Sigil
The text comms from my besties were coming fast and furious as the soni-jet cut through the airspace over the realms.
It was all a lot of chin up, hang in there, you got this, it’ll be over before you know it, what will be will be, but what we know is you’ll handle it cheerleading, and I appreciated it, but it wasn’t working.
I was not a female who got nervous.
But when the jet instigated landing procedures, and I looked down through dark at the well-lit bay, beside which stood a male and his dog next to some kind of craft, there was no denying it.
I was nervous.
It was part Tanyn.
It was part the shadowy castle I’d spied on making our approach.
A castle that stood atop a very tall plateau that had a few warm golden lights blinking in some windows, but mostly, it seemed like a dark, ominous menace, looming over the island.
The jet made its hovering descent, landed, and after I heard the whoosh of it settling, I pulled on my coat, my hat and my gloves, grabbed my bag and rose from the plush seat, one of several that lined the sides of the narrow, arrow-like craft.
The door hissed open and the steps folded out when I approached. The pilot had come out of the cockpit and was nodding to me to precede him.
I stepped out, and instantly, my nostrils froze.
Dear Lilith, I’d never experienced cold this cold before.
In my spike-heeled boots, I walked down the steps, hand on the railing, needing it to steady me, because I was not about to take a header in front of the king.
But I had eyes to Tanyn.
And his dog.
Tanyn was wearing a sheepskin coat (and it looked real, naughty boy). Jeans. Some kind of thick sweater. Gloves. And startlingly in this cold, his head was bare, so his thick dark hair was being mussed by the wind.
His dog came biologically outfitted for the weather.
It was a compact, medium-sized fluffball with a mix of light gray and dark gray with some white fur, an adorable pointy face and equally adorable pointy ears. His mouth was open, pink tongue exposed, and he looked like he was smiling.
It wasn’t a lapdog, it wasn’t a big dog. I didn’t know the breed.
But somehow, he fit Tanyn perfectly.
I, on the other hand, was in high-heeled boots, wool trousers, a cashmere turtleneck, a full-length fur (fake) coat and matching hat. This was all in a sumptuous chocolate brown.
I looked like I was arriving to take on the slopes at Glacial Bay, not a female facing a weekend on a remote island that didn’t even have its own town.
And another micro emotion from my betrothed.
Tanyn was just that bare amount of smirking at me as I strolled across the cleared-of-all-but-wind-swirling-snow landing platform to him.
There was another thing I noticed on that platform, or more than one thing.
Defense bots were patrolling the perimeter.
Six of them.
When I made it to him, I dropped into the most ostentatious curtsy I could muster, dipping my head and throwing out my arm and everything.
I said to the platform, “Your Royal Majesty.”
I rose.
And Tanyn stated, “If you do that again, I’ll tie you naked to my bed for the next two days.”
I blinked, because he sounded like he meant that.
He looked beyond me.
I twisted to do the same and saw my two cases hovering toward the craft that was waiting behind Tanyn, along with several crates.
“You packed two suitcases to be away for two days?” Tanyn asked.
This was not a ploy, as such. It was a part of my personality I was going to lean into because it was my understanding no male enjoyed being with a high maintenance female.
And I was as high maintenance as they came.
“I need choice. I have a certain aesthetic I like to maintain. And winter clothes take up a lot of room,” I explained.
Tanyn chose not to reply and instead left me to go and address the pilot, who was engaged in loading the stuff up in Tanyn’s waiting craft.
I looked down at the dog.
He looked up at me.
“So, you must be Hurley,” I said.
At the sound of his name, his hind end came up so he could wag his tail more vigorously, he licked his chops, and it seemed his smile got bigger.
I crouched beside him and held out a gloved hand.
He sniffed it, then launched his happy-puppy furry bulk at me.
I chuckled and held him off from knocking me over with his exuberance and ruining my makeup with his tongue at the same time I pet him.
“Nice to meet you too.”
“Let’s fly,” Tanyn bid.
I looked up to see him towering over us, his gaze moving from me to his dog and back to me.
I straightened and called, “Thank you!” to the pilot who was re-entering the jet.
He waved his reply.
I moved to the craft that looked like a modified Utilisport. It was painted white. It was much bigger than your average Utilisport. And it had a vague appearance of being a military vehicle rather than a civilian one.
Tanyn didn’t open my door for me. I had to touch the button so it would swing open.
I then hauled myself into the cab, only to be sharing the front with Tanyn and Hurley.
He’d left it on and it was warm in there, which was welcome, and since the craft was large, there was room for the three of us.
However, I’d never shared the front of a craft with a dog.
Hurley panted excitedly at the skyscreen.
Tanyn sent us swooping up a snow-covered path that wound around the plateau to the citadel, one side (my side) nothing but an increasingly steep fall.
We heard the jet take flight and that was when I asked, “Are we the only breathing beings on this island now?”
“No,” Tanyn answered. “Mangold and Zyra are here, because they live here. There’s also a crew of seven Red Grenadiers along with the two serving bots and twenty defense bots.”
Of course, he’d have security too.
Heavy security.
“Are they staying at the citadel?” I inquired.
“No. I had barracks constructed for them at the base of the plateau.”
So, during our compatibility trial, I wouldn’t be eating breakfast with seven Red Grenadiers.
The Grenadiers were the elite squads in Sky’s Edge army. They were renowned. Hence, I was a little disappointed about that.
At this point, we swooped into an open area behind the citadel and stopped. This area, from what I could tell in the dark, was the only open space to be had up there, considering the building was built to the very edges of the plateau.
And I saw a male and female come out a door.
He was burly, had a thick head of steel-gray hair, an even thicker beard and was only wearing a sweater, jeans and boots. No hat. No coat. No gloves. He had demon black eyes, but at the present time they had an inquisitive sparkle, and they were on me.
She was slender, tall, attractive and wearing much the same thing. Her hair was a rich auburn, thick and shining, her eyes were tawny, and yes, inquisitive (further, also on me).
Tanyn angled out, Hurley jumped down behind him, and I let myself out.
I followed him to where he stopped to stand with the beings.
“Manny, Zyr, this is Catla, my fiancée,” Tanyn introduced.
They bobbed and Zyra murmured, “Milady.”
“I’m not—”
I didn’t finish because Tanyn interrupted me.
“Supplies and Catla’s cases are in the back of the Armored. Can you see to them?”
“Of course,” Mangold agreed.
“Welcome to Sigil,” Zyra said to me.
“I’d say thank you, but I’m too busy worrying about the three of you not wearing hats,” I replied on a smile, and I didn’t stop there. “My nostrils are frozen.”
Zyra and Mangold chuckled heartily.
“You get used to it, lass,” Mangold informed me.
“How long have you lived here?” I asked.
“Some thirty-odd years,” Mangold answered.
I nodded. “Makes sense it would take that long.”
They laughed again, and for some bizarre reason, they appeared relieved.
“Shall we get you inside?” Tanyn suggested.
Out in that cold, inside sounded good to me.
With a smile to Mangold and Zyra, I trailed Tanyn in, and Tanyn was following Hurley, who led our pack.
It was difficult to take anything in, since it was so dark everywhere and my eyes hadn’t adjusted, but to my surprise, the hallways were narrow, so in order not to run into anything, I kept my gaze on Tanyn’s back.
Finally, we came into a lit room, one I recognized from his comm yesterday.
In person, I saw the room was not large at all, even if the fireplace, which had a cheerfully roaring fire in it, was. There was a lot of comfortable, attractive, but very lived-in furniture and so many throws, no matter where you chose to sit, you didn’t have to reach far to grab one.
Homey, worn, but still lovely, deep-pile rugs covered the dark wood floors. There were no lamp drones, but actual lamps on tables, ones that plugged into outlets on the walls. Some of them were on, not all, and they lit the room like a seduction scene.
Hmm.
There was indeed a balcony off the room, windowed doors to it, and there were two more narrow windows on either side of it a bit away from the door.
And the whole place had a delightful nuance of the scent of evergreens.
“Have you eaten?” Tanyn asked, shrugging off his coat and tossing it on the back of a chair.
“No,” I answered.
“Do you want to eat or relax and have a drink first?”
I seriously needed a drink.
“Drink,” I said, dropping my bag onto the seat of the chair he’d used.
Pulling off my hat, and since he was moving to a drinks cabinet rather than helping me with my outer gear, I set it on the back of the chair, tugged off my gloves and shoved them in a pocket of my coat. I took that off too and tossed it on top of the rest.
I smoothed my hair so I didn’t have hat head, then moved to a snug, inviting, deep-seated armchair that was placed perpendicular to the fire and across from another chair a lot like it, however mine was a rust color, and the one across from it was the color of pine.
“What do you want?” Tanyn asked from the cabinet.
“Martini. Vodka, olives,” I answered, tugging off my boots so I could curl into the chair and tuck a throw around me.
Yes, it was a whole lot warmer in here than it was outside.
No, the chill wasn’t entirely beaten back.
After I got comfy, Hurley trotted over, sat beside me, and I reached down to pet his head.