Chapter 39
“Dinner was good.” Gabriel walked beside Ro in the palace gardens.
“It was.” She inhaled. The air was sweet with botanical perfumes. Luminous insects drifted past on their way to find their own supper. “I love this time of night. It’s so peaceful.”
“Especially in this garden.” He glanced at her, an easy smile on his lips. “With this company.”
She smiled back. “Thank you, by the way, for procuring that Silversmith blade for JT.” Gabriel had delivered it to JT right before dinner.
“You’re welcome. It’s good for him to have one.” He took her hand. “Are you nervous about tonight?”
“About going to sleep, you mean?” She took a deep breath. “Yes. That thing was terrifying.”
“I can imagine. I’ve heard tales of sylphnoct but never encountered one myself. I suppose that will change this evening.”
“Are you nervous?”
He had the audacity to smile. “I look forward to defending my queen and doing battle with the creature. Whoever is behind this will soon find out that they have chosen the wrong woman as their target.”
“I hope you’re right.”
He tugged her closer. “I would give my life to keep you safe.”
“Which is admirable, and I guess technically your job, but not the outcome I’m remotely interested in.” She stopped walking to hold onto him, her arms going around his waist.
“I promise, it’s not what I want either.”
She gazed up at him, amazed that the moonlight only made him more handsome. “What do you want, Lord Nightborne?”
His smirk remained. “To make my queen happy. To keep her safe. And be at her side whenever possible, for as long as I am able.”
She reached up to touch his jaw, the soft stubble of a day’s growth against her fingers. “There is an easy way to do all those things.”
He turned his head to kiss her fingers. “Do you think the citizens would think it so easy?”
“Not all of them, no. But at some point, my happiness has to matter a little more, don’t you think?
” She couldn’t imagine her future without him.
And he deserved more than just a place as her bodyguard.
And she was taking JT’s advice and going for it.
“I love you, Gabriel. That has to count for something.”
He drew her nearer. “I love you, too. But my need to protect you affects everything I do where you’re concerned. Every decision I make. Every question I ask.”
There was one question she was very much ready for him to ask. “Don’t you think it would be easier to protect me if we were always together?”
He stared into her eyes like he was trying to read her mind. Maybe he was. He nodded. “Yes.”
The word was a breath, carried away on the evening breeze.
“Ask me,” she breathed back.
He hesitated. “I have no token of my affection. Nothing to offer you as proof of my commitment.”
She smiled suddenly. “Should I be concerned about that? Are you liable to suddenly change your mind and disappear?”
He let out a soft chuckle. “I forget, sometimes, that you are an uncommon woman.” He took her hand, kissed her knuckles, then kneeled before her, his other hand on his heart. “Sparrow Meadowcroft, would you grant me the great honor of becoming my wife?”
Ro refused to cry, even though she felt tears creeping in. She nodded quickly as she whispered, “Yes.”
He leaped to his feet and took her in his arms, whirling her around in an uncharacteristic display of exuberance. She laughed as she clung to him. When her feet touched the ground, she held onto him still, unwilling to let go of him or the dream her life had become.
The soft clearing of a throat got her attention.
She looked over to see a royal guard standing a few yards away. His gaze was aimed somewhere to their left. She and Gabriel released each other.
Gabriel was instantly stern-faced and serious. “Do you have need of me or the queen, soldier?”
“Her highness, sir. A letter has come from Malveaux.”
What now? was Ro’s internal response. Outwardly, she nodded. “Thank you. Do you have it?”
“No, your highness. I was only sent to look for you. The messenger is at the door of your quarters.”
“Then we’re on our way.” Reluctantly, she thought. “Let the messenger know.”
“Yes, your highness.” The guard took off.
Ro looked at Gabriel and smiled. She kissed him.
He slid his arm around her waist and murmured softly against her mouth, “He definitely saw us.”
She laughed, too happy not to. “And I definitely don’t care.”
He grinned, too.
“You know,” she said, her voice light with happiness. “When our engagement is announced, people will know we’ve been kissing.”
“I’m aware.”
She grabbed his hand and started heading back toward the palace. “Just wanted to be sure.”
They reached her door a few minutes later. A footman stood with the guards, the aforementioned letter on a tray. She took it, thanked him, and they went inside.
“Lights,” she commanded, flooding the space with more than enough to see by.
Instead of going to her usual chair in the sitting room, she took a spot on the couch. “Sit next to me.”
He did, close enough that they crowded each other. She wouldn’t have had it any other way. She broke the seal, unfolded the paper, and read out loud.
“To Queen Sparrow Meadowcroft,
“I accept your invitation to meet in Summerton.
After much reflection, I believe the time has come for us to speak face to face, away from the shadows of the past. I ask only that you provide a safe and neutral location within your kingdom.
A place where neither side need fear treachery or ambush.
I cautiously trust that you will choose a site that will suit such delicate talks.
“I shall bring with me only my two lady’s maids and my personal bodyguard. No one else. They are loyal and discreet, and I trust them as I trust few others in these uncertain times.
“I hope, with all sincerity, that we may achieve a lasting peace between our kingdoms. The realm has bled enough. My mother is too weak to travel, but I carry her hopes as well as my own when I say that a new day may yet dawn for the Grym and the Radiant alike.
“If it pleases you, my party and I would prefer to arrive by portal. Travel by any other means would take too long and I fear time grows short.
“I await your reply and your assurances of safe conduct.
“With cautious optimism, Queen Beatryce Blackbryar.” She looked at Gabriel. “I have some opinions, but what do you think about that?”
He took a deep breath. “I think I’m not sure how much is truth and how much is subterfuge.”
She nodded. “I feel the same way. What part do you think she’s lying about?”
“For one, I don’t think Beatryce’s hopes have anything to do with peace.”
“I can personally attest to that.”
“For another, I find it highly improbable that Beatryce would come with only her bodyguard.”
“And two lady’s maids,” Ro added. “That’s an odd selection of people. Do you get the feeling that she’s trying to do this on the sly?”
His eyes narrowed.
“In other words, no one else knows about this meeting.” Ro tapped the paper. “Why else would she want to come by portal? Sure, it’s quicker, but to me, it feels like she’s trying to keep this very hush-hush.”
“Yes.” He put his arm around her shoulders. “I would never give my blessing to such a meeting, so either those around her don’t know she’s doing this, or those around her know and don’t care what the outcome is.”
“Possibly because they’re rooting for it to go badly.”
Gabriel nodded slowly. “Ishmyel is next in line for the throne. If something happened to Beatryce, the crown would fall to him.”
Ro gave that some thought. “What kind of leader would he be?”
“I don’t honestly know. After watching his brother and sister-in-law die by poisoning, I’d like to think he’d want an end to the animosity between our kingdoms. He had to know Leda was responsible for the deaths of Queen Kessa and her children.
I’m not saying that means the revenge poisoning of Malveaux’s king and queen was right, but it certainly had cause. ”
“Yes, but Anyka had to know that, too, and she still wanted me dead.”
He exhaled. “I know. I can’t guess what kind of ruler Ishmyel would be.”
“Is he ruthless enough to want his great-niece removed from the throne?”
Gabriel arched a brow. “What do you think?”
“He’s a Blackbryar. I suppose that’s answer enough.” She looked at the letter again. “I can’t believe Beatryce has agreed to come here. I’m going to have to figure out a place for the meeting that checks all of these boxes.”
“That’s simple enough,” he said. “Starfall. We’ve yet to transport Nazyr and Valentyne. We can make that part of the trip. And not only will that prevent Beatryce from porting directly into the castle, but it will put some distance between this meeting and your new family.”
“I like that. But I’m not thrilled about her having the portal code for your estate, either.”
“Uldamar can create a temporary one for the meeting. A setting that’s only good for a limited amount of time.
Say ten or fifteen minutes from the moment it’s activated, then it closes the portal down.
That will prevent a flood of Malveauxian guards from following Beatryce, just in case that’s what she’s got planned. ”
She nodded. “That’s very smart. What else do you need to do to get Starfall ready?”
“Not much. I doubt they’ll be interested in staying for a meal, but I could lay in some additional refreshments.”
“I have a feeling even that won’t be necessary.” She kept staring at the letter, like there was something she was missing. “Let’s talk to Uldamar, work out a day and time, get the portal setting and send the response. The sooner we do this, the better.”
“Less time for them to perfect whatever plan they might have in place?”
“Yes. And less time for them to back out.”
“I’ll make sure your response is sent this evening.”
“Thank you.” Her frustration with all of this had reached a new level.
“This is Malveaux’s absolute last chance.
I’m putting that in my response, too. Whatever happens at this meeting, there will be an outcome that changes things.
It should have happened at Tenebrae, but it didn’t. This time, it will.”
His brows rose. “You sound very— What’s the mortal world’s expression? Take no prisoners?”
She snorted softly, but there was nothing amusing about the way she was feeling. “Actually, I think taking prisoners might be exactly what I do.”