Chapter 3
Chapter
Three
Luka paced the length of Prince Shane’s office, waiting for Izabel.
The room was rich and opulent, with silk rugs, gleaming stained wood desks, beaten silver panels on the walls, and leather sofas arranged around a crackling fire.
In the past, he’d enjoyed sitting here, talking to Shane while they sipped glasses of smooth, cask-aged, sorghum whiskey. But not tonight.
He hated everything about this idea.
He and Dashiell had brought Narya’s body in through the main gates in a crate of weapons they’d taken from the city guard watchtower.
They left the weapons in the barracks and slipped into Shane’s office using the back corridors and avoiding the guard rotations.
By the time he could send a messenger to bring the prince, Aiden, Kai, and Cori—the people Luka still considered his closest friends—for an urgent meeting, his tunic was damp with sweat, his scales rose like hackles across the back of his neck, and his beast was growling almost constantly. And then it got worse.
Shane listened to his report, took one horrified look at Narya’s body, and immediately sent Aiden to fetch Izzy. Not just fetch. Smuggle her in like a dirty secret. Against Luka’s strenuous objections.
Luka disagreed, argued, and, in the end, almost begged. He even tried to convince Aiden, Kai, and Cori to support him, but Shane overruled him. The prince folded his ruby-scaled arms over his chest and decreed that Izzy was going to help. The end.
We could challenge him to battle. Do it properly.
Luka grunted at his beast. Teeth and claws were not the solution here.
I don’t need violence. I need to protect Izzy. It rolled its eyes. Unlike you.
Luka walked to the window and stared out at the darkness. He wrapped his hands around the tight muscles in the back of his neck and muttered under his breath, “I’m not challenging the prince.”
You won’t listen to anything, his beast growled back. I could easily solve our problems.
Luka spun on his heel, ignoring it as he paced.
His gaze fell on Sergeant Dashiell. The soldier stood a little apart from everyone else, beside a bookcase filled with ancient philosophical tomes.
His gaze wandered over the spines with an unreadable expression.
Perhaps discomfort. Perhaps worry. Either way, it was time the sergeant left.
He needed to go well before Izzy arrived.
“Sergeant Dashiell,” Luka said, walking across to offer a polite bow. “Thank you for your help tonight. As always—in keeping with your guardian vow—I ask you to keep everything you’ve seen and heard to yourself.”
“Of course,” Dashiell answered firmly, looking him in the eye.
Luka watched him carefully. No scales flickered, he didn’t fidget or touch his face.
He looked like a man who’d had a challenging night and risen to it.
“Thank you. You may have averted a real catastrophe,” Luka said sincerely.
“It’s best if you return to your duties now.
I’ll write a note to Commander Lydia of the city guard.
Please ask her to come to me if she has questions about where you were tonight. ”
“I will, thank you.” Dashiell turned to face Shane and dropped a respectful bow. “Your Highness, since I’m here—” He settled into parade rest, hands clasped behind his back. “—I would like to apply to join your investigation. I would like to help if I can.”
Shane nodded slowly. “What are you thinking?”
“I would be very grateful for the opportunity to work with the castle guards. Perhaps I could help with this… situation.” He shifted his weight ever so slightly, similar to how he’d moved earlier.
“Later, when this is all resolved, perhaps you might consider me for a permanent role within the castle guards.”
Shane lifted an eyebrow toward Luka. “Knight Captain?”
Luka had to admire the stones on this soldier.
Dashiell had braved the darkness of the Nabaspath, and now he’d seen a chance and taken it.
It was—still—very difficult to break out of the city ranks and into the castle guard.
Especially for a poor boy from Naos. Gods knew, if Luka hadn’t shifted, he would still be there himself.
Luka mentally nudged his beast, hoping it had insight to add.
I don’t know, his beast muttered. I can’t get a good read on him.
Neither could Luka. But was it surprising?
People said that about him, too. If you grew up poor and alone in Naos, you soon learned to keep your thoughts—and any hint of vulnerability—to yourself.
And Dashiell had saved them from a potential disaster.
He’d come to find Luka instead of simply walking away and pretending he’d never seen a thing.
How many people would have done the same?
Luka nodded slowly. It was unconventional, but he could give Dashiell a chance. “Okay, I’ll arrange with Commander Lydia to transfer you here until we’ve resolved this crisis. We could benefit from the help, and you can use the time to prove yourself.”
Dashiell rocked back on his heels and flashed a brief grin before dropping into a perfect court bow. “Thank you, sir. I’ll do my best.”
Luka grabbed some paper from a nearby desk and scrawled a note to Commander Lydia confirming the secondment. He handed it to Dashiell, who tucked it safely in his inside pocket. “Go home, Sergeant, and get some rest. I’ll expect you back here for training at dawn.”
Dashiell bowed again, paid his respects to Shane, and then let himself out.
The door closed behind him with a quiet click, leaving them in heavy silence.
Quiet enough that Luka could hear Dashiell murmuring a greeting as he passed someone in the passage.
Fuck. He’d hoped to keep Izzy’s arrival from everyone outside their small inner circle.
But it was too late to worry about it. Too late to even think of anything over the joyous purr of his beast as it spun in his belly.
She’s coming. Finally. It’s been over a year!
Luka growled under his breath. There was nothing joyous about this. It was an unmitigated disaster, and if he could have stopped it, he absolutely would have.
The door opened, and he stilled, all senses focused on her. He’d been counting the minutes since Aiden went to get her—half in anticipation, half in dread—and yet he still wasn’t ready.
The upheaval of his life as a child had taught him one thing: always be in control. And he managed it admirably in every part of his life… except around Izzy. Having her here, a part of this nightmare, made it even worse.
Izzy looked around, taking in the room. Did she see an array of soldiers?
First Lieutenant Aiden accompanied her, First Lieutenant Kai stood with Captain Cori beside the marble fireplace, Crown Marshall Prince Shanrick perched on a desk, his long legs stretched in front of him, and of course, there was Luka himself, knight commander of the castle guard.
Or did she see friends? Family even? They’d grown up together, learned together, and played together.
Their ties had been closer than blood. Until Rayan’s death, when it all faltered.
When everything imploded and they splintered apart.
Or did she see what Luka saw? The inner circle.
The people Shane would call if the wolves were at the gate.
Having them all in this room spelled nothing but trouble.
His beast stretched, trying to force him closer as Izzy called a greeting in response to the chorus of hellos from the room. Gods, she’s beautiful.
Of course she was. With her green eyes and silvery hair, shapely legs outlined by leather breeches, and soft curves filling her blue and gold bodice, he dreamed about her more often than he wanted to admit.
But it was more than that. It was the generosity of her heart, her courage, her resilience and intelligence.
Everything about her made her beautiful.
She had hurried to reach them. Her cheeks were reddened by the wind, her lips were dry, and her hair was a loose mass falling to her shoulders. There were also dark rings under her eyes, and his beast growled in his belly at the sight of them.
“You look tired,” Luka muttered, not quite under his breath, feeling irritated again that they’d dragged her from her bed. Even more irritated at the thought of who else might be in that bed. And irritated at himself for being irritated.
Izabel’s chin lifted, but not before he saw the flicker of hurt.
Fuck. She’d heard him. “Well, hello to you too, Luka. You know, if you want to insult me, you could do so without dragging me out of my bed.” She tapped a long finger against her lips.
“Although you’d have to acknowledge I exist first, so I see your quandary. ”
You’re an asshole, his beast growled at him, instantly taking Izzy’s side and sending a ripple of spiked scales up his back.
Luka frowned at his beast in response but didn’t disagree. He hadn’t meant to hurt her, but somehow he always did. Gods, this was exactly why he stayed away.
Aiden threw Luka an unimpressed glance and then stepped closer to Izzy and settled a hand protectively on her back.
Luka’s beast thrashed in his belly, but he held it back. Aiden was a friend. He wasn’t hurting her. And, more importantly, Izabel could touch anyone she wanted. She had a lover. The gods knew he had touched people in the three years since she’d left.
It’s been three years, two months, and seventeen days since you shoved her away, his beast growled. And don’t lie to yourself. You touched exactly two people. Both over three years, one month, and seventeen days ago. And we both know how horrible you felt afterward.
Luka held in his own growl. Just. He might have actually told the beast to shut up, even with a room full of people as audience, but the look on Izzy’s face stopped him. Tiredness and pain. The expectation of worse to come.
Perhaps she was remembering the last time they were all in a room together.
The day of Rayan’s funeral. After that, Izabel left the castle physiks to live and work in the city.
Cori, Aiden, and Kai resigned from the castle guard, joined the military, and accepted a commission that took them miles away to the northern border.
Shane threw himself into seducing everyone with a pulse.
And Luka had focused on simplicity, on his career and his duties. On the things he could control.
Exactly, his beast rumbled. You stripped every iota of joy out of life.
That was irrelevant. The point was, they’d all gone their own ways. They’d fractured and splintered. And now they were back. And dragging Izzy into their mess.
“What is happening?” she asked. “Aiden said that everyone was fine, but Princess Iona and the queen… they’re not here. Are they—”
“They’re both well,” Shane reassured her. “But we’ve decided to leave them out of this for now.”
That really is a mistake. Luka’s beast glared at Shane.
“You’ve decided. Not me,” Luka snapped. That was the second thing they’d argued about and that Shane had overruled him on.
Izabel ignored their squabble as her eyes traveled over the desks strewn with papers, maps on the walls, and the weapons stacked neatly in the corner to land on the sheet-covered shape stretched over the far table. “What is this, exactly?”
“Earlier tonight, Sergeant Dashiell of the city guard found a young woman’s body on the Nabaspath—” Luka explained the rough details of their grim evening. “We need to know how she died, but Shane felt it would be best to keep everything quiet for now.”
He didn’t say, “Tell us quickly and then you can go,” but he wanted to.
“Who is she?” Izabel asked as she stepped up toward the table and laid her hand on the sheet.
“Her name is Narya,” Shane replied. “She’s the most senior lady-in-waiting in Archthane Batlok’s party, tending to Lady Kaliska. They’re friends….” He winced. “And she is—was—Batlok’s niece.”
“Mother of the Weave.” Izabel looked around at all the people in the room, scales gleaming on her cheekbones. She knew how serious this was. They all did.
Archthane Batlok held the promise of peace in his hands, and he was using it to establish himself as the ultimate power in the region.
What would he demand from them to smooth this over?
Almost certainly more than Hugaeb could afford to give…
and probably someone’s death in return for the loss of his niece.
Izzy lifted the sheet corner and looked down at the lifeless face of the dead woman. Luka could almost feel her shuddering breath. Izzy had always had the most empathy of all of them. It took everything he had to stop his beast from storming over to her side and dragging her into his arms.
Why are you stopping? She needs us!
Unlikely. Izzy had moved on. The last person she wanted was him.
Can’t you see the way her shoulders have hunched. The sorrow in her expression. She needs us.
Maybe. But it couldn’t be him. He had learned to live without her.
This is not living. His beast growled.
“Can you tell us anything, Iz?” Shane asked, unaware of Luka’s internal battle. “If you have any answers, we would all be grateful.”
Luka grunted, perhaps a little too loudly.
He wasn’t hoping she had any answers at all.
He wanted Izzy to be safe and warm at home in her bed, not anywhere near this disaster that threatened to destroy anyone even vaguely associated with it.
He wanted to take Narya’s body straight to the queen, so it was clear they were treating this seriously.
Then they could haul Physik General Melo out of her bed and let her do her job. And not involve Izzy.
Izabel glared at him. “What?”
Luka glared back, too unsettled by the constant churning of his beast to say anything other than the truth. “Don’t look at me. I didn’t want you here.”
Izabel sighed and turned away, but he knew he’d hurt her. Again.
You’re such an asshole. I wish I didn’t have to be here with you.
Luka shook his head at himself. His beast was right, he was an asshole. It was exactly why he was better off alone.
But he couldn’t leave. It was his duty—and his chosen responsibility—to save Shane from this nightmare.
And Izzy.
Her too. Like always.
And you’ve already fucked that up.
Yes. Like always.