One
Liam
The Present …
Thornewood Castle stood as a silent leviathan, its formidable presence dominating the morning sky. Stone spires, tall and pointed like the horns of some great beast, pierced the heavens with an authority borne of fae ingenuity.
The structure seemed to command the very air around it, daring anyone to approach without permission. Those who had recently taken that dare had not lived long enough to regret it.
There was no visible trace of the blood that had been spilled, no evidence of the backstabbing nobles whose corpses had lain scattered across the courtyard like dead leaves in winter.
Winter. Anything that reminded me of that particular season was on my list of shit to avoid.
At the top of that list? The offspring of the traitorous scum behind the plot to kill the king, instigators who’d died too quickly for my liking.
Distracted, I nearly clipped the shoulder of a young stable hand cutting across the square at a fast pace. He, too, looked lost in thought, glaring at his pocket watch like it had just insulted him.
“Running late, Klim?”
“Sir!” he squeaked, cheeks blooming red. “My apologies.”
“No worries.”
The teen’s shaggy brown hair bounced when he nodded, eyes down at the death grip on his timepiece.
“You’re not late,” I told him. “After your rotation, take your watch to Irv.”
“Sir?” he squinted.
I leaned closer, voice low. “Irv can fix just about anything. Tell him if he repairs your watch, then he and I are even.”
“B-but—”
My chin lifted towards the path to the stables. “Go on.”
I stepped around his gangly figure and resumed my rounds. There were more fae on the grounds at one time than normal and it made me twitchy.
Security was my primary role at Thornewood, a role I took very seriously. Nevermind everyone here worked for the king and had been vetted by me personally.
I’d already failed one sovereign. I would not fail another.
There was movement all around but nothing out of place, as far as I could tell. Armed guards patrolled the perimeter, on both sides of the outer wall. More did the same close to the castle itself.
Servants scurried about, making preparations for the royal couple's upcoming nuptials. Their first and most critical task since the coup attempt had been to make sure this space no longer looked like a massacre had occurred.
But magical blood was not easily washed away. It had taken days of both manual labor and special spells to erase those stains.
Nox, my king and close friend, had insisted the wedding ceremony take place as soon as possible. His mate, Aeryn, agreed but didn't want a big affair, still uncomfortable with the idea of taking on the title of queen.
I knew her fear lingered over another possible attack. Hence, the abundance of soldiers stationed so close to our stronghold in the near term.
When I reached the upper bailey, I could still hear voices and shouts mingled with the clatter of hooves and footsteps on gravel. Even the ringing chime of metal from the smithy reached my ears. The sounds were more like a preparation for war instead of a wedding.
Though, I supposed it was both.
The forge was being put to good use as we prepared for what we could only guess was still coming. I prayed we would root out and destroy any remaining conspirators without an all out war.
Striding across the bailey, my boots thudded against the cobblestones. My eyes swept methodically over the area.
"Sir Liam!" called a guard, breathless as he caught up to me, "His Majesty requests your presence in the council chamber."
"Tell him I'm on my way," I responded curtly, not breaking stride.
Glancing over at the training yard, I wrestled with an unwelcome specter. The memory of Raina's gaze, both defiant and desirous, during the bride trials. Then, her completely gutted expression after the attack on Thornewood.
After my harsh accusations.
Traitor … two-faced mukana who only cares about herself, I'd said.
I knew the slur would slice deep. And it had. I'd experienced a sort of sick pleasure watching my former betrothed’s unflappable facade crumble.
It was becoming an unattractive habit.
I shook my head, as if the motion could dislodge her image from my thoughts. There were bigger concerns to address and the king was waiting.
Loyalty to Nox anchored me, more than any chain could. Perhaps, if kept busy enough, the ghosts of my past would be kept at bay.
"Careful with the scowling, Sir Liam, or your face might get stuck like that permanently," a familiar voice teased, mocking yet warm.
Aeryn, dressed comfortably in soft, dark leathers with her honey-brown hair pulled back, leaned casually against the entryway. That she knew I'd be taking this particular side door was unfortunate, though not surprising.
Her pale green eyes were alight with mirth. "What's got you so tense? The castle isn't under siege, is it?"
"If that's your attempt at a joke, my lady, I am not amused.” My words were edged with a level of irritation she didn’t really deserve.
Aeryn had been on my ass for two days about my situation, as she called it. She peppered me with questions during every interaction.
The female was getting downright pushy in her need to mend things between Raina and I.
I steadfastly refused to answer any of Aeryn’s inquiries. Catching on, she had switched tactics to giving unsolicited advice. Worse, she often looked at me with something I was beginning to think looked a whole lot like pity.
I detested that look and did my best to avoid it. Still, she continued to be persistent.
Annoyingly, her presence was also a balm, even if I would never admit it. She was like a younger sister I both adored and barely tolerated.
"Whatever it is you need, my lady, I don't have time for it. I am on my way to see the king.”
I kept up formalities while those not in our inner circle were within hearing distance. It was something her new guard would need to remember to do, so I modeled it often.
You never knew where Mirrelle and Astrid were hiding. Speaking of her sentries, the future queen should not be out of their sight.
“Where’s your blight?”
Her pupils shrank, not amused by the nickname I’d assigned to the pair of females, one who was blood fae and the other light fae.
“Must you call them that?”
“I think it’s fitting. It’s also easier to say than their names. Faster, too. Fewer syllables.”
“Well I think you’re trying to change the subject, Sir Liam.”
“There isn’t a subject to change, my lady.”
“Yes, there is. I have questions. I need to know some things so I know how to help, but you keep avoiding me."
Aeryn sounded like my mother when she was trying to get a confession out of me and my brother, back in our younger days. "I have a meeting with my sovereign. That's all you need to know."
"Ah, but what I need to know and what I want to know are often two very different things," she grouched good-naturedly, falling into step beside me.
I said nothing in return. She gave me an entire five seconds of peace.
"You've been more broody than usual. You weren't at all broody when we first met. Remember that day? You laughed when I pulled a dagger on you. You made jokes. Then you saw Raina after …”
I didn’t provide the information she was fishing for.
“Okay, after some amount of time. A year or two …”
Her hopeful face, the way she searched mine for some sort of confirmation or denial was comical. If Aeryn wasn’t being so damned annoying I might laugh at her pathetic attempts to piece together my history with her new friend.
She rolled her eyes. “Fine. You saw her that first day of the trials, after an unknown amount of time, and you lost your smile. And you were mean to her. Then she left and now you're unbearable."
I gave her a withering look.
"Is it because she left?" Aeryn asked. “Did you want her to stay?”
I stopped in my tracks, jaw clenched tight enough to crack stones. "Don't," I warned, my voice low and dangerous.
She grimaced. "I'm not trying to make things worse for you."
"Yet you are," I retorted sharply, resuming my march toward the council chamber.
I felt the weight of Aeryn's gaze on my back, but I couldn't afford to dwell on Raina right now. I had responsibilities to see to.
"Liam," Aeryn's voice softened, touching a chord that resonated with physical pain. "I only mention Raina because—"
"Because nothing!" I snapped.
Her eyes went wide and I felt like a piece of shit. Looking to the ceiling, I sighed, the sound heavy with an unspoken apology.
I glanced at her, remorse pulling at the muscles of my face. Her intentions were good, no matter how crazy her actions made me.
"I apologize, my lady. The subject is complicated."
"Isn't it always with matters of the heart?" she quipped, though her eyes held a depth of understanding that contradicted her casual tone.
The council chamber doors were just ahead. "Are you coming inside?"
Aeryn shook her head. "I'll see him later. I have a couple of things I need to do first."
Aeryn's missing entourage suddenly appeared behind her. I had to assume Astrid did something to the light to hide their appearance because no portal had been opened.
I had suspicions the pair had more capabilities than they’d let on, and I would need to question them both in more detail. Just not today.
I tipped my head to Nox's mate and entered the room. My sole focus should have been on the threats we still faced. But it was all over the place.
Unwillingly, thoughts conjured the echo of whispered promises, the haunting memory of lavender eyes, and the feel of plush pink lips that refused to let me be.
I was surely going to lose my godsdamned mind. Soon, by the feel of things.
The council chamber's thick oak doors shut with an unnerving thud. I stood rigid, my arms crossed in a futile attempt to contain the maelstrom of emotions threatening to spill forth.
Nox looked up from his place at the large table, papers scattered and pen in hand. In that keen and regal way of his, he lifted a single eyebrow.
Focus on Thornewood, on security. The self-imposed command reminded me of the issue I meant to bring up yesterday.
"There are a few matters that demand your immediate attention," I announced, voice steady despite the internal chaos.
"Such as?"
"Aeryn's personal guard. There are only two."
His head canted. "You feel there is a need for more?"
"I'm surprised you don’t."
Nox chuckled. "I count myself as one," he said. "I can feel her through the mating bond. I know exactly where she is and have insight into her emotions. While she's within the wards of Thornewood, I don't worry much."
I nodded. "I don't either, but she can't stay inside indefinitely."
The strongest wards were in the very walls of the castle, which would quickly become a gilded cage if Aeryn was forced to remain within.
"No, she can’t,” he agreed, leaning back in his chair. “Did you have someone in mind?”
“Bair.”
“Klim’s older brother?”
I nodded. Bumping into Klim had been a lucky reminder.
“No.” Nox’s denial was immediate.
“Why not? He’s more than capable.”
“He’s male.”
“You want to require that every member of the queen’s guard be female?”
Nox strummed his fingers on the table. “What do you think about adding Raina? The frost nymph has proven herself capable. Perhaps she would be interested?"
"No," I insisted more harshly than intended.
Both of the king's eyebrows rose this time, a silent question hanging between them.
"Fuck," I exhaled.
I turned away, my gaze fixing on the ornate tapestries that lined the walls, their vibrant threads an unwelcome reminder of the color drained from my life since losing her nearly two years ago.
Time had done nothing to close that gaping wound inside my chest.
Memories unfurled like the woven scenes before me. The warmth of Raina's skin against mine, the intoxicating scent of winter flowers in her hair, and the soft gasps that escaped her lips when I touched her.
"Is something bothering you, Liam?" The soft clink of the king’s signet ring tapped against wood, punctuating the tense air.
Nox was my closest friend in the world. He knew damned well something was wrong.
Being fae, I couldn't lie to him, not that I ever would. "Nothing, I wish to discuss."
He rose from his seat and poured two glasses of amber liquid from the bar. Handing me one, he said, "Sláinte," and clinked my tumbler.
"I think I need a hell of a lot more than a toast to my health.”
Ever patient, Nox waited.
The bourbon heated my esophagus. I let it pool in my belly a minute before answering what he already knew.
"I'm finding that the past has found a way to claw into the present. Turns out, I’m just as wrecked as I was the day Raina and I ended."
More so, in fact. I’d done all I could to burn her memory to ashes, to ensure she hated me as much as I’d believed I’d hated her.
Her indifference had been my undoing and I ended up acting in ways I could never take back, desperate for a reaction from the ice queen. Desperate to cut her down to the bone just as she had cut me.
Fucking my way through Falcondale failed to stir, much less injure, my former lover. It damaged me in irrevocable ways. For a time, I had been the worst sort of male and for all the wrong reasons.
Sadly, there was nothing to be done about it now.
"I see," Nox murmured, his tone laced with understanding. "Love can indeed leave deep scars."
"Scars are nothing," I muttered under my breath, my heart warring against the pride that had cost me everything.
Her absence was a ceaseless ache that was nearly impossible to ignore, let alone speak of matters of defense and strategy without distraction.
I'd buried the pain, most of it at least, only for it to come roaring back when her name was drawn for the trials. I thought I could handle it, had even assured Nox and Lorne I could.
Then I saw her and knew I'd been fooling myself.
"Speak your mind, Duersi." Nox's command was gentle, yet firm, using my surname as he did when we sparred. "If you don't get some of that weight off your chest you're going to suffocate."
"Raina is ... she was ..." I struggled with the words, enduring the shame of my king’s stare going from concern to pity.
I didn’t need pity, especially not from both Nox and Aeryn. Seconds ticked by.
"As much as I loathe saying it, perhaps you should consider visiting Ephandor like you'd originally planned," Nox suggested.
"Running from shadows does not banish them," I replied. "Can we not discuss this now? I need to be occupied by other things."
Nox searched my face until finally showing mercy. "Understood," he said, steering the conversation back to matters of security.
As soon as Nox and I adjourned, I excused myself quickly. The need for a moment of solitude was overwhelming, and I needed to clear my head before facing the rest of the day.
Unfortunately, my private space didn't exactly mean I was alone.
My chambers were adorned with paintings, sketches, and other forms of art that I had created over the years. They were my refuge in moments like this, moments where I was unsettled and unfocused.
I walked around the room, taking in the pieces that lined the walls and shelves. Each one represented a different emotion, a different memory that I had captured.
There was a painting of a serene forest scene that reminded me of Ephandor. It was one of the last pieces I completed before leaving my childhood home and coming to work at Thornewood.
It was too hard living in my father’s shadow, and then in my brother’s. As warriors, they understood. As family? Not so much.
Next to the painting was a sculpture of two lovers locked in an eternal embrace, their bodies intertwined in an intricate dance. Though their faces were nondescript, I’d created it back when Raina and I were together, inspired by my hopes and desires.
I reached out to touch it, relishing the coolness against my fingertips. Underneath the base, I noticed the stack of papers I’d pretended weren’t piling up.
Pulling one out, I held it aloft, tracing the lines of Raina's face, sketched in a moment of weakness, a moment of pining. I was an artist haunted by my own creations.
I looked around. She was everywhere. Maniacally, I'd recently taken to recreating her visage, her hands and feminine feet, even her mass of white hair that surely weighed more than she did.
"Get over it, Liam," I whispered to the empty room, the parchment beneath my fingers crumpling slightly.
I was through with this weakness. Anger, with myself, with the situation, and definitely with her, exploded through me. I ripped the paper in my hands, the pieces falling like ash to the rug.
A reckless energy fueled me, pushing me to keep going, to destroy every image of her I could find. Images I’d pulled from my mind and put onto paper.
What was I doing keeping these reminders so close? Surrounding myself with so many of them?
My eyes locked on the most intricately detailed one, pinned to the wall beside my bed. I felt my stomach tighten, remembering the night I'd drawn that sketch only weeks back.
It was after our first confrontation during the bride trials, long after our engagement had ended. Only, instead of drawing the scowl I’d put on her face, I’d recreated her sleeping form from memory.
She’d enthralled me, ivory skin glowing in moonlight, lips curved in a faint smile. I drew every detail I remembered from those hours after our first time together.
I tore it down, the sketch fluttering through the air as gravity pulled it down. Yearning and bitterness churned inside me.
The action bolstered me to keep going. Snatching images from my night table, from the walls, I destroyed them all.
Beneath the layers of anger lay a festering wound, a gash of hurt so deep it cut through the valley of my soul. It would never fully heal.
She’d shown me nothing. No regret. No pain. Nothing.
How could she act as though nothing had happened? How could she not have been just as affected as I had been?
The simmering anger boiled over. I swept my hand across the desk, sending papers flying. Writing and drawing utensils landed quietly on the patterned rug.
I stomped on them, snapping and crushing them into pieces. Colors smeared into the green and blue fibers under my feet. Black ink slowly bled outward, undoubtedly ruining the floor covering.
The sudden urge to create among the destruction came out of nowhere. I was losing my fucking mind.
Panting, I looked for something else to attack only to see my empty sketchbook on the side table near my reading chair. Compulsion had me picking it up, charcoal in hand, and beginning anew.
It was uncontrollable. Putting images to paper got them out of my mind. For a short time, at least.
I was trapped in a cycle of madness, the instrument in my hand my only outlet.
"Liam, stop," Aeryn commanded, her voice cutting through my haze.
I looked up to see the queen-to-be standing under the doorframe, her green eyes probing.
Why couldn't she leave me in peace? "I'm busy."
"Are you?" she challenged, stepping inside. "Busy torturing yourself?"
Her gaze swept over what was left of the sketches of Raina, of the fragments of my tantrum.
"Leave it alone," I muttered, setting the drawing aside and scrubbing my face.
"Talk to me, Liam. It’s eating you alive, this obsession." She crossed her arms, her feline grace evident even in her stillness.
"Obsession?" I laughed without humor, avoiding her eyes. "You haven't known me long enough to call it that."
"Isn't it the truth, though? The drawings? The moodiness? You act as if Raina’s betrayed you, as if the betrothal ended yesterday and at her request."
"You don’t know anything," I shot back, standing abruptly.
Aeryn reached out tentatively, her touch light on my arm. I jerked away, breathing heavily. The room spun slightly, and I braced myself against the table.
Head down, I took a deep breath. "I think I'm losing my fucking mind."
She stepped closer. "You need to face this, not bury it."
"Face what, Aeryn?" My voice broke on the words. "That I was doing fine and then thirty seconds in her presence again fucking wrecked me?"
"Yes, exactly that," she insisted. "Maybe there's hope for you two after all.”
"There is no hope. I refuse to even entertain the thought. I'll do what I did before. Lick my wounds, get over myself, and throw my energies into my job." And fucking.
"You're more than just Nox's head guard, Liam. You're a warrior, a noble son of Ephandor, and, most importantly, someone I can call a friend. You should feel flattered at that last one. I've never had many friends."
We stared at one another for a long minute, long enough for me to settle. Apparently, Aeryn wasn’t going to let me go down in a fit of my own self-destruction.
My spine relaxed. "I can see why," I stated wryly.
"Shut up," she sulked and punched me in the shoulder. “I’m worried.”
"Obviously.”
Aeryn grimaced.
“I appreciate your concern,” I told her. “But this is nothing compared to how I was in the weeks following the broken contract. Just ask your mate. He and Lorne kicked my ass a dozen times trying to get my head out of it."
"That's a terrible place for your head to be."
I laughed, a real one. Squeezing her shoulder, I told her, "I'll find my way. I always do."
And as I met her steady gaze, a flicker of something warm ignited deep within me—a hope that maybe, just maybe, I was going to come out the other side of this intact.
The moonlight came through the windows in a silver sheen, casting long shadows across the floor of my chambers. Something was different, though, the room was mine but somehow not.
The air crackled with anticipation. The familiar scent of burning embers from the fireplace heightened the senses.
"Raina," I breathed, the name a reverent prayer upon my lips.
Her cascade of white-blonde hair spilled over my chest, a silken curtain that whispered promises of passion. Each strand felt cool against my skin, like the touch of the first frost of winter.
In the soft glow, her violet eyes locked onto mine, holding an intensity that mirrored the ferocity of her spirit. My intended was a petite frost nymph who was anything but fragile.
"Are you sure you want this?" I murmured. “You know I will wait for you, if that’s what you need, flower.”
The weight of the moment pressed upon us, the gravity of our connection palpable in the charged atmosphere. Our breaths mingled, warm against the cool caress of the night air.
"More than anything," she replied, her voice a whisper that carried the strength of tempered steel.
Her words resonated in the silence, and in that moment, it wasn't just her virginity she offered. It was her trust, her future, her heart.
I was going to take them all.
With a mixture of excitement and trepidation, I kissed Raina's lips softly, savoring the taste of anticipation that lingered there. Time slowed as I grew drunk with lust.
Our lips parted and a spark ignited between us, setting ablaze a fire that burned with a fervor I had never known before. I gently coaxed her down to the bed so I could rise up above her and look down at her perfect face. Her hands slid up my chest, leaving trails of fire in their wake.
I wanted to devour her, to explore every inch of her porcelain skin with an earnestness only matched by the intensity of my love.
Raina's body trembled as I trailed my fingertips down her neck, tracing the curve of her collarbone, bringing goosebumps to her flesh. Her breath hitched as I dipped lower, skimming along the gentle slope of her breasts.
Guided by a primal longing, I lowered myself between her legs. The scent of her arousal engulfed me, an intoxicating fragrance that spurred me on.
My lips brushed against the tender flesh of her inner thighs, teasing and taunting her with agonizing slowness. Her small hands tangled in my hair, urging me closer.
This was as far as we'd ever gone together, bringing one another to completion with our mouths and hands. I'd bedded others, well before she was old enough for me to think of her in a sexual way.
The second I saw her, fully grown, I had trouble keeping my hands off her. She'd felt the same and we shared stolen moments when her family allowed visits between us.
Impossibly hard and fearful she wasn't ready for me, I licked the seam of her sex and reveled in the feel of her delicate flesh against my tongue. Sweet like a flower, her essence called to me on a visceral level.
The gentle puff of her breaths grew quicker, her hips bucking subtly beneath my mouth. My tongue delved into her, coaxing her to a place of complete surrender.
A place where only I would know the depths of her desires, where only I could satisfy her. It wasn't fair of me, but some primitive piece of my soul got off on her being mine and only mine.
I slowly inserted a finger into her channel, giving her a few seconds to adjust. When her hips rocked, I sucked on the tender flesh of her core like a male possessed.
Raina arched her back, her cry of pleasure filling me with male satisfaction. Quickly, I shifted over her holding myself on my forearms, distracting her with a hot-blooded kiss as I breached her opening.
Raina gasped and I continued rolling my hips between her legs. It was a moment I would never forget, with her eyes locked onto mine, their glowing depths a testament to the fire that now burned within her. Her tight sheath squeezed me, almost to the point of pain.
The room spun as we moved in unison, her hips bucking beneath me in perfect harmony. Our bodies, slick with sweat, glided across one another, each touch sending shockwaves of pleasure through us.
Raina's hands gripped my back, her nails digging into my skin as she urged me deeper. I drove into her harder, each thrust bringing us closer to the edge.
I groaned her name, unable to hold back any longer. My release poured into her silken heat and she cried out in rapture, her own climax cascading around me.
Panting and sweaty, we lay entwined, basking in the aftermath of our bodies' union. A sense of calm washed over me as my head lowered to the crook of her neck.
"I love you," I whispered, my heart swelling with a mixture of relief and ecstasy.
Suddenly I was falling, jerking awake in a coat of sweat. My eyes adjusted to the dark, the memory I'd been dreaming about so vivid I could almost feel her skin against mine, taste the sweetness of her lips.
As quickly as the warmth came, it was replaced by the biting cold of reality. I cursed under my breath, thrusting the heels of my hands into my eyes, rubbing away the sleep.
Dragging my sorry ass out of bed, I thought about the cutting remarks I had let slip during the trials. Each word had been a dagger meant to sever the remains of the ties that bound us, to protect my own fraying edges from unraveling completely.
I'd only made it worse. Stepping into the stone shower, I leaned heavily against the wall, warming my body under the falling water.
Nox's suggestion to return to Ephandor for a stint was sounding more and more appealing. It had been my original plan the second I'd seen Raina after some eighteen or nineteen months apart.
Then the ballsy attack on the castle happened and I felt like I couldn't leave.
"You're up early."
"Fucking hell!" I shouted.
Spinning, ready to fight, I narrowed my eyes on Lorne standing there, on the other side of the waist-high wall that sectioned off the bathing area from the rest of the bathroom. Well, waist-high to anyone tall.
"I would apologize,” he commented, “but I’m not sorry.”
I snorted. “Of course not.”
I picked up the soap and began cleaning off the funk of sleep. "Are you here to wash my back?"
Lorne grunted. "I'm here to tell you we're going to Snowfall."
I dropped the soap. I knew this was coming but it caught me off-guard, nonetheless. Nox's brother glanced down at the bar, smirking.
No matter, I'd lathered up enough and would leave it there until he left. I rinsed and grabbed the towel sitting on the stone wall.
"When are we leaving?"
"When Nox gives the word. Soon, I imagine."
"Someone should go in before the team and see how many fae are still there. I assume anyone involved with the Brandenburgs’ plans is long gone by now."
Snowfall Manor was the Brandenburg Family's estate. As in Portia and Rodrik Brandenburg, Raina's parents and traitors to the crown.
"Nox sent Saxon an hour ago," Lorne said, following me to the closet.
"I see."
"He's one of us, Liam."
Silently, I continued getting dressed. Saxon worked for Nox, though the arrangement wasn’t typical. The son of Lugh was a good ally to have and I took no issue with that relationship.
My issue with the male was personal.
Striding to the door, Lorne stepped in my way. "Say the word and I'll make sure Nox doesn't insist you come with us."
"Wow."
He frowned.
"I must be a total walking disaster to pull that offer out of you."
The corner of his mouth twitched. "You said it, not me."
"Fuck you, Lorne."
"You're not my type."
Nudging him out of the way, I said, "I'm aware of exactly what's your type. Or should I say who?"
Lorne walked next to me. "How about we agree to never discuss the females a certain other female won't stop bringing up?"
"You mean the female who has taken a sudden interest in shit that's none of her business? The future queen and present pain in my ass?"
"My ass, too," he muttered.
"She's on you about Sofiya?"
"Like stink on shit."
"Huh. I thought it was just me."
"No, I'm not that lucky."
My lips stretched wide, the full grin feeling a little rusty. "Thank you, Sire."
"Don't call me that. And why are you thanking me?"
I shrugged. "I feel better knowing you're a miserable sack, just like I am. Maybe not at my level, but registering on the scale."
"Shut up."
My palms went up in surrender and we finished our trek without talking. Stopping outside Nox's study, Lorne knocked.
"Why are you knocking?"
"I caught them yesterday when they forgot to lock the door. I had to scrub my eyes with wire bristles."
"Nox didn't try to kill you?"
"No."
"I'm surprised."
"Technically, she was under the desk. I only saw the top of her head."
The door swung open and I covered my eyes. A feminine growl came from just feet away. Hands wrenched my wrists away from my face.
"You!" Aeryn shrilled pointing at me. "It's not funny. And you, Sir Big Mouth, you told him?!"
Lorne entered without responding. I followed behind, a step lighter than I'd been in weeks.
Now, I just needed to figure out how to keep it going.