Chapter 31
Nuri paced Silver’s office at the manor, panic taking over him full force.
“Eli says the team hasn’t had any luck yet,” Falc said from the doorway, having just checked in with the Imperial Guard.
“Keep looking.” Nuri picked at his cuticle, mind racing over all of the possibilities. “Send someone to Mab.” The guard would get there a lot quicker than he could. “And Club Spade.”
“They’ve searched the club, Master—”
“Search again!” He paused, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment before turning an apologetic look Falc’s way. “I’m sorry.”
“You’re worried, I understand. The two of you have never spent this much time apart before, it must be very unsettling for you.”
“What if he’s hurt somewhere?” Nuri had been trying to block those thoughts out, but they surfaced unbidden. “Or worse. What if—”
“His majesty is trained in the art of combat,” Falc reminded, “and he’d a Swift. He’s stronger than most. Wherever he is, I’m sure he’s fine. There’s got to be something. A clue. He wouldn’t leave you with no word like this.”
Nuri laughed, the sound empty and weak, and rubbed at his face. “I told him to.”
“What was that, Master Narek?”
“I told him to let me go. I just didn’t think he’d…” If something terrible had actually befallen Silver, Nuri didn’t think he could live with himself. “Give me his multi-slate. You said he left it behind?”
“One moment.” Falc vanished, probably to retrieve the device from the master bedroom. Sure enough, when he returned, he held the golden multi-slate out to him.
Nuri checked the message and call logs, then went into his email. Aside from a million missed communications—including a dozen or so from himself—there was nothing suspicious. It didn’t appear as though Silver had used it that morning after the two of them had fought.
His holopad was here as well, and Nuri went to the desk, checking that next, then finally the computer. But there was nothing there either.
“Did he use the communication pad in the lobby to hail a ride?” he asked, but Falc shook his head in the negative.
“I checked myself after I learned he didn’t go into the office that day.”
So he’d walked out with nothing?
“Where the hell could he be?” And how could he be hiding this well without access to anything?
“Contact the Imperial bank. Tell them the Royal Secretary demands access to the Emperor’s transaction history.
If they won’t give it, ask them to inform you if any charges have been made in the past week. ”
“Right away.” Falc hurried off to follow the command.
Nuri dropped into the chair across from the desk. There wasn’t a place Silver had gone in the past decade that Nuri wasn’t at least somewhat aware of. How could the Emperor disappear without a trace like this?
Was he getting help?
He didn’t have any friends, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t order someone to hide him. But again, what for? What did he have to gain from doing all of this?
Nuri no longer believed Silver was trying to lure him into a trap. This had gone on far too long for that. If he’d been trying to make Nuri worry, he would have returned the second Nuri sent the Imperial Guard out looking.
“Think.” According to Silver, everything he did, he did for Nuri. If that were true, and it was a big if, then how could this tie back to him?
He’d already searched all of Silver’s devices. There wasn’t—
“Falc!” Nuri shot out of his seat. The butler found him crawling on the floor, frantically checking beneath the furniture.
“Master Narek?”
“N.I.M.?!” He couldn’t find it. “It’s not here. When I left them, they were both in here.”
“I haven’t seen in,” Falc said.
“That’s it!” Nuri got up and snatched Silver’s muti-slate off the desk.
“He’s got a secret program on there that allows—yes!
” The app wasn’t even well hidden now that Nuri knew what to look for.
Once he clicked on it, a list of actions appeared on the small screen, and he clicked the one titled Emergency Message.
“I don’t understand,” Falc told him.
“His multi-slate is connected to my N.I.M., which he must have taken with him,” he explained. “All we have to do is wait for—” The matching gold device attached to Nuri’s wrist began to ring, N.I.M. Narek flashing in bold colors. He hit the answer button. “Silver?!”
“Are you hurt?” the Emperor’s voice came through the speaker, and Falc noticeably sighed, despite the fact that he sounded tired.
“Where the hell are you? Are you hurt?” Nuri growled.
“Don’t worry, Narek. I’m keeping my word.”
“You—” He stopped himself, the fury almost getting the best of him, and then somehow managed to contain his rage long enough to motion to Falc. “Could you please give us a moment?”
Falc hesitated for a second but then left, shutting the door behind him.
“Are you hurt, majesty? This is a question from your Royal Secretary. Please comply.”
“I’m fine,” Silver said. “If there’s no emergency, then—”
“Come home immediately.”
“I took you off the No Fly list. I’ll return once you’ve departed.”
Nuri opened his mouth, then slammed it shut. He couldn’t mean that? “What are you doing?”
“What you asked of me. I’m letting you go.” Silver made a pained sound, followed quickly by loud rustling.
Was he trying to cover it up? Hoping that Nuri hadn’t heard?
“Tell Falc not to worry. Once you’ve left the planet, I’ll return. Until then, don’t contact me again.”
“Wait—” Nuri’s mouth fell open and he started at his device.
He’d hung up on him.
Nuri tried to call N.I.M. directly, but went ignored.
That’s been Silver’s chance…Nuri had been the one to cave first, to reach out. He’d contacted him. Not only has Silver not made any demands of him, he also hadn’t mentioned the Swiftbond.
He’d told Nuri to go.
But if Nuri left the planet, the chaotic energy could kill Silver.
No, it would kill him, eventually. It was just a matter of when.
“What are you thinking?” he growled, holding the matching gold multi-slates in his hands. Silver wasn’t the type to give up that easily. This was basically akin to suicide. It was too out of character to be believed.
Nuri’s eyes landed on the spot by the door where Silver had dropped to his knees and clung to him like a child. He’d cried that day too.
The Emperor didn’t shed tears.
“He cried for me.” If he’d been telling the truth, and everything he did, he thought he was doing it for Nuri… “Is he…dying for me?”
That was insane. Even for Silver, who was in fact, insane.
People like that couldn’t be trusted to make logical decisions at times like these.
“I don’t want him to die.” That had never been his wish. Nuri had wanted freedom, sure, the option to carve his own path. But… “What if this is another trick?”
What if he wanted Nuri to feel bad enough, guilty enough, to stop him? To give in?
“Doesn’t make sense.” There was no way for Silver to know that Nuri had spoken to Nate. Proof was in the fact that Nuri was currently holding his multi-slate, the one device he could have used to listen in on his calls. Without that, Silver was left in the dark.
He didn’t know Nuri had found out about the true purpose of the Swiftbond.
Which meant this couldn’t be an elaborate scheme.
Silver was seriously willing to let Nuri go, even if it meant he’d wither away.
“Calm down and think, Narek,” he commanded himself. Silver had survived going without sex almost the entire week beneath Vitality’s two moons. He wouldn’t die because they hadn’t fucked in six days. He was fine for now. There was time.
He could call Nate and ask him to find out from his friend if there was a way to break the bond, but even as he thought it, he found himself unable to actually do it.
It was like when he’d tried to send that email announcing his resignation.
Rationally, Nuri knew both things were the right thing to do, and yet…
“I’m in love with him,” he said it mostly hoping that hearing it out loud would help he realize he was wrong, but it had the opposite effect.
Nuri was in love with Silver. Despite everything. All of the lies. All of the frustration.
He loved Silver Rein.
But did that mean he could be with him?
Setting aside the fact that Nate had claimed he was accepting of their relationship, being with Silver, really being with him, meant accepting the role of Royal Consort. It meant announcing to the universe that those claims Silver had made all those times was true.
It meant accepting that he belonged to the Emperor, well and truly.
This wasn’t going to work. He couldn’t make a decision this important without serious thought. He needed to speak with Silver. See him. Which meant he needed to find a way to convince the Emperor to come out of hiding.
He held up Silver’s multi-slate, pondering.
What did Nuri want? Really?
He was angry because those memories of the two of them in the past had been sullied. Memories of the rare occasions where they were equal.
Nuri didn’t love Silver because he was the emperor or a CEO—hell, if anything, he loved him despite those things. Hadn’t he always thought that the two of them could be more if only they weren’t restricted by their roles and their duty?
What if he wasn’t the Royal Secretary, and Silver wasn’t the Emperor of Ignite?
What if they were just two strangers, meeting for the first time, who happened to be attracted to one another?
Could Nuri be certain then?
He didn’t give himself a chance to overthink the ridiculous plan formulating.
Instead, his fingers danced across the screen, typing out a message on Silver’s device which he sent as another emergency directly to N.I.M.
Somehow, he knew even if Silver refused to pick up his calls, he would still read the message.
S.R: If you meant what you said the other day, agree to play one last game with me. A fair one. No tricks from either side.
The read indicator came on, but Silver didn’t reply, so Nuri kept going.
S.R: I need this.
The response after that was almost instant.
N.I.M. Narek: Okay.
S.R: Meet me at Club Spade in an hour. Don’t be late.
Nuri held his breath as he waited for what felt like forever before another response came in.
N.I.M Narek: What’s the game?
S.R: It’s simple. You’re going to pick me up at the bar.
This plan was crazy, and wild, and extra, and Nuri didn’t care. He owed it to himself to do this. To give them one final chance. One shot for Silver to show him they could really be something. That he’d learned from his past mistakes. That Nuri could trust him.
That the love he claimed to feel really was real after all.