Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 165618 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 662(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 165618 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 662(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
Yeesh, I had it bad.
Feeling weirdly happy, regardless of the situation, I replaced the note on the bedside table, threw back the bedclothes and headed to the closet.
This was because I had things to do.
So I set about doing them.
Two hours later, I approached Tanyn’s study.
There were two guards outside the door, one at the end of the hall, and I’d passed one when I entered the hall.
Not incidentally, there were two guards outside his chamber when I left it after getting ready. There was also one at each end of the hall. And one of them followed me unobtrusively everywhere I went.
Mm-hmm.
My male, even in the castle, he wasn’t taking any chances.
This kind of heavy security had not been in place the other times I’d been at the castle.
As such, I wasn’t a massive fan of this, but I ignored it (though, not the guards, I smiled at them, they just jerked their jaws up to me in response, because, apparently, that was how badasses said their nonverbal “hey”), and I sallied forth.
The guards at the door dipped their chins in nonverbal permission to do what I did next.
I knocked.
“Come!” Tanyn called.
I entered the room to see Tanyn at his desk, males and females about, most of them in uniform.
“I’m disturbing,” I said.
“It’s a good time to break,” Tanyn declared. “Ten minutes.” Everyone dispersed, but Tanyn called, “Nayden, Uly, stay.”
I saw a demon I’d not met yet stop moving to leave. He had dark-blond hair, dark-brown eyes, classical demon features of straight, strong nose and high cheekbones. And he was very handsome.
He didn’t look like he could be Tanyn’s brother.
Maybe a cousin, though.
He was wearing a uniform, and if I was correct, it was the uniform of a Red Dragoon, and until that moment, I wasn’t a uniform gal, but I changed my mind seeing him in one.
Tanyn was up and around his desk, coming to me, where he slid an arm around my waist, so I returned the gesture.
“Uly, meet Catla, my female,” he introduced.
“Catla,” Uly murmured, approaching me with hand raised.
“Uly,” I replied, taking his hand, squeezing it firmly, then we disengaged and he stepped back.
“Uly commanded the Wing last night to defend Sigil,” Tanyn told me.
“I hear you rocked it,” I said to Uly.
“The mission was successful,” he replied, not hiding he was studying me meticulously, giving open indication he was of the Nayden bent.
He was loyal to Tanyn and Tanyn alone.
Therefore, I was going to have to prove myself.
Since I would, or wouldn’t, as the case would be, I just went about doing the only thing I could do.
Being me.
“Thank you for that,” I said, and looked up to Tanyn. “And on that note, I stopped in to see Zyra and Manny before I came here. He’s prowling around the medi-unit like a caged cat. She reports he’s driving her crazy.”
“I’d find something for him to do, but he’ll never leave her,” Tanyn replied.
“I learned this when I asked if he wanted to take a walk on the grounds with me, he refused, Zyr told him to go, they got in a fight, which was when I left.”
I was relieved to see a small smile form on his face.
“She’s definitely coming back to herself,” he murmured.
“Yes,” I confirmed.
He turned to his friends. “You two can go. Get some coffee. I’ll be with you when you go back to Gehenn.” He said the last to Uly.
They jutted their chins and took off.
When the door closed behind them, Tanyn shifted me to his front so we were both holding on to each other.
“How are you doing?” I asked.
“Better, after sleep.”
“Good,” I mumbled.
“I headed down earlier to check on Zyr and Manny. They were both still asleep.”
“Well, as I reported, they’re up now.”
“Can I ask you to keep an eye on them?”
“Of course.”
“We think we have a leak,” he announced.
“I’m…sorry?” I dragged that out, such was my surprise.
“We’re still in theorizing mode, and I’ll be bloody fucking happy when we know some facts. But we think Tatra knew I’d received bids to renovate the citadel. This was what prompted the attack. My indication it mattered to me, and I was doing something about the state of it. So she moved to destroy it.”
“Well, considering her desperate desire to behave like an absolute piece of shit when it comes to you, that tracks.”
His eyes lit with humor, but his lips simply murmured, “Yes. But although those bids were not strictly confidential, they weren’t announced to the media either. We’re tracing who told who what to see if we can get a lock on someone sharing that information with Tatra, or a sympathizer.”
“Sounds like a good plan,” I replied. “I assume you’re heading up to Gehenn to be in on the interrogations.”
He nodded.
“Okay, then before you get on with important things, I want you to know what I’ve been up to this morning.”