24. Crusader
Crusader
I followed Rya down the stairs, my eyes on my mate leaning a hip to the kitchen counter, sipping coffee while he flipped through a digi-doc, again wearing shirtsleeves and his vest and trousers. His suit jacket was thrown around the back of a barstool.
My heart skipped because he was so handsome, but also because I knew he was waiting to start his day because I was getting IV therapy number three from Rya upstairs, and he didn’t want to leave until he knew it was done and I was okay.
He looked our way and did a double take.
I knew why that was too.
Rya made it to the kitchen bar and nodded to him in a kind of succinct bow, before she turned to me, her face filled with compassion.
“I know you’re excited about the increased activity of your beast,” she said.
I for sure was .
“But in an effort to save you disappointment,” she carried on, “ I can’t stress enough that, like the animals they are, shifter creatures do not like to be vulnerable.
This has been studied extensively, and it is rare to unheard of that a beast will emerge before the drug is fully out of their host’s system.
If they did, it could cause them to force you to transform when they’re in a weakened state, just because they won’t have control over themselves, and they simply won’t do that, because it would make you vulnerable.
That is not their reason for being. In fact, it’s the opposite.
So you’ll continue to sense increased activity, but you still have two or three days before the drug has fully exited your system. ”
“Okay,” I replied.
She smiled. “ And then it will be over, and you’ll be whole again.”
Whole .
I smiled a lot bigger at that.
Her expression grew serious. “ When it comes closer, as I’ve already told you, you’ll need to take care and hole up somewhere safe for you to transform.
She’ll have a lot of energy, and you might not be able to check her from taking over.
She’ll need to expend some of that before you can get her back under your control. ”
I nodded.
She smiled again.
“See you in a couple of days,” she finished.
“See you, and thanks again for coming,” I replied, following her to the lift.
She dipped her head to Aleksei again, got on the lift, and I turned to him when the door slid closed on her.
“Here,” he ordered.
I fought an eyeroll and went to him.
He crooked a finger and touched it under my chin to lift my eyes to his.
“Did you hear what she said?” he asked gently.
It had been two days since I felt my first flutter.
And the time was short, but we’d fallen into a steady rhythm for our lives.
Wake. Work . Come home. Chill .
Last night, we’d hung out in the living room with the purple fire, ordered in noodles, drank wine, snuggled and read (real books!).
Oh, and there was a lot of lovemaking wedged in.
But I had not hidden the fact that I was increasingly excited at how much my beast was making herself known.
More flutters.
Tension in my chest like she was stretching.
Sensations of movement like she was rolling or changing position.
It’d been so long since I had all that, I was impatient to have her back in full.
“Yes, I heard her,” I told Aleksei .
“We’ll clear our schedules, hunker down here when the time is nigh,” he said.
“You don’t have to?—”
“I’ll be here when you get her back, Laura .”
“Okay,” I mumbled, fighting a grin because he was so…
Aleksei .
He removed his finger but swept his gaze down my feminine, stylish and pretty, but somewhat severe black suit. An ensemble I’d purchased to attend Cat’s human grandma’s passing ritual.
“Although that’s fetching, albeit austere, you didn’t have to go that far for the interviews,” he remarked.
I wasn’t dressed for the interviews I was conducting with Allain that afternoon to hire my aide.
I was dressed for something else.
Here we go.
“I’m going to Naylyn’s ritual this morning.”
His brows shot up.
Naylyn was the young female who’d been murdered at the gallery.
“Before you say anything,” I began hurriedly, “ I wasn’t keeping it from you. I didn’t know I intended to go until I was in my closet, programming my outfit for the day. But , drahko , I can’t get her out of my mind.”
His face softened and he stole an arm around me. “ I’ve been experiencing the same.”
Of course he had.
Because he was so…
Aleksei .
“Her family must be out of their minds with her loss,” I said. “ Not to mention the betrayal. And the way she’s being portrayed on the news and the tapes. She wasn’t a traitor. She wasn’t a pawn. She was a young woman who thought she was falling in love.”
“Indeed,” he murmured. Then he said, “ I’ll go with you.”
I was surprised at this decision.
“You will?” I asked.
“A statement needs to be made. Of course, it has, but no one has picked it up. The story was much more sensational when she was an accessory in an assassination plot. If you and I attend her passing ritual, that statement will be made.”
“And it might provide some small balm to her family and friends,” I added.
“Yes,” he agreed. “ But I’ll warn you, love, this will be controversial. Beings have made up their minds about her. There’ll be a great number of opinions about us doing this, and no one will have any compunction about putting them on a tape.”
“Do you mind?” I asked.
He shook his head. “ I don’t, but you’re very new to this.
In the short time you’ve been exposed to it, you’ve enjoyed unprecedented popularity.
You need to be aware that will turn, Laura .
It isn’t a maybe, it’s a definite. There will be those who understand what we’re doing and see it for what it is.
There will be those who will not. Comments and speculation can be misguided and vicious.
I want you to go in knowing that’s not a possibility, it’s what will happen. ”
“Not having experienced it, I can’t say I’ll be prepared.
But I don’t want to get into a zone where what people may or may not think dictates what I do.
If I get in that zone, I’ll never do anything for fear someone will get pissed about it.
Or I’ll surgically attach myself at the hip with Germaine so she can guide my every move. ”
“Let’s not do that. The only female I wish in my bed is you. She’s not welcome,” he joked.
I laughed.
Then I had to quit laughing to get to the next part.
“Do you remember Nata ?” I asked.
He still had his arm around me but had turned his head and was taking a sip of his coffee, and only his eyes came to me at my question.
He swallowed the sip, put his cup down and faced me fully.
“Yes,” he said cautiously.
“Has…anything happened with her?”
“I informed Allain of my concerns.”
“And?”
“And Allain investigated it. He found I was correct. Errol dallied with her. He also promised her he would announce they were formally courting. He did not deliver.”
“And?” I pressed.
He sighed. “ And Allain is looking to find her another post. Nothing is available for her skillset, so she’s still working at the Catalogues for now, but she’s been taken off anything that’s sensitive or has great value.”
“What does she do at the Catalogues ?”
“Documentation and data entry.”
“What does that mean?”
“That means she researches backlog papers and artefacts, verifies their authenticity and enters them into the database with thorough substantiation and descriptions before they’re stored.”
“And her skillset?”
“She has a university degree, double major, history and preservation.”
“So she’s pretty qualified.”
“She wouldn’t have been hired if she wasn’t. It’s my understanding her goal was to move out of authentication and into preservation. But she’s young and was working her way up.”
“Are there artefacts and papers held elsewhere in the realm?”
“Laura—”
“Are there?” I pushed.
“No,” he admitted.
“So, if another post is found for her, it will be outside what she went to school and studied to do. What she found a job doing. All because she’s pretty and Errol wanted to nail her.”
“I hesitate to note this, but she has free will. It isn’t appropriate for Errol to dally with staff. But she had a say in the matter, a choice, and she chose wrongly.”
“I don’t disagree. But it’s my understanding truth serum is mandated for anyone that has anything to do with the Palace? —”
“Laura.”
He said no more.
But I heard him anyway.
Thus, I frowned. “ So it isn’t about her being dangerous around valuable items. It’s about her being close, and Errol being done with her, and that potentially being awkward, that she’s being moved.”
“I’m afraid my father has also heard of this, and this is why the decision was made to transfer her,” he said each word like it tasted bad.
They tasted bad to me, and I didn’t even say them.
“How often has this happened?” My question was more of a demand for the information.
Aleksei didn’t need a demand, I knew, and gave me the information freely and unhappily.
“Too often.”
Ugh!
“Okay,” I began, “if they were, say, working together in the same place, this happened and it was against company policy, as per the Equal Employment Decree , they both would be reprimanded the same way. And in essence, they both do work at the same place, but it’s only Nata who will have to face consequences. ”
“What you say is true, but I’m uncertain why we’re talking about her.”
“We’re talking about her because I want to approach her to ascertain if she wants to be my aide.”
His brows shot up again.
He opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Took a breath.
And then he said, “ Darling , this is unwise.”
Okay, now we were getting into the big stuff.
“I know it’s not her chosen field. But it would be me making a statement to her, and more importantly, your brother.
She probably knows her days are numbered.
She won’t begin to expect that the True Heir’s mate, and incidentally, a soon-to-be princess, and then after that, the queen, would go out of her way to offer a private show of support and a condemnation of the prince’s actions.
In the end, it’ll be her choice. I saw the job description and the salary package.
I doubt she’s making that now. This will be more responsibility, an increased credit line, more prestige.
It would be a promotion. My guess, a big one.
She would be part of making history, not just conserving it.
And if she refuses the opportunity to interview, that would be her choice, knowing it’s highly likely she’ll be transferred, and will then need to make the choice to accept the new post, or quit. ”
“I see there’s something you’re wasting no time getting used to.”
I knew what he was saying.
I was exploring the newfound power of my position.
I knew the power I held wasn’t much, but when it was important, I had to do what I could.
“Does that upset you?”
“I’ll admit to being unnerved by it,” he shared. “ The stands you take will transfer to me.”
“Not necessarily.”
“In all things,” he refuted. “ We’re a unit.
Whether we were mates or not, we would be a unit.
A united front. A united message. United in all things.
If you do this, it’s the same as me doing it.
And if she should accept, and win the post, she’ll be working even closer to Errol .
The aides have their offices in the administrative wing of the Palace . ”
“That would be her choice too.”
“I understand why you’d want to make this statement, Laura . However? —”
“Honey,” I said quietly, “ I don’t think you do.
You never could. Yes , you were born with certain duties you can’t escape, but even so, you had the power to find a way to build a life you enjoyed.
This female’s whole life is changing because she made a bad decision and trusted the wrong person.
At the same time, the male who made that decision with her, and duped her into making hers by lying to her, gets to go on his merry way.
I know I’m putting you on the spot, especially since your father is involved, but is that the message you wish to send… to anyone ?”
Aleksei made a frustrated noise.
I knew I was getting to him, but I didn’t gloat.
“She might hold bitterness and be a danger,” he warned.
“I would reply that I’d hope Allain or I would sense that, but as I mentioned, he’s told me it’s required anyone who works that closely to the Palace , and definitely a royal, has to take truth serum before they’re offered the post, with the understanding this is administered randomly after they accept, so we’d find that out before she could get up to anything.
And it isn’t a given she’ll get the job.
That’s not her field. The other applicants are very qualified.
But if the opportunity is offered, I think she’ll get our point. ”
“Yes, very unexpected,” he muttered.
“Sorry?”
“When I first met you, you were a bundle of contradictions. Spirited , yet shy. Composed , yet awkward. Amusing , yet serious. Some of this was explained when I learned you’d lost your connection to your creature. But I’m being reminded of it now.”
I was getting annoyed.
“Because you’re surprised I give a shit about stuff?”
“No. Because the female who likes to cuddle in front of the screen with a tub of blobs, seemingly willing…no, actually determined to live in her own world and ignore the fact that everyone in four realms, or perhaps all twenty of them, is speculating about her, many of them sharpening their knives while they do so, is not the female who stands before me. This female is willing to hand them the whetstone as she sallies forth to do what she thinks is right.”
“I’m not a crusader, Aleksei . But I still think you shouldn’t hesitate to do what’s right.”
“I’m not a crusader either, Laura , but I am the True Heir . Right now, my mate is reminding me of that and showing me it’s time to take it seriously. I have yet to start defining what will be my reign. And now is the time I should, and shall, start. With my mate at my side.”
Gods!
He was just the best .
“The ritual is in forty-five minutes,” I informed him. “ We don’t have time for me to show my appreciation for you being so danged awesome.”
His lips curved. “ I’ll call that marker later.”
“Deal.”
He bent and touched his lips to mine.
Keeping them there, he said, “ I’ll go change.”
His suit today was navy.
You wore black to a passing ritual.
“I’ll pour myself another coffee.”
He gave me a squeeze with his arm.
I watched him walk up the stairs to change.
Then I poured myself another coffee.