Total pages in book: 192
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
I heard Germaine all over it, even if she wasn’t on the PM’s staff, and the PM did most of the talking.
So it was good. Angry. Clear. Resolute. Short. But informative.
And surprisingly, they intimated that Arnaud may be behind the attempts on Aleksei and my lives, as well as the deaths of Antheme, Naylan Biggerstaff and Richard Tayor.
When it was done, he ordered the screen to refold and reached for his Palm.
With me watching and reading as he did, he thumbed through some social tapes.
Shock. Dismay. Outrage. Disbelief.
There were some that clearly came from the Edge calling for beings to calm down and wait for more information to emerge.
But there was also a ton of footage that had been uploaded by guests of the troll attack (including, embarrassingly, of my dragon, and Aleksei’s, doing warrior things—he was right, we looked like we’d trained together for years, and it was awesome, it was also crazy).
I had a feeling from the tapes and comments that our ratings were going to go up again.
But mostly, he was alive. I was alive. All the ones we loved were alive. Aleksei didn’t lose it because my beast entered the fray (well, not too much). Arnaud would be arrested. Tanyn would be crowned king soon.
And I was shattered.
So while Aleksei continued to scroll, I passed out.
Chapter 46
Love You
“Darling, 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.”