Page 76 of Night’s Fall (The Four Realms #1)

Though, knowing they were there gave me an increased sense of safety.

I ignored them (not really, they were hard to ignore, but I tried) as we headed toward the lift up to the admin wing.

“I’ve already had some clothing delivered,” Nata said as we moved. “ We could go through those now.”

Definitely trying to distract me from the next item on my agenda.

I gave her a smile I knew was wan, but I couldn’t make it anything else, as we stepped into the lift. “ The Masque is tomorrow. We’ll do it the next day. Okay ?”

She nodded despondently.

She was a very good female. I made the right choice with Nata .

This made me feel minimally better ( minimally ).

We bid adieu in the admin wing, and I executed the long trek to Aleksei’s suite on my fabulous Eduardo Navasco , ankle-strap heels that had the big, fabulous bow at the side. They were lethally stylish, girlish and sexy, but murder on your feet.

Once I hit the suite, knowing from the emptiness I felt, Aleksei wasn’t there, this added to the emptiness I’d carried with me all day because I’d heard nothing from him.

I went direct to my tablet, grabbed it and headed to the Princess Retreat .

I checked the fridge and snacks first.

Grape sparkle, cherry-lime sparkle (ouch, but I had to order it for him for those times, hopefully soon, when he’d hang out with me here), sparkling water, white wine, and mixers in the fridge.

The cupboard had bottles of booze and a variety of nuts, blobs, crackles, bars, snaps, stars and clusters.

Slid into sideways slots also in the cupboard were bottles of red wine.

In the small freezer department, there were four small tubs of stem ginger ice cream.

It was all perfectly organized. So perfectly, it was good enough to pic.

And it was full to the edge.

The top of the cabinet now had a tasteful array of glasses, a drink shaker, bar tools, linen napkins in colors that coordinated with the room and a cool-tub filled with chipped ice.

It seemed when the True Bride made a request, the staff of the Celestial Palace didn’t mess around.

I decided against a pink fizz or an almondine sour, a martini or wine.

I wanted one (or all), but like Aleksei last night, for what I was about to do next, I needed a clear head.

Instead, I poured a grape sparkle over chipped ice in a heavy, tall, cut-crystal glass that probably was worth a quarter of the fee I made for my entire last contract. Then I put a fancy bent straw constructed of glass with a crystal star affixed to the bend in it.

I set this on the table by the daybed, sat, let out a sigh of relief, but kept on my shoes, because I wanted to be totally together when he saw me.

I sucked in more oxygen.

I released it.

I sucked in even more.

I released it.

I was procrastinating.

“Just do it,” I bit out my impatience with my own danged self.

I nabbed my tablet, pulled up the text comm from Nata , powered beyond the nerves I felt when I programmed in the sequence, then requested the holo comm.

I stared as the bubble opened and closed on the display, and it didn’t take long before the word Accepted filled it.

I clenched my teeth, let them go because I had the need to suck in more oxygen, and finally, I set the tablet beside me on the daybed before I tapped the display.

My father’s holographic form sat across the room from me.

“Laura?” he said carefully, anxiously, and maybe a hint hopefully.

“I need something from you,” I announced.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“This isn’t a social comm,” I shared.

“Sweetheart, you were shot at two days ago.”

My entire frame froze at the endearment.

He’d never called me anything like it.

“Are you okay?” he demanded.

“As you can see, I’m fine,” I said stiffly.

“I’ve been mad with worry. Even your mother commed, asking if I’d heard from you.”

“The family did a vid that very night, Dad ,” I reminded him.

“You can fake things with makeup and vid-shopping and”—he skimmed a hand out in front of him—“holos.”

“Well, this isn’t vid-shopped. This is me, live and in person.”

“All right,” he replied. “ What do you need?”

“I need to know about her.”

Even his holo paled. “ What ?”

“Obviously, I learned my lesson the very long and hard way about the depths of your loss.”

He flinched.

I refused to process that, or how painful it obviously was for him, and kept going. “ But I need to understand…her loss.”

He got even paler. “ Is the prince okay?”

“Aleksei’s fine,” I snapped. “ I’m fine. We’re all fine. Except Antheme . She’s very dead.”

“Oh, Laura ,” he whispered. “ Were you close?”

“She died for me, so I’d say that’s pretty close.”

More whispering with, “ Honey .”

I could not take this.

“Okay, let me be clear,” I bit out. “ I’m breaking the no contact for a reason.

I’m not telling you that reason. And after this is done, we’ll go back to that.

But I need this, and you’re the only one who can give it to me, so I’m asking for it, and then we can go back to regularly scheduled programming. ”

“Everyone is right in what they’re saying. This is something big,” he guessed (correctly).

“No,” I lied through gritted teeth, giving the party line that Germaine had released after the incident. “ As I said, everything is fine. Yes , there’s a disenfranchised faction that’s doing stupid stuff. But the RMI is all over it. I can’t say more, I just know they have it under control now.”

“Then why are you asking about me losing…” A long hesitation. “ Her ?” he queried.

It sucked that it hurt he could barely even say the word “her” while referring to her .

I couldn’t feel it.

I had to stay on target.

“If you want to ask questions, I’m out, Dad . We’re done and we can return to?—”

I was reaching to the display to end the stream, but he said quickly, “ No . No . I’ll tell you.”

I sat starchily on the side of the daybed, folded my hands in my lap and stared at his holo.

“I sense you already understand it’s agony,” he started.

“Yeah, Dad . I got that part,” I drawled sarcastically.

“Can I …will you allow me to show you something?”

Of course, he wouldn’t just tell me .

“Fast, Dad . I have things to do.”

He nodded quickly, reached for his Palm , murmured some things into it, and then…

By all the gods…

A 3D pic popped up from his Palm , not full size, obviously, but…

Hecate save me…

The extraordinary dragon with silky fur the color of creamy buttermilk, brilliant amber eyes, sheer taffy-pink feathers streaming back from the sides of her head, her long, sinuous neck curled in an elegant S , her intelligent face, which resembled a doe more than a dragon, was stunning.

The coloring was wrong. My beast’s face had more of an equine shape.

But there was no denying the similarities.

“Is that her?” I breathed.

The image blinked out.

“It was a mugging gone wrong,” he said tersely. “ We were so connected, she was fifteen blocks away, and I could feel her fear. I transformed. I flew. She was still alive when I got to her. She died in my arms.”

I closed my eyes and dropped my head.

“It doesn’t excuse what I did to you,” he said swiftly. “ She would…she would hate me. Absolutely loath me for what I did to you.”

I lifted my head.

“But your beast so looked like her, when she appeared, something fractured in me,” he whispered.

I couldn’t bear this.

“This isn’t what I want to talk about.”

Again, speaking swiftly, he offered, “ What do you want to talk about?”

“Could you not control it? How you were with Mom . How you were with me?”

“Your mother and you are two different stories, Laura .”

“I need to understand how a male acts when his mate is in danger,” I ground out.

His expression infused with understanding, and for the first time in both of our lives, it became fatherly as he let out a long, “ Ahhhh .”

“Dad,” I snapped.

“Laura, it’s excruciating,” he stated. “ Females , they bear other burdens. Males , this…if I’m reading it right, what you’re asking about, then I can tell you. Right now, Prince Aleksei is in the deepest pit of all the hells.”

My heart lurched.

My beast rolled.

My eyes raced to the door.

And Aleksei stalked through it.

I took one look at his face and…

Uh-oh .