Potion #2
“The future queen and mother of the future monarch that would not be Tatra or Tatra’s progeny? Yes.”
Well, shit.
I was going to have to stay protected, maybe not in Berg Castle, but definitely protected, and for Tanyn’s peace of mind, that would have to be in Berg Castle.
Oh yes.
Shit.
“Have you contacted her? What does Tatra have to say about all of this?” I asked.
“Tatra has disappeared from Snowy Ridge. No one knows where she is.”
I let him go and scooted away from him, such was my surprise.
“Are you serious?”
“I am, sweetheart, and”—he hooked me around the waist to pull me close again—“I didn’t trust her.
She was being watched. Not imprisoned, but watched.
Monitored. Ingoing and outgoing comms. I receive daily reports on what she does, who she sees, who comes to visit.
She went to bed last night and was nowhere to be found this morning.
And no one saw how she managed to escape. ”
“This would infer she knew we’d been warned of the threat,” I stated.
“It infers just that,” he replied.
“So not only is this further evidence she’s either involved, or the ringleader, it indicates she has resources,” I presumed.
“She has to. I didn’t send benchwarmers to look after her. She had undercover Red Watch agents on her detail.”
The Red Watch was Sky’s Edge espionage wing.
“Nothing slips past them. Except Tatra,” he concluded.
“This is dicked up,” I snapped.
“Entirely. Now, half the members of our military, law enforcement and intelligence agencies are looking for her. And there’s a high alert for her in the Center and all the realms.”
“Did Aleksei tell you about Gayle?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yes.”
“Was she threatened too? Have you heard from Cormac?”
“We have. And she wasn’t threatened.”
Really?
“So why did he take her?”
“Because I told him you were. And he knew Laura was. And he’s not taking any chances.”
“But…he told her he doesn’t want her and she should get on with her life,” I bit out.
“Telling her that, and a fae understanding his fated mate might be in danger are two different things,” he replied.
There was a good deal to go over with that.
And I was me.
Hence, I started right in.
“First, he doesn’t get to pick and choose the times he’s going to be her mate,” I stated bitterly.
“I would agree. Aleksei does too. Neither of us were happy about what he did with Gayle. But neither of us wanted to involve ourselves in it.” When I gave him the side eye, he added, “Mostly because it’s none of our business.”
“Well, it’s my business,” I declared.
“It really isn’t, baby,” he said gently.
“You are very wrong,” I shot back.
“Let’s agree to disagree on that,” he muttered.
He had a lot on his mind, so I wasn’t going to push this…for now.
“Okay then, moving on to the second bit about that, even if he has some mately urge to protect her, a dramatic kidnapping isn’t the way to go.” I found my Palm, lifted it and shook it. “I’ve been texting her, so has Laura, she isn’t texting back. He’s obviously cut her off.”
At that, Tanyn pulled out his own Palm, engaged it, and rather than bothering to type something in, he spoke into it, saying, “Send to Mac. You need to let Gayle contact her females. They’re worried. End message, send.”
With that, he tucked his phone back in his pocket.
“Do you think that’s going to work?” I asked.
“Mac is one step up from cavemale. He does what he wants, when he wants, and doesn’t give a shit about what anyone thinks about it.”
Sounded like someone I knew.
Ahem.
“Why wouldn’t he let us talk to her?”
“I’m not Mac, so I have no idea.”
Angrily, I crossed my arms on my chest. “Damn it, when I see that male again, I’m going to give him a piece of my mind.”
“There’s nothing we can do about it. Though, we know she’ll be well provided for. He may have taken her comm units for reasons only Cormac Claymore can comprehend, but she’ll be safe in one of their fortresses, and the Earthsabre Dynasty have never spared expense for luxury in their fortresses.”
I knew this.
I’d even seen digi-mag spreads on some of their properties.
They were sublime.
That didn’t make me feel better about my Gayle.
I shook that off and inquired, “Did Aleksei mention the whole weirdness around him and Laura, Cormac and Gayle and me and you?”
He reached out, wrapping his fingers around my wrist to pull one of my arms from being crossed on my chest.
He then commenced playing with my fingers while watching himself do it, another odd intimacy that was magnificently affecting.
Eventually, he looked at me.
“Once we learned Gayliliel was his mate, Bainon, Mac, Aleksei and I discussed this. Mac discounted it. I don’t think he’s discounting it now.”
He certainly was not.
“What about Bainon? Does he have a thing for our friend Monique or something?”
“We discussed that too. And no. He—”
He cut himself off.
“He what?” I prompted.
“This is highly confidential,” Tanyn warned.
I rolled my free hand (he was still holding my other one). “Right, right. Confidential. Blah, blah, blah. Who would I tell?”
“Your mom.”
Hmm.
“Your dad.”
Hmm again.
“Laura. Gayle. Monique,” he went on.
“Even if I did, they wouldn’t tell anyone.”
“Catla,” he said low.
I ground my teeth before I capitulated.
“Oh, all right. I won’t say anything to anybody.”
“His mate is Aleece.”
My mouth dropped open.
Aleece was Princess Aleece, Aleksei’s sister.
I closed my mouth so I could use it to ask incredulously, “How doesn’t she know it?”
“He’s spelled her so she won’t.”
Oh my gods!
“Why the hells did he do that?”
“To begin with, he wasn’t ready to go there. He reached puberty before she did, so he felt it when she would not, and even at that young age, he was well aware he’d one day be king. Therefore, the choice of his queen would have wide-ranging ramifications and had to be considered carefully.”
“So he spelled her?”
“Yes, he spelled her.” Tanyn confirmed. “As they got older, he didn’t release her because he wanted her to have time to live her life and do her thing before negotiations between the two royal houses of two realms could initiate. One can say, he hasn’t been enjoying that very much.”
I actually grimaced, not even knowing how it felt to have a fated mate.
But I couldn’t imagine Aleksei ever allowing Laura to sow her wild oats before he claimed her.
Though, it had to be said—especially by me, who had my fate taken away, perhaps not by destiny but instead, my father—it was a nice thing to do.
Tanyn kept going.
“While that was happening, with very bad timing, because Bainon was ready to go for it, Aleksei got involved with Bainon’s sister, which made a mess of things, especially when they got engaged, and then rather spectacularly un-engaged.”
“This is a muddle,” I remarked.
Tanyn agreed with a nod of his head. “Now, Bainon is stuck, because the beings in Dawn’s Break are furious Aleksei threw over their golden princess. He can’t release Aleece from the spell and announce she’s suddenly his fated mate and their future queen. It would be a PR nightmare.”
It really would.
“Totally a muddle,” I mumbled.
“Indeed.”
We both fell silent.
I broke it.
“So…what now?”
“Now, my beautiful Catla, we go to dinner with your mother and father, Aleksei and Laura, and my friend Nayden—”
“Your friend Nayden?”
“Yes. We met at The Eyrie.”
The Eyrie was the military academy he went to.
“Now he’s a captain in the Red Dragoons,” Tanyn told me.
“Impressive,” I said, and it was.
The Red Dragoons were the premiere infantry unit of Sky’s Edge Army. They used to fight on horseback but were also highly skilled in fighting on foot.
Now, their skills encompassed everything—land fighting, aerial battles, you name it. They could leap from a craft or moto-bike, in or on which they were attacking, and fight beam to beam, saber to saber or hand to hand.
His mouth cocked and he said, “The being most impressed with Nayden is Nayden.”
I sensed this was friendly ribbing.
And why was I feeling all squishy inside not only in the face of seeing Tanyn had a friend it was clear he liked a lot and was close to, but also that I’d get to meet him?
Damn.
I was fading fast.
“And we should go. They’ve probably already started gathering for drinks,” Tanyn said.
When he made a move to get up, I caught his hand.
He stopped moving and regarded me.
“Okay, so it seems clear I have to stay here,” I began.
“Yes, that is clear,” he stated inflexibly.
Let it go, Catla.
I let it go and remarked, “But there are a whole lot of bedrooms in this place.”
“Your point?” he asked.