a part of it meant the world to me.

I was going to ask if I could take the gals to one of our teas, and I loved knowing I had to ask, but the queen was going to say yes.

I stepped down from the dress platform. “ I’ll change.”

Lancet bustled after me.

I got changed, hugs, cheek kisses, gratitude that they took their lunch hours to show at Lancet’s studio for the fitting were exchanged, and we all rolled out.

“Are you working the Masque ?” I asked Antheme as we left Lancet’s building, me waving at the gals who were walking down the pavement (sadly, not every craft had a ready-made landing spot at the doors of every building, but they’d all taken the Subterra to get there).

Antheme was scanning as we moved toward our craft. “ I’m where you are if you’re in public.”

“Right,” I said just as she tensed.

Then I cried out as she shoved me sprawling to the pavement, shouting, “ Weapon ! ”

I heard the zing of a laser stream, the thud of what sounded like a body landing right beside mine, another one not too far behind me, and then I was being dragged.

I kicked and struggled before I heard a terse, “ Fannon , mistress.”

I switched to working with him instead of against him.

Beings were screaming. There seemed to be too much movement. I was pushed into the back seat of the craft, the door slammed down, a sharp rap sounded on the top, and we were lifting off.

I righted myself in the seat, looked out the window and saw Fannon crouched over a prone body.

Antheme’s prone body.

My heart rate spiked and my gaze darted to the pilot. It was Diablo .

“Buckle in,” he ordered.

Absently, I did as told.

“Antheme,” I whispered, looking back, trying to find Gayle , Cat , Monique .

I saw nothing but a pavement cleared of panicked people who’d run away, Antheme’s body, Fannon working on her, and another body, a male, just down the pavement.

“Emergency route cleared,” the on-dash computer said. “ Proceed to Celestial Palace at crisis velocity.”

The sudden burst of speed plastered me to my seat as we shot through the sky.

I pulled my bag off my arm, fumbled in it and yanked out my Palm .

I didn’t know who to comm first.

I was saved the decision when Gayle’s came into mine.

I took it, seeing her pale face and wild eyes on my display.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Geleena got us down, then back in the building,” she answered. “ Are you?”

“Physically, yes. Can you see Antheme from where you are?”