Page 80 of Night’s Fall (The Four Realms #1)

Gayle and Monique were in another group, speaking to Mrs . Truelock , and although Monique appeared normal, high color was in Gayle’s cheeks, and her eyes seemed unnaturally bright.

If this wasn’t enough, having Tanyn , Cormac and Bainon in the same room with Aleksei was too much for your average female to bear.

I’d seen pics of them too, of course.

But like Aleksei , the real thing packed one serious wallop.

Tanyn was tall, with that lithe, muscular demon frame, and elegant features.

His thick hair was a lustrous dark brown.

His expression seemed like it was never anything but different degrees of very serious, which was somehow hot.

And he had electric-blue eyes that weren’t even aimed at me, and I felt the sizzle.

The Dayrise Dynasty was famous for its members having sunny, golden hair.

However, Bainon’s tousled mane was a dark gold that was almost brown, like the color of caramel. He , too, was tall (in order of tallness, Cormac , (shocker! he was even taller than Aleksei ), Aleksei next, then Bainon , and Tanyn last—still, they were all taller than average).

Bainon had the fit, athletic body of a male who spent a lot of time in the surf. His skin was tan. His features skimmed pretty, but the maleness of him was so off the charts, they didn’t go there. And his eyes were a warm, dark brown.

Cormac was a revelation.

The male was huge .

He had hair the opposite of Bainon’s (it didn’t make sense unless you saw it).

It was brown and golden, and this was due to natural highlights that flirted with the dark.

He had a beast of a body that gave him the look of a shifter.

His features were ruggedly hewn. And his eyes were a startling bottle green.

I wasn’t recovered from the glory that lay before me, along with wondering what was wrong with Cat , considering it didn’t look at all like Tanyn had a problem with Mr . Truelock , or what might be up with Gayle , as Aleksei took me to the king and queen.

I performed my bobbed curtsy as Aleksei did his short bow.

Then, to hells with it, I leaned in and kissed each of their cheeks.

I knew they knew I knew with the tears that shimmered for a moment in the king’s eyes, and the sniffle the queen barely gave (but I heard it).

So I quickly turned to Aleece to kiss her cheek, same with the Vinestrongs , and Aleksei ordered drinks for us from a hovering member of staff before he made his apologies to our current company and took me to meet the princes.

Seriously, they got better the closer we got, so my legs were trembling by the time we stopped among them.

I got four short bows (including Mr . Truelock ), gave a bob and Aleksei launched in.

“Bain, Mac , Tan , allow me the pleasure of introducing my fiancée, Laura Makepeace .”

“Pleasure,” Tanyn murmured.

“Nice to meet you,” Bainon said, seeming alert, aware, but not like there was any bad blood due to me replacing his sister.

Cormac just dipped his chin.

I nodded to each and then went in for a cheek touch with Mr . Truelock .

“Dearest,” he said softly as I did.

I pulled back, smiling at him, and Aleksei wrapped his arm around my waist.

“Are you well?” Tanyn asked.

I shot him a What can you do? look. “ I’m hanging in there. Thank you for asking. And you?”

“I will be,” he stated soberly.

Hmm.

Poised and serious indeed.

The staff member came carrying a tray with our drinks. Aleksei took them and handed my almondine sour to me.

I lifted it to my company. “ As lovely as it is to meet all of you, if you don’t mind, I’ll excuse myself. I’d like to greet my friends.”

“Of course,” Bainon said.

I gave them a small smile, shot a larger one to Aleksei , accepted the lip touch he dropped, and when he let me go, shooting another smile to Monique , Gayle and Mrs . Truelock , I moved directly to Cat .

I sat beside her.

“Are you okay?” I asked under my breath.

“Look at him.”

I turned my attention to the males across the room, the ones she was glaring at. They appeared to be in relaxed conversation, except Tanyn , who I sensed was always on the alert. So much so, it was a wonder his eyes weren’t red.

I turned back to Cat . “ What about them?”

“Lording over Dad and me, like he’s better than us.”

I felt my brows knit and surreptitiously glanced again at the males.

“Who?” I asked.

“Prince Tanyn ,” she hissed, then took a sip of her drink, but she went right back to crossing her arms when she was done.

I took a sip of my own before I noted, “ He seems fine to me.”

“You don’t know demon nature.”

“I went to school with demons. I’ve worked with demons. And I was adopted into a family of demons when I was eight,” I pointed out.

“Huh,” she puffed out.

“Is there something you’re not telling me?”

Her eyes slid to me, then away, and they did this too fast.

“Catla,” I warned.

She puffed another breath out, this time without sound.

Then she uncrossed her arms, turned to me and asked, “ You remember that time we went skiing in Glacial Bay ?”

Did I remember?

I’d never forget.

We were fifteen. It was between-terms at school. Glacial Bay was (and still is) the premier ski resort in all of the Four Realms . It was situated at the northernmost point of Sky’s Edge .

They’d asked me to join them, and I’d wanted desperately to go.

My mother had flatly refused, and it had devastated the teenaged me.

Now, though, I remembered my father had agreed.

I also remembered my father had agreed to everything I’d asked, including giving me the marks to buy the insanely expensive material I’d wanted for that Summer Solstice gown I’d made, the one Mom had eventually destroyed.

But even back then, I had the thought that Mom had shredded it because Dad had given me those marks to buy that material.

I couldn’t process this now.

Something was up with Cat . I had to focus on that.

“I remember,” I told her.

“Well, Arnaud was holidaying there too.”

Oh boy.

“He heard we were around,” she went on. “ And he asked us to join him for dinner at his chateau. We went.” She leaned in closer and dropped her voice.

“ And you would not believe how foul he treated us, Laura . Dad was livid. Mom was so upset because Dad was. I was embarrassed. Arnaud was a dick, but I felt embarrassed.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

She was back to hissing. “ Because I was embarrassed.”

You didn’t cross the pride of a demon, I knew.

“Well, honey, Tanyn is not Arnaud .”

She sat back, decreeing, “ They’re all like that. You know those family reunions we go to up there every five years?”

Oh boy!

“No,” I said, not that I didn’t know they went up there for the reunions. I was saying no to the knowledge that even her blood family treated them badly.

She jerked her head down in an affirmative. “ Oh yes.”

“Why do you go?”

“Because Dad has scads and scads more money than they do, and they treated him like dirt even when he was a kid, so he likes us to go up and rub their faces in it.”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

Because that was so Mr . Truelock .

And yeah.

You didn’t cross the pride of a demon.

“The only good demons live in the Fall , the Break or the End . Period . Dot ,” she declared, crossing her arms on her chest again and returning to pouting.

“Well, I sense Tanyn is of a different sort. I think you need to give him…”

I felt something, looked to the side, and caught Tanyn staring our way.

Nope.

I caught Tanyn staring at Cat’s bare legs, and I couldn’t tell at this distance, but there seemed a hint of a ruby glow in his blue eyes.

My attention skittered to Mr . Truelock , who was sipping his vodka tonic, his position meaning he could see us, and Tanyn , even if he was listening to something Cormac was saying.

In other words, he was at an angle he could see it all, and a small smirk was on his face.

He didn’t miss this.

Okay, Bash seemed like a cool male, but I was absolutely loving this.

I looked back to Cat . “ Honey? —”

She peered over my shoulder, straightened and mumbled, “ Oh shit.”

I turned that way and saw Timothee was stalking in.

He looked tired. His eyes were swollen.

And he was determined to get to me .

I stood swiftly. Cat came up with me. And Aleksei was there before Timothee , his attention glued to me, stopped three feet away.

“Tim,” Aleksei murmured.

But I pulled in a sharp breath as Timothee executed a formal bow, arm wrapped around his stomach, the kind that was fit for a queen ( Madam Garwah had demonstrated the male bows in class too).

And he did this to me.

I swallowed down a suddenly tight throat.

And I had to do it again when Timothee rose, and the instant he was straight, Aleksei’s hand shot out.

He caught his brother by the back of the neck and yanked him into his body. He rounded him with his other arm, and I fought whimpering as Timothee wrapped his arms around Aleksei as well.

They pounded backs, Aleksei said something into his ear, Timothee nodded, he said something, then they let go and stepped away.

“One moment, ladies,” Aleksei said, and he and Timothee walked right back out of the room.

The instant I lost sight of them, Gayle and Monique were there.

“I take it that was big?” Gayle guessed.

“That was big,” I confirmed.

“I thought so. Queen Calisa is the master of keeping her cards close to her chest, but I thought she was going to bust out crying when Timothee bowed to you,” Gayle explained.

I turned to look at the queen.

She was still in conversation with her group, but it now seemed avid, and there was color in her cheeks.

In fact, all three Knightstars appeared to be feeling better about things.

Mark one in the good column for Prince Timothee , and I hoped there would be more.

“You walked in with Aleksei like it’s all good,” Monique remarked. “ Are you in the wrong profession and should be in front of a cam, not behind the scenes, or has something changed?”