Page 69 of Night’s Fall (The Four Realms #1)

Caelyn

T he member of staff (a chambermaid named Linzy ) quickly retreated from the pandemonium that was going down in the breakfast room after she escorted me into it.

I didn’t blame her, because this pandemonium included Timothee shooting from his chair, angrily tossing down his napkin, then leaning toward his mother, his face red with anger, his eyes glowing blue, and his mouth shouting, “ You’ve lost your fucking mind !”

“Timothee, for goodness sakes, calm down,” Queen Calisa replied.

“Tim, let’s go take a walk,” Aleece suggested.

Timothee turned on his sister. “ Fuck that. You know she’s insane to even consider this.”

“I know you needed to fly last night,” Aleece said carefully. “ And you didn’t. Maybe you should do that now.”

“I can’t.” Timothee’s accusing gaze swung to me standing in the door, like it had been me who’d confined him here. “ I’ve been forbidden.”

“I’ll talk to Aleksei . He’ll understand,” Aleece said.

“Fuck Aleksei too,” Timothee ground out, then he stalked toward the door, which I was still standing in.

I jumped out of his way, and he stormed right by me.

“If you’ll excuse me,” Queen Calisa said, rising far more genteelly and making her way to the door. “ Good morning, dear,” she greeted as she swept past, like her son hadn’t just thrown a huge strop.

Right.

Seemed like emotions weren’t just running high in the prince’s suite.

I wandered toward the buffet, forced myself to make some selections ( I wasn’t at all hungry), then sat down beside Mr . Vinestrong .

Through this and what had come before, the non-royal members of the breakfast party, that being Mr . and Mrs . Vinestrong , Mr . Truelock , Monique and Gayle , had been studiously eating their breakfasts.

Aleece was the only royal left at the table. Aleksei and the king were in the meeting. And Errol wasn’t there.

“What’s happening?” I asked Aleece .

She flicked out her fork that had a chunk of pineapple speared on its prongs.

“Mom has an appearance today. She’s not canceling.”

Oh dear.

“It would be a tactical misstep if she did,” Aleece continued.

“According to Germaine ?” I asked.

“According to Mom ,” Aleece answered.

“She’s right,” Mr . Vinestrong put in. “ It is now about demonstrations of strength. It would not send a good message if the royals cowered in their palace.”

And now I was seeing why they were going ahead with the Masque .

Two assassination attempts on the True Heir and his mate, but all’s good. Nothing to see here.

I saw the reasoning.

I still did not like Queen Calisa heading out that day.

But I was surprised at Timothee’s reaction.

“Timothee doesn’t agree?” I inquired.

“Tim’s beast has been roused,” Aleece shared.

The earnest little sister who wanted to believe her brothers were good beings made an appearance as she said, “ He was really upset about what happened to you yesterday. The loss of Antheme . But his mother putting herself out there is a sitch that isn’t going to be easy for him to retain control.

Dad and Aleksei will feel the same, but they’ll get it, so they’ll be able to control it. ”

“And Errol ?” I asked.

“I think Errol is avoiding all of us because he’s trying to keep it together,” Aleece answered, but she did it in a way where it sounded like she wasn’t so sure.

However, I took note that Aleece had lived her whole life with shifters, so, with the queen off to an appearance that day, maybe I could sit down with Aleece and have a deep chat.

On this thought, she pushed her chair back, stood and said, “ I should probably check on that. Errol , I mean. See you all later.”

And with no further ado, she was off.

Okay, I guessed she was out for me to ask her to provide some insights. At least for now.

I heaved a sigh.

“You doing all right?” Gayle asked.

I looked at her to see this was aimed at me.

With our company, I couldn’t tell her no, I wasn’t. My mate was being a dick again and everything was farged up.

I’d have to wait until later.

“I just didn’t get very much sleep,” I said for now.

Gayle gave me an understanding look. “ I don’t think any of us did.”

“I don’t suppose so,” I mumbled.

Monique looked at her watch unit and said, “ My transport is here. Gotta go.”

Wait.

What?

I tensed. “ You’re leaving?”

“They’ve set up offices for the rest of us because we can work from here,” Gayle answered for her.

“But Cat and I can’t,” Monique added.

I’d thought Catla was probably having a lie-in or availing herself of the ability to pull a cord and have someone bring her breakfast.

That was very Cat .

Now I took in the table with no small amount of concern.

At the expression on my face, Monique continued, “ They’re giving me protection, Laura . I’ll be okay.”

We had protection yesterday, and we were not okay.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“I have clients who depend on me, hon,” she answered. “ And bills to pay.”

She did.

Not to mention, as Aleksei reminded me earlier, it wasn’t all about me and what I wanted.

“Of course,” I mumbled.

“Aleksei wouldn’t let anything hurt me,” she assured. “ And I’ll come right back to the Palace after my last client.”

I nodded, even if I didn’t like it.

But I got it.

It wasn’t long ago that I would have done the same. It was just that now, I was no longer in her position. Through my mate, I was filthy rich. I had four homes in one city alone. I could walk away from my vid and my career, never look back and never want for anything.

But it wasn’t my credit line to tap into, it was Aleksei’s , and the Palace’s , so I couldn’t tell her I’d cover her losses so she could stay safe in the Palace .

And it was because of me that she might not be safe.

“Is Cat in the city?” I asked.

“The gallery has been repaired. She’s working with Terrinton on the next showing,” Mr . Truelock said.

I examined his face, searching for signs of worry his daughter was out in the world, a possible target.

But either he was very good at hiding it (which was a possibility), or he trusted the RS (also feasibly genuine).

With Monique going first, one by one, they all took off to find their new palace offices and get to work, and I lingered alone at the breakfast table, sipping coffee, trying not to think, and thinking too much.

In an effort to curtail that, I left the table and wandered the Palace by myself.

I definitely needed a guided tour. There were a number of rooms, but none of them had plaques outside that said “this is the room the family uses to do so and so.”

I did notice that everything on the second floor seemed more lived in, even if it was imposing and refined, bearing testimony to what I’d already figured out, it was the family living area, whereas what I found on the first floor was more formal.

Meaning the first floor was where they did their royal business.

And I already knew the third floor was where they had their private spaces and where some guest rooms were located ( I didn’t peruse that floor).

I was out in the courtyard, trying to enjoy the nip in the air that was brought on by the gray skies and the coming autumn and giving myself the opportunity to see the lush but exacting layout of the garden close up, when I heard the mighty flap of dragon’s wings.

I looked up to see a dragon, smaller than Aleksei’s , but with a goodly number of horns and spikes, the ridges of his wings, his brow and his breast an iced blue that looked fierce against the rest of his black.

He flapped down to land behind some shrubbery not close, but not far from me.

I saw a member of staff scurry behind the shrubs with an arm full of clothes, the proud dragon’s head I could see over the top of the neatly clipped shrubbery disappeared, and within minutes, Timothee was stalking out from behind the bushes.

Toward me.

I said nothing as he approached, because I was a little surprised how awesome his dragon was.

Okay, so maybe he wasn’t a massive, powerful, fearsome beast, like Aleksei’s .

But he was still beautiful.

And fearsome.

I then said nothing as he came to me, his face a mask of fury, and immediately grabbed my arm.

I didn’t have to pull it away. He yanked his hand from me while shaking it.

“He’s keeping you marked, which is good, but you need to get your ass inside,” Timothee decreed.

“Why?” I asked.

“They’re after you, in case you hadn’t noticed,” he returned.

I looked stupidly to the sky. “ Isn’t this airspace protected?”

“Yes,” he clipped. “ Do you want to see if they can penetrate that?”

Considering an all-out affront on the Celestial Palace would be an open act of war, I thought he was being a mite overprotective.

And then I had to give a thought to the fact that he, Timothee , was being overprotective…of me.

When I didn’t move, he threatened, “ I can text comm my brother and tell him you’re in the gardens, meandering about under the open skies.”

I didn’t want to give Aleksei anything more to be angry at me about, so I headed toward the door I’d come out of.

Timothee followed me.

Once we were inside, I decided to make an effort.

I turned to thank him.

He was already stalking away.

“Timothee,” I called.

He stopped in a manner that he wanted to make it clear it was taking all of his effort and patience to do so, and he aimed his attention to me.

“Thanks for”— I drifted a hand toward the door we’d come in—“looking out for me.”

“Whatever,” he muttered and made to leave again.

“Timothee,” I called, moving toward him this time.

He stopped and bit out, “ What ?”

“If you have some time today, maybe we could?—”

“I have all the time in the world, Laura . As you know.”

Okay then.

He wasn’t going to make this easy.

Not a surprise.

And so be it.

“Then perhaps we could, I don’t know, chat or something,” I suggested.

“About?” he asked.

“You’re my mate’s brother. I’d like to get to know you.”

He leaned back and crossed his arms on his chest. “ Would you?”

“Well…yeah.” I gestured to the door again, this time indicating the garden beyond. “ That’s the first time you’ve spoken to me.”