Chapter Thirteen #2
surface from his consuming deliciousness.
“Maxie?” he queried.
“Yes. Pink and cream sweetheart ro—”
“Satrine, it’s your wedding. Not
hers.”
“I—”
He shook his head. “I’m not being an ass. I’ve no doubt you
wish to involve your sister. And we shall. But it’s the only wedding you’ll
have so you should have what you wish.”
“Oh my gods,” I griped. “Stop being amazing when I’m mad at
you for leaving me for two weeks and for stopping kissing me.”
He grinned, dipped in, nipped my bottom lip, that was so
hot, I experienced a mini-orgasm, then he pulled away.
“You’re pulling away again,” I complained.
“We have things to talk about.”
“Is the world ending?”
He grinned again. “Not that I know.”
I tried to draw him down to me, mumbling, “Then they can
wait.”
I cried out as I was lifted and my ass was planted on the
edge of Dad-not-Dad’s desk, but not for good reasons.
Loren left me there and moved to stand behind a chair.
I narrowed my eyes at his new position.
“I can’t even,” I stated.
“And you won’t, until you learn to be good.”
How could he be hot when he was being a wet blanket?
“Warning, Marquess of Gorgeousness, I’m very rarely good.”
His expression changed, I was pretty sure I experienced a
not-so-mini-orgasm, and then his expression gentled.
“We have a future to discuss, dearest.”
He didn’t know the half of it, and the thing that killed me
was, he might not ever know it.
Because I was very probably stuck there, and I was totally
down with marrying this awesome guy I barely knew.
But I could never, not ever, tell him anything about the
real me.
Not only because he probably wouldn’t believe me, but
because I’d curse me and Mom if I did it.
“Well, I suppose I’m now listening,” I grumbled.
“The business I had to attend to was that King Noctorno summoned me.”
“No sh…fooling?”
“Sh-fooling?” he asked.
“I was going to curse,” I admitted.
“You can be you with me, Satrine.”
Yeah.
Right.
I could do that…
Satrine.
“Can we talk about a summons from a king and not my
foul mouth?”
He nodded. “This is why I couldn’t say what I was doing.
When Tor calls, sometimes the matters he needs to discuss are confidential.”
“Right,” I whispered.
Badass, I thought.
“This time, it was about a couple of things, one of which
was your father.”
I felt my eyes widen. “Dad?”
Another nod from Loren. “Due to the nature, audaciousness
and extent of his crimes, the magistrate sent a bird.”
Update: they didn’t have phones, or telegrams, they had
birds. Like carrier pigeons, but instead they were ravens and they pretty much
never failed in delivering their message, unless they were shot down during
wartime and such.
Another update: I’d learned that in a book. I’d also learned
it when the modiste, Madame Toussaint, asked Mom, “Would you like me to send a
bird to Benies? You need their silk. It’s
from Firenze. It’s sublime. It’ll take perhaps six weeks to get here,
that is, after the bird arrives with our order, so we’ll say ten weeks, but it
will be very worth it.”
Further update: We sent a bird for the silk.
Last update (for now): The reason Ansley gave me that look
when I talked about the birds singing to me and mice being my friends was
because animals talked to you in this world. Birds. Cats. Mice. (I told you!
This place was Disney in real life!) It happened to Mom and me with a stray cat
at first. We were walking down the street with Maxie. We flipped out. This
flipped Maxine out. Carling was escorting us to a patisserie. He flipped out
when we all flipped out. It was a huge thing.
In the end, we had to pretend we were playing a game, and
thank gods they bought it.
Wait, one more update: Mom adopted that cat, mostly because
the cat asked to go home with us. His name was Mr. Popplewell (according to Mr.
Popplewell). He was ginger with some white. He’d gained at least five pounds
since we’d had him (and he was not svelte to start with) due to Mom stuffing
him with chicken and fish. He slept with her. Doted on Maxine. And cuddled with
me. Because, you guessed it, Maxine and I stuffed him with chicken and fish
too.
“The magistrate sent a bird?” I prompted.
“Tor returned a bird and froze your father’s access to his
assets. You, your mother, any representatives you decide, can access what you
wish. Your father can make no decisions about his estate until, perhaps, after
his trial.”
“Holy cow,” I breathed.
Well, that explained why Dad-not-Dad hadn’t taken any
action.
Loren smiled. “Yes. It’s unprecedented. But I can say, by
the time I arrived to meet him, Tor was still decidedly displeased.”
“I’d guess so,” I remarked. “But what did you mean by
‘perhaps’ until after his trial?”
“Tor is traveling here to sit and hear his defense
personally.”
The king was coming to sit in judgment on Dad-not-Dad?
“Holy cow times a thousand. Really?” I asked.
More smiling and nodding from Loren.
“Will I meet him?”
“I’m afraid you’ll have no choice. He and Cora will be
expecting us for dinner after they arrive in Newton.”
This just kept getting better!
“I get to meet the queen too?”
“Indeed.”
This was awesome!
“Do you think he’ll keep Father’s access to his assets
frozen while he’s in jail?”
“The impression I get is that Tor is frustrated with his
nobles behaving like they have the run of the country and can do anything they
wish at any time to anyone, without any consequences. His father was a good
man, a fine king, but he was a traditionalist. He tended to let the peers of
his realm act as they always had, with veritable impunity. Tor is a far more
modern sort of king.”
Wow.
How cool.
Loren went on, “And he’s felt he’s done what he can to make
his statement moderately, but there are those who aren’t catching on, for
instance, your father. So he’s looking to set an example.”
I could not for the life of me stop my smile.
Loren returned it.
“So what does that mean?” I asked.
“I’ve no idea, darling. But unless Tor’s mood improves
significantly before your father’s trial, or Derryman finds some adequate
defense, I’m afraid things aren’t looking good for him.”
“Good,” I whispered.
“Indeed,” he replied.
Except…
“Hang on, do you guys behead people or anything?” I asked.
“Not anymore,” he answered.
“I think that’s good.”
He chuckled.
“Okay, that was almost worth you stopping kissing
me.”
His frame locked, weirdly, and his eyes bored into mine.
Then his lips stated, “You are extraordinary.”
Aww.
“What a lovely thing to say,” I replied.
“You mistake me, Lady Satrine
Dawes soon-to-be Copeland. I have known many women, traveled near and far, and you
are extraordinary.”
Holy fuck.
My heart leapt, my eyes remained locked to his, and my
situation became even more complicated.
Because I was falling for this guy.
Fast.
This was because this guy was amazing.
Incredibly.
“Stop being awesome,” I warned, my nose stinging, my eyes
getting blurry.
“I missed you,” he said softly.
“You’re being awesome,” I warned.
He gave me a gentle smile.
I drew in a delicate breath.
“We have more to discuss, my darling,” he shared.
“All right,” I said hesitantly, because he was messing me
up, in good ways, which was bad.
“Tor is aware of our betrothal and wedding plans. One of the
reasons I sent word to Father to delay the wedding was that Tor wanted the
Derryman business out of the way in time for all of us to get to Dalwin Castle. He and Cora will be attending the wedding.”
“Yowza,” I replied.
“He’s also given me a choice, and I need to discuss it with
you, for it affects you as well.”
Intriguing.
“That being?” I asked.
“He’s already offered me a seat on his council. He is not
simply my king, I regard him as a friend, and he’s made clear he feels the same
for me.”
“You are rocking my world, your grace.”
He shook his head, mouth twitching, and carried on.
“I suspect he needs advisors around him he can trust. He
does his business in Bellebryn, which would not be a
difficult place to live. It’s on the western coast, and it’s beautiful there.”
It seemed like it was beautiful everywhere, so I believed
him.
“All right.”
“As an alternate choice, he’s also offered me an
ambassadorship to anywhere of my choosing. Fleuridia,
Lunwyn, even Korwahk or
Airen or Wodell.”
Dad-not-Dad had a globe in his office. Mom and I had studied
it acutely.
So I knew where all of these places were (Lunwyn north, Fleuridia south, Korwahk way south, on another continent, and Airen
and Wodell were on the continent of Triton due west
across the Green Sea).
“They’re both honors, am I right?” I inquired.
“Indeed.” He nodded. “Grand ones.”
“What do you want to do?” I queried.
“I have not been stuck in a secluded cottage in the Fleuridian countryside for twenty years. So rather, I’d
prefer to know what you want to do.”
Well…
Hell.
I, too, had not been stuck in a secluded cottage in the Fleuridian countryside.
In fact, just two months ago, Mom, Keith, my friend Holly
and I had rented a boat and sped and tubed and sunned and swam while spending a
happy day on Lake Pleasant.
“It’ll be your work,” I punted.
“It’ll be your life,” he rejoined.
“Our life,” I corrected.
And that was when it happened.
It started with Loren saying this:
“Honestly, Satrine, I don’t care
what I bloody do. None of that has any real meaning. Politics have been played
millennia before us and will be played for millennia after, without the people
seeing any real change. So it doesn’t matter. We could start in Wodell and make our way home. Hell, we could go to The
Mystics and around the globe. Whatever you wish. But he’ll want an answer when
he makes Newton.”
“At the joyous occasion of your return,” I started
cautiously, “I hesitate to get into anything heavy, honey. But that’s a rather
pessimistic viewpoint and I think maybe we should discuss why you have it.”
“Can you refute it?” he challenged.
“My father’s assets are currently frozen from his access
because the new king gives a shit about right and wrong.”
He shut up.
I gave him another example.
“I want to learn to drive that phaeton Father has, and
you’re going to teach me because I know in my heart that you know
females can drive carriages, even if the men before you felt differently.”
“Satrine—”
“Can we have time together, just you and me, please?”
He glanced around the study, making his point.
“Mom will want to spend time with you now that you’re back.
You’re marrying her daughter. We need to get to know each other. And she needs
to get to know you. Maxine needs to get used to you. And I don’t know why
Maitland is here, but I didn’t even say hello. Now is not the time for me to
provide you with ample proof that, in the long run, the world is good.”
“Your father was a narcissist and a degenerate. Your whole
life, you suffered for those personality flaws. And you sit before me and tell
me the world is good?”
“I had my mom,” I whispered.
“Six years into your life,” he shot back. “And yes, let’s
get together, just you and I, and you can share about those years where you
were banished, as a baby, and onward, for more than half a decade, from your
mother’s breast. You’ve spoken not a word about that time, and I sense I know
exactly why you haven’t.”
He’d sense wrong since that would be difficult to discuss,
since I wasn’t banished.
Which was probably why I flinched.
He didn’t miss it and bit off, “Precisely.” Then he drew in
a very deep breath and stated, far more gently, “That was reprehensible of me,
darling. I should never have mentioned it. It is yours to share if you wish, or
not, if that is as you wish.”
I evaded by saying, “Can you and I have time, just you and
me?”
“Of course, sweeting,” he whispered.
“So you know where my mind is, I just got Maxine back too. I
don’t really want to be in The Mystics right now.”
The Mystics, by the by, being due east.
“Of course.”
“Can we start kissing again?”
He gave me a tender look and moved to me.
He cupped my jaw and declined, gallantly.
“I need to spend time with your mother and sister.”
“Right.”
“And Maitland is never good on his own for too long. He
easily finds trouble.”
“He’s in my sitting room. There’s no trouble to be found
there.”
“He could be painting the walls with Maxine by now.”
I laughed softly.
“Don’t mind me, my dearest,” he said quietly. “I’m travel
weary. I made haste in getting back to you. I’ll be myself tomorrow.”
He was totally lying.
Though, the “made haste” part was super sweet.
“Okay.”
“Okay,” he replied.
I smiled, and I was so worried, I didn’t quite mean it.
Loren did the same.
But I feared he had a different reason for not meaning his.