Page 90 of Night’s Fall (The Four Realms #1)

Love You

“D arling, wake up. Cat is here.”

I blinked gritty eyes and stared at the impossibly handsome, awake, vital face of my beloved.

“What?” I mumbled.

“Cat is here, love. And your Palm has some urgent messages from Gayle . I think something’s happening.”

As his words penetrated, considering all that had been swirling for weeks, not to mention my beast dropped an actual troll in the middle of the sea last night (among other things), my adrenaline spiked.

I tossed the covers aside, jumped out of bed and raced into the sitting room.

Cat was standing there, her coppery tresses a mess (but they still looked great), her face makeup free (and she was just as gorgeous), and she was wearing a robe and slippers.

She’d walked through the Celestial Palace in a robe and slippers with no makeup!

When there were gorgeous princes running amuck!

Was the world ending?

I dashed to her. “ Oh my gods, what’s going on?”

“We need to get to Gayle . Now .”

I didn’t ask.

I said, “ Hang on a sec,” raced back to the bedroom, hit the closet, slipped on my own slippers and shrugged on a robe.

I was still tying it when I dashed back.

“Let’s go,” I said, turning quickly to Aleksei , who was standing there, fully dressed, holding a cup of coffee and watching us.

I quickly aimed a kiss on his jaw and headed out with Cat .

“Okay, what’s happening?” I asked as we moved.

“I don’t know. I just got up, checked my Palm , saw I had a dozen messages from her, so I looked at them, and in all of them, she’s sobbing and practically incoherent. They came in hours ago, but I put my tech on mute. I’ve commed and commed, and she isn’t picking up.”

Oh dear.

We doubled our pace, jogging around the corner and down the south hall to Gayle’s room.

We knocked.

No answer.

We knocked again.

No answer.

“Gayle! It’s us!” I called.

No answer.

Cat and I looked at each other.

Farg it.

I turned the knob and walked in.

The curtains were closed, so it was pitch black.

“Lights, ten percent,” I called to the lightbulbs in the old-fashioned lamps.

“No,” we heard said weakly from our left.

Gayle didn’t have a suite, but her room was large, with a sitting area and a massive bed.

And she was huddled in said bed, knees to chest, resting her side against the headboard.

“Lights, thirty percent,” Cat ordered.

“No!” Gayle cried.

But the lights geared up…and dang.

Gayle’s eyes were bloodshot and swollen, her face splotchy, her hair was not a gorgeous mess, it was a tangled one.

She was a disaster.

We darted to the bed and climbed into it with her.

But it was me who pulled her into my arms, cooing, “ What’s going on? Are you reacting to last night? Do we need to call a doctor?”

She let out a harsh laugh the like I’d never heard from her.

Cat and I locked eyes over her head.

“Last night. Yeah ,” Gayle stated bitterly. “ But no doctor can help me.”

Cat laid a hand on her back and stroked. “ Honey , what’s going on?”

“Nothing,” she bit out. “ Precisely nothing. And it never will.”

What?

“Maybe start at the beginning?” I suggested.

The instant I did, she tore out of my arms, scrambled off the bed and whirled on us with such quick energy, Cat and I were so surprised, we didn’t move.

“Guess who knocked on my door last night,” she urged acidly.

“Um…” I was too scared by her demeanor to guess.

“Sirk?” Cat , who was never too scared of anything, queried.

“No. Not Sirk ,” Gayle snapped. “ I wish it was Sirk . I wish I had agreed to date him. I wish I hadn’t been so fucking stupid as to wait for my mate.”

Oh no.

“Did… Cormac come to you last night?” I asked haltingly.

She leaned forward and hissed, “ Yes .”

“I take it this convo didn’t go well,” Cat noted tentatively.

Gayle leaned back and threw out both hands.

“ I don’t know. The male the Earth God destined for you showing at your door in the middle of the night, abruptly and emotionlessly telling you he’s aware that you’re his mate, but he has no interest in mating with a half fae from Night’s Fall when he’s the full fae prince and one-day king of Land’s End .

And therefore, informing you, you should feel free to live your life and find your happiness without him.

Is that good? Or is it what it seemed? Very , very bad . ”

“Oh my gods!” Cat exclaimed angrily. “ What an asshole!”

“He said that to you?” I breathed in shock.

“Stood right outside my door, didn’t even bother to come in, and said just that,” Gayle confirmed.

“Well, fuck him,” Cat let loose.

“None of that kind of thing will be happening, obviously,” Gayle returned with deep sarcasm.

And then she dissolved into tears.

I scurried off the bed, took hold of her and guided her back to it, whereupon we all cuddled together, Cat and I holding, rocking and stroking Gayle .

“Wh-when I heard the knock, and…and I felt it was him, I jumped out of bed and I was so excited ,” she wailed into our skin.

“ Then I opened the d-d-door and he was so cold . It was just unbelievably so, so … awful . And when he walked away, it felt like he cut off big chunks of me and took them with him.”

Cat and I locked eyes over her head again.

Hers were red with demon ire.

Mine couldn’t turn red, but if they could, they would.

We said nothing more, just held her and soothed her until, after a while, she lapsed into sleep.

“Turns,” I whispered to Cat . “ I’ll go grab a shower, get dressed and come back. You do the same, and while you’re gone, I’ll order up coffee and breakfast.”

“Plan,” she replied.

Carefully, I extricated myself from my friend, smoothed her glorious hair, quietly made my way out of her room and hurried all the way back to mine.

I was in such a hurry, I ran smack into Aleksei in the sitting room.

He grabbed my upper arms to steady me.

“What is it?” he asked harshly, staring at my face.

He felt it.

“Do you have Cormac in your Palm ?”

His brows went up. “ Of course.”

“Comm him. Video .”

“What is it?” he asked again, now watching me closely.

“Just comm him, drahko !” I yelled.

He let me go to pull the Palm out of his inside jacket pocket.

“Video comm Cormac ,” he ordered it and handed it to me.

I aimed the display at my face.

Cormac’s face came on it, his mouth open to greet Aleksei , but it snapped shut when he got me.

“Oh yeah,” I bit at him. “ It’s me. And you’re going to listen to me, you insufferable piece of poo.

There will come a time, probably soon, when you realize you can’t live without her, and you’re going to want to win her back.

Mark my words… mark my words , your highness, you will beg and you will crawl before I ever allow that to happen. Do you hear me?”

I didn’t wait for him to confirm he heard me.

I disconnected and tossed the Palm back to Aleksei , who caught it readily.

“Would you like to explain why you’re threatening a prince of a realm we need as an ally?” he drawled.

I scowled at him. “ He’s Gayle’s mate, and before he headed home last night, he paid her a visit and told her he, the almighty prince of Land’s End , had no intention to mate with a half fae from Night’s Fall .”

“Oh shit,” Aleksei muttered.

“Dang straight!” I cried.

“You called him an insufferable piece of poo,” he noted, and I had to ignore the fact he sounded amused.

“Because he is! He’s worse!”

“Darling—”

“Are you close to him?”

“Mac’s in the ring ice league.”

Gah!

They were close.

“Is he a bigot?” I asked.

“He’s never, not once, given any indication that he was.”

“So what is this crap?” I demanded.

“I don’t know,” he said soothingly, pulling me into his arms. “ What I do know is that it’s never advised to get between mates.”

“I’ll consider that wisdom when Gayle hasn’t just cried herself to sleep in my arms after spending all night curled into a ball, crying herself out of sleep.”

The compassion in his face was amazing.

But I was in no mood.

“I need to take a shower and get back to her,” I declared. “ Is there something I need to be doing with political intrigue and declarations of war?”

His lips twitched. “ No . I can report, upon arrival in Nocturn , Arnaud was taken into custody without incident and charged with murder. At the same time, Central Command informed him he’s also being detained while they investigate crimes of engagement.

The magisterial panel in Sky’s Edge held an emergency meeting first thing this morning and upheld Tanyn’s claim to the throne.

Sky’s Edge Parliament is in session and will hold a vote at one p.m. to confirm succession.

If that goes as expected, he’ll be unofficially crowned tomorrow morning at nine, with a coronation to take place when it can be planned. ”

“Good,” I snapped.

“And the UTC has announced it’s forming a committee to investigate the breaches to the InterRealm Accord , along with violations within the Engagement Convention .

Obviously , since that was written and agreed in 1935, there was no mention of trolls.

Regardless , Arnaud attacked without provocation using what could be considered an unknown weapon and this absolutely is a violation of approved engagement. ”

“That’s good too.”

“And that’s all I’ve got.”

It hit me I’d been gone awhile, and he was still in our suite, so I looked around and asked him, “ Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

“I do. But you and Cat tore out of here so I put it off and waited for you to return. I wanted to make sure all was well.”

Ugh!

Sometimes he was so awesome, I couldn’t take it.

“And someone had to feed the cats,” he finished.

See?

I threw myself in his arms, kissed him hard, broke it and said, “ I need to get sorted and get back.”

“Do you need me to order you breakfast?”

Seriously?

I couldn’t take it!

“No, I’ve got it.” I touched my mouth to his, pulled out of his arms and dashed down the hall, calling, “ I’ll comm you later.”

“Love you,” he called in return.

“Love you too,” I shouted.

Then I hit the bathroom and snatched up my Denti - Clean .

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