Page 74 of Night’s Fall (The Four Realms #1)

Dismissed

A leksei and the king did not join us for pre-dinner drinks.

They also didn’t join us for dinner.

Though, the king came into the parlor we’d all retired to for after-dinner drinks, mostly, it seemed, to show his face to his guests, give his wife’s cheek a kiss and leave.

He appeared distracted and troubled, which meant the queen’s gaze was sharp on him, but he did at least show his face.

Aleksei didn’t do that.

By the by, Timothee had come to dinner, and he seemed aloof, but there were no outbursts, and he didn’t act like a horse’s behind once.

Errol was still MIA .

I’d been feeling better about things, but with Aleksei a total no-show, I was back to more than a tad insecure.

Thus, when the queen announced she was going to bed, I decided to leave with her.

We said our goodnights, and my insecurity lightened when she curled her fingers around my elbow as we walked out of the room.

It wasn’t the gal-clutch Cat and I’d been in on the way to pre-dinner drinks, but I sensed it was Queen Calisa’s version of it.

“Dita had a conversation with Nata today,” she shared as we walked to the staircase.

“Yes?” I asked.

“Nata mentioned to her your idea of loaning the wedding garments to the Musée de Vêtements .”

Oh boy.

“I was going to talk to you about it at tea yesterday,” I told her. “ And it wasn’t my idea, unless your use of ‘your’ was collective. The idea was Nata’s . But I thought it was a good one.”

She nodded to indicate she heard me, but she didn’t address that.

“Alas, we didn’t get to have that riveting conversation over tea,” she replied as we started up the steps. “ But I think it’s a marvelous idea. So does Germaine . I’ve spoken to Fillion about it, and he agrees with me and Germaine . The timing couldn’t be better.”

Timing?

“Sorry. What timing?” I asked.

She stopped us when we were halfway up the steps and looked at me.

“If you’d be willing, we’d like to send someone with you to the Catalogues .

Tomorrow . They can vid you among the displays, and you can talk about the different eras of the garments, who wore them, pick two, maybe three to focus on.

Then explain that there will be an upcoming exhibition of them, and the royal family will be discussing more such exhibitions of the priceless relics of our realm, introducing them to our beings in the coming years. ”

I saw this play. And she was correct, it was great timing.

Another indication of, All’s well here, no worries, onward, and look! Something fun is coming your way .

“Dita has already spoken with the Director of the MdV . They’re ecstatic about the opportunity,” she informed me.

As they would be.

“We’ll do a ball. A fundraiser for the musée,” she decreed.

“ Along with a contest. Citizens can buy tickets, maybe five marks apiece. A chance to win two entries to the ball. Perhaps for ten beings, five winners. Then we can seat them with dignitaries, noblebeings, celebrities. Raise more money but make it inclusive. Share the message this is not just for those who can afford it. Everyone can feel involved.”

This idea terrified me, because I’d be the face of it.

But it was an excellent idea.

“I can do that.”

It was then, she removed her hand from my elbow and took my own, giving it a squeeze.

And that was out-and-out affection that, in my current state, made me want to burst out crying.

I did not.

What she said next, though, didn’t help.

“I know these types of things will be hard on you, Laura . I’ve always been an extrovert. Gregarious . I get my energy from being around people, thus, I don’t understand, but I do understand it’s there.”

“I’ll be okay,” I assured.

“That is not in question. You’ve done swimmingly so far. I simply wanted you to know I understand.”

Okay.

Yeah.

I totally dug Queen Calisa .

“Thank you, my queen,” I whispered.

She gave my hand another squeeze before letting it go. “ And as for that, I believe we’re beyond it. You may call me maman from now on. In private, of course.”

Yep.

Still on the verge of tears.

This time, my nose stung with holding them back, but I managed a smile and mumbled, “ Of course.”

She took my elbow again and led me up the rest of the stairs, turning toward the north hall, where, apparently, her and the king’s suite was also situated.

“I need an official tour of the Palace ,” I told her as we went. “ Who should Nata arrange that with?”

“I’ll have Dita talk to Nata .”

“Great.”

Aleksei’s suite was getting closer, and it was the perfect time to stop and ask her about his behavior.

But now that the time was nigh, I realized, like with Aleece , I didn’t know how to say, Your son is being a jerk. Can you explain?

I tried, “ I think Aleksei is struggling.”

She nodded. “ I suspected.” She then sighed. “ It is often not easy with a dragon shifter.”

“It’s been pretty smooth sailing so far.”

She laughed softly, and listening to it, I wasn’t sure I’d ever heard her laugh.

It was very pretty.

She also stopped us again, a good two doors down from Aleksei’s suite.

“I cannot tell you how much it’s delighted me to see my son so settled with you.

So content.” She took her hand from my elbow and wrapped it around my upper arm.

“ But these are troubled times, dear. We will all need a good amount of patience to deal with each other through them.” Her fingers tightened, almost painfully, before she said, “ He loves you.”

“I love him too,” I whispered.

She released the pressure on my arm by releasing me.

“I know. This delights me as well. Just remember, at your beginning, not even thinking, the love had not yet blossomed, but even so, you put yourself in front of a stream for him. However , my son was not there when you were in danger. As I said, after a life where I sought as much attention as I could find led me to a life where I had more attention than anyone could need, and I thrive in that life, I don’t understand your aversion to it, but I know it’s there.

You might not understand how his struggles manifest, but you must give him room to best the struggles. ”

I nodded, but asked, “ Is there some way I can help him?”

She took my elbow again and started us walking. “ My son, he was always one to retreat and lick his wounds. They healed, and he moved on. I can’t know, but my suggestion would be, make sure he knows he can count on you, but let him sort his own head out.”

Another vote for space, it would seem.

“Thanks…um, Maman .”

She smiled at the hall instead of me and stopped us at Aleksei’s door. It was a small smile, but I adored it.

That was when she looked at me. “ Sleep well, ma fille .”

Jeez.

She was killing me.

She patted me on the arm and continued down the hall.

I turned to the room, opened the door, walked through the vestibule and stopped dead when I saw two of the staff carrying my clothes across the sitting room toward the princess’s bedroom.

Uh…

My heart thudded painfully, my senses clicked in that Aleksei was in his study, and my voice sounded strangled when I said, “ Good evening.”

“Good evening, mistress,” she replied.

Her face flushing, her eyes averting, she scurried away and disappeared into the bedroom.

Now my pulse was hammering as I walked on unsteady legs to the study.

The door was open.

And Aleksei was indeed in there.

He was sitting behind the desk, had stylus to a display and didn’t look up at me even as my beast reached to his, his surged in return, and I knew he knew I was there.

My throat closed and I knocked on the doorjamb.

His head came up.

“Hey,” I pushed out my greeting.

“Please come in. Close the door,” he said perfunctorily.

Space, patience, space, patience, let him sort his own head out .

I walked in, closed the door behind me, then moved to stand between the two chairs in front of his baronial desk.

“Did you get dinner?” I asked.

“We had food brought in,” he answered.

“Good,” I murmured. Then louder, I noted, “ I heard Bainon and Cormac are here.”

“They are.”

“Um…” My attention drifted to the wall beyond, which was the princess’s bedroom. I looked back at him. “ There are staff moving my clothes.”

“I’ll be busy with a number of things,” he stated. “ Very busy. This will mean I’ll get to bed late, wake early. And my sleep will be fitful when I have time for it. I’d like to save you from having to deal with that.”

This was a weak excuse.

I didn’t call him on it, and that wasn’t entirely about giving him room to sort his head out. It was also about me being in so much pain at this decision, I couldn’t address how weak his excuse for it was.

Instead, I inquired, “ Has something happened?”

“Take a seat,” he invited, like I was an employee standing before my boss.

I didn’t want to sit. I wanted to stand. The easier to run if I needed to.

But considering this was far, far worse than his fractiousness had been, and I didn’t want to irritate him to see how much more fractious he could be, I took a seat.

He rested back in his own, studied me a moment, his expression bland, and that was yet another cut, because I didn’t think he’d ever looked at me without open interest, warmth, amusement, desire, or, more recently, love, since we met.

“Nurse Fitzgerald turned herself into the authorities at Sheer Drop this morning,” he announced.

My torso jerked in surprise at this news.

Sheer Drop was a city in the Center .

“She’s been transported to Nocturn ,” he carried on. “ She’s not saying anything, but instead, demanding a trade of information for leniency.”

“Oh,” I said stupidly because I didn’t know what else to say.

“I’m against this. Ideologically , I have an issue with this practice across the board.

You do something heinous, you shouldn’t get a deal to experience fewer consequences because you rat out your accomplices.

I understand it can be expedient, as it saves time and resources that are always stretched too thin, but committing a crime is committing a crime. You should pay the penalty for it.”

“Okay,” I said, simply because he stopped talking.

“In this instance, since her crimes were perpetrated against you, I’m experiencing even deeper emotions around it, and have no desire in the slightest to be lenient.”

Well, at least it was good he could say, even in the monotone he was using, that his feelings for me made this difficult for him.

“However,” he continued, “we’re piecing the puzzle together, and the more pieces we have, the clearer the picture, so I might not have any choice.

I’ve ordered them to use threats first, in the hope she’ll understand I will use all my power to see she gets the maximum penalty, which, for high treason, since she’s the first to commit it in centuries, would be the resumption of the guillotine. ”

Lord in hellfire!

I was so shocked at this, even my beast lurched at the news.

“Obviously, we won’t be doing that, but she doesn’t know it,” he concluded.

I pushed out the breath I was holding. “ You’re , uh…piecing it together?”

“What I say next, you can tell no one,” he warned.

“Who would I tell?”

“Your females.”

“I don’t tell them this kind of thing, Aleksei ,” I said softly.

“Continue in that vein,” he ordered inflexibly.

I pressed my lips together.

When he said nothing, I nodded to confirm I would tell no one.

“After we lost Antheme , we had a rogue agent of the RS , infuriated, as he would be that one of their own was brought low, who defied law and administered truth serum to the assassin caught at the gallery,” he informed me.

“By the gods,” I whispered.

“This agent is being dealt with. But it can’t be denied, the information gleaned is crucial.”

“What is that information?”

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you that.”

Space, patience, space, patience .

“Simply rest assured, the picture is becoming clearer, Laura ,” he carried on. “ You’ll be safe in the meantime. And the best minds in four realms are working together to handle it.”

The best minds in four realms ?

By Lilith , it had been confirmed.

It was Arnaud .

Arnaud was up to something.

Something big.

And terrible.

“I don’t mind you coming to bed late or sleeping fitfully,” I said quietly.

“I won’t sleep at all if I must worry I’m disturbing yours.”

I was down with space, but I wasn’t sure about this .

“Aleksei—”

He cut me off.

Unwaveringly.

“The decision has been made, Laura .” He said this like what was left unsaid was, And now you’re dismissed .

“If you need to talk—” I began.

“I’m fine.”

“Even so, so much is going on, if you?—”

“I said, I’m fine, Laura ,” he clipped.

Okay, back off and patience .

I wanted to find it, but there was so much fretting and yearning and aching going back and forth between our creatures, along with me feeling all those same things (crushingly), it was muddling my head.

I honestly wasn’t sure I could sleep without him. I couldn’t imagine being just rooms away, and not being with him when the stars were out.

Oh yes.

In all that I’d gotten used to without even noticing it, sleeping with Aleksei by my side was the one that was the easiest.

Because us tangled together through the night was the most natural thing in the world.

“I’m setting up a Palace tour for tomorrow,” I forced out. “ And your mom has agreed to the loan of the royal garments to the MdV . I’ll be taping an announcement that’s going to happen tomorrow as well. Along with sharing there’ll be a fundraising ball.”

“Excellent.”

“Would you like to…”— I flipped out a hand—“share a drink before we both go to bed?”

“I need a clear head. I have some business comms to return before I retire.”

So, that was a no.

“Right.”

He said nothing.

I said nothing.

This continued as my heart grew to feel like it weighed a ton in my chest.

I stood. “ I’ll just…go read for a bit.”

He nodded.

All right.

This was the hardest thing I’d had to do in my life.

I hadn’t even been “giving him space” for a whole half an hour, and this was torture.

“Can I kiss you goodnight?” I requested timidly.

A flicker of something warm and lovely glimmered in his eyes before he murmured, “ You may always kiss me, love.”

Okay, at least that was good.

Right?

I moved around his desk.

He didn’t get up, just tipped his head back.

I bent in and touched my mouth to his before pulling back.

“Try to sleep well,” I bid.

“You too.”

“Love you, drahko ,” I said softly.

He didn’t say the words, he jerked up his chin.

And that was bad.

Totally torture.

I gave him a smile that trembled, that flicker came back to his eyes as he watched it, but he turned to his desk and picked up his stylus.

And…

Yeah.

I was dismissed.

With no choice, I walked out of the room.

A stroke of luck, when I got to my bedroom, I noted the staff were done moving me.

So when I got there, I could close the door, bury my face in the rose silk of the pillow sham, and cry shamelessly.