Chapter 34 #2
“When B didn’t show for morning conditioning, I figured she was busy and flew to the wharf to check in with Drake.
He made an offhand comment about Jovie likely being too tired from the night before,” Messer says, returning to his stool.
“He said a palace aide came to the tavern to retrieve you, Fredrich, personally, and I immediately knew something was up, because B would never send a request for a late-night rendezvous.”
But when both Fredrick and Acker’s gazes land on me with the same knowing expression, Messer notices instantly, eyes widening at the heat slowly coloring my cheeks. “It’s not up for discussion,” I tell him firmly.
“No shit?” he says, a sly grin quirking his mouth. “This makes this whole dynamic much more interesting.” He looks from Fredrich to Acker. “That explains the skirmish on deck.”
Acker’s eyes darken. “She said it’s not up for discussion.”
The longer Messer stares, the more uncomfortable I get. Eyes darting between the three of us for a long, assessing a moment before he nearly jolts out of his seat at whatever he sees. “Both at the same time?” he asks, turning to me with eyes wide.
I cradle my face in my hand.
He slaps the table, a sharp bark of laughter escaping him. “I’m damn proud of you, B!”
I elbow him with enough oomph behind it that it shuts him up, his smile faltering as he grunts with pain.
Irina’s eye roll is practically audible. “As if using your title to procure sexual favors is something to be proud of.”
Acker’s eyes flash with anger as he turns to snap, “And how do you classify your relationship with Wesley, then? Are only you allowed to have a consort?”
It’s Irina’s turn to be embarrassed, her face turning beet red. I don’t allow my curiosity to get the best of me. I don’t need to know who this Wesley is or what he means in terms of their marriage. None of it is my business.
“Anyway,” Messer says, alleviating the tension as he dives back into his explanation.
“I flew to B’s balcony but found her room empty.
I almost didn’t think anything of it. Except, right before I was about to take off, I saw one of the rabbits in the palace courtyard carrying something odd in its mouth.
” He leans forward with his hands braced on the table, the sleeves a smidge shorter on his arms than they were on Wells’s.
“Imagine my surprise when I realized it was a string of mangi stones.”
I instinctively feel for the stones around my neck even though I logically know they’re not there.
“The scent of both you and B were still fresh in her room, but it was the smell of the sleeping fungi that confirmed my suspicions,” he says to Fredrich. “I followed it out the palace’s front door before I lost the trail, but I figured that if I stuck with Acker, you’d come to me with B in tow.”
“He could have been acting alone,” Acker says, noncommittal.
Messer gives him a look that says something like do I look stupid to you? and Acker returns the look with one of his own that says Messer wouldn’t like his answer.
“And Wells?” Fredrich inquires.
Messer shrugs as he begins to graze on the remaining food. “Evelyn has likely put the pieces together by now, and she’s undoubtedly pissed. I’m not sure what that means for your friend, considering he arrived with her kidnapper, but I imagine there’s a tiny bit of torture involved.”
Acker’s mouth thins as he considers the position Wells is in. The position he put him in.
“Beau won’t let anything happen to him,” I assure Acker and Fredrich both. “My mother will question him, yes, but not in the way Messer wants you to believe.”
“You could have let him worry for a little longer, B,” Messer says, his mouth full. “So, what’s the plan, Ace?”
Acker only gives Messer an acrid look in reply.
“Please tell me I didn’t subject myself to your wonderful company for days on end only to find you don’t even have a plan of action,” Messer says.
Sucking on his teeth, Acker cocks his head to the side, eyes sliding to Irina. An understanding passes between the two of them that has me averting my eyes, and I once again have to remind myself that my curiosity will be the death of me if I don’t get it under control.
He returns his gaze to Messer, then myself, before he says, “I want to cut off the head off the snake.”
“Oh, we knew your father had to go a long time ago,” Messer says. “Don’t take credit for our idea now.”
An amused smile tugs at Acker’s mouth that makes me sit forward. “Not just my father. All of them.”
“You want to kill all the current monarchs?” I ask.
He tilts his head back and forth. “More or less.”
“That won’t solve anything, only allow more power-hungry fools to take their places,” Messer says. “My father’s been third in command of the Alaha for decades and has been itching for Wren’s title the whole time, and I guarantee you we don’t want that fucker sitting on any throne.”
“We replace them,” Fredrich interjects.
As I look around the table, the puzzle pieces begin falling into place. Irina, Acker, and I all have legitimate claims to a territory. That’s three out of five already present and accounted for. One of us with a secured title already—me.
Acker nods, as if he can see me coming to the right conclusion, and says, “We will be the ones to choose who gets to wear a crown.”
“And if the councils object?” Messer asks.
Acker shrugs as if the answer is as easy as it is simple.
“Then they die.”