Coat
I woke way early for me. I knew this, because it was dark.
I also woke to an empty bed.
Blinking away sleep, I pushed up to an elbow and saw a digi-note on my nightstand.
I reached out and grabbed it.
It read:
MBC –
Your setup is still in your study, if you need to work.
Anything you require, ask for it. Staff have been informed of your status, and I know we’re not there yet, but they are to treat you as if you were their queen. So whatever you request, it will be granted.
If you need me, text me, but so you know where to find me, I’ll be in my study this morning. However, I’ll be heading to Gehenn this afternoon. I don’t know how long I’ll be, but I should be home tonight. Though, just to warn you, you may need to do dinner without me.
Your security has returned to Abyssinia and will be available to you. But until we know more about what’s happening, I ask you to stay at the castle. Just for now.
Bottom line, I’m available to you at all times. However you need to access me, even if I’m not here, do it.
In other words, no matter what’s happening, if you need me, don’t hesitate.
Love,
–T
For a second, I had no idea who MBC was.
Then it penetrated my still-sleep-fogged head.
My beautiful Catla.
Then I had to sit with the fact he called the queen’s study my study.
And of course the whole, I’m available to you at all times.
So, was it me, or was that bizarrely the sweetest love note ever written?
Yeesh, I had it bad.
Feeling weirdly happy, regardless of the situation, I replaced the note on the bedside table, threw back the bedclothes and headed to the closet.
This was because I had things to do.
So I set about doing them.
Two hours later, I approached Tanyn’s study.
There were two guards outside the door, one at the end of the hall, and I’d passed one when I entered the hall.
Not incidentally, there were two guards outside his chamber when I left it after getting ready. There was also one at each end of the hall. And one of them followed me unobtrusively everywhere I went.
Mm-hmm.
My male, even in the castle, he wasn’t taking any chances.
This kind of heavy security had not been in place the other times I’d been at the castle.
As such, I wasn’t a massive fan of this, but I ignored it (though, not the guards, I smiled at them, they just jerked their jaws up to me in response, because, apparently, that was how badasses said their nonverbal “hey”), and I sallied forth.
The guards at the door dipped their chins in nonverbal permission to do what I did next.
I knocked.
“Come!” Tanyn called.
I entered the room to see Tanyn at his desk, males and females about, most of them in uniform.
“I’m disturbing,” I said.
“It’s a good time to break,” Tanyn declared. “Ten minutes.” Everyone dispersed, but Tanyn called, “Nayden, Uly, stay.”
I saw a demon I’d not met yet stop moving to leave. He had dark-blond hair, dark-brown eyes, classical demon features of straight, strong nose and high cheekbones. And he was very handsome.
He didn’t look like he could be Tanyn’s brother.
Maybe a cousin, though.
He was wearing a uniform, and if I was correct, it was the uniform of a Red Dragoon, and until that moment, I wasn’t a uniform gal, but I changed my mind seeing him in one.
Tanyn was up and around his desk, coming to me, where he slid an arm around my waist, so I returned the gesture.
“Uly, meet Catla, my female,” he introduced.
“Catla,” Uly murmured, approaching me with hand raised.
“Uly,” I replied, taking his hand, squeezing it firmly, then we disengaged and he stepped back.
“Uly commanded the Wing last night to defend Sigil,” Tanyn told me.
“I hear you rocked it,” I said to Uly.
“The mission was successful,” he replied, not hiding he was studying me meticulously, giving open indication he was of the Nayden bent.
He was loyal to Tanyn and Tanyn alone.
Therefore, I was going to have to prove myself.
Since I would, or wouldn’t, as the case would be, I just went about doing the only thing I could do.
Being me.
“Thank you for that,” I said, and looked up to Tanyn. “And on that note, I stopped in to see Zyra and Manny before I came here. He’s prowling around the medi-unit like a caged cat. She reports he’s driving her crazy.”
“I’d find something for him to do, but he’ll never leave her,” Tanyn replied.
“I learned this when I asked if he wanted to take a walk on the grounds with me, he refused, Zyr told him to go, they got in a fight, which was when I left.”
I was relieved to see a small smile form on his face.
“She’s definitely coming back to herself,” he murmured.
“Yes,” I confirmed.
He turned to his friends. “You two can go. Get some coffee. I’ll be with you when you go back to Gehenn.” He said the last to Uly.
They jutted their chins and took off.
When the door closed behind them, Tanyn shifted me to his front so we were both holding on to each other.
“How are you doing?” I asked.
“Better, after sleep.”
“Good,” I mumbled.
“I headed down earlier to check on Zyr and Manny. They were both still asleep.”
“Well, as I reported, they’re up now.”
“Can I ask you to keep an eye on them?”
“Of course.”
“We think we have a leak,” he announced.
“I’m…sorry?” I dragged that out, such was my surprise.
“We’re still in theorizing mode, and I’ll be bloody fucking happy when we know some facts.
But we think Tatra knew I’d received bids to renovate the citadel.
This was what prompted the attack. My indication it mattered to me, and I was doing something about the state of it. So she moved to destroy it.”
“Well, considering her desperate desire to behave like an absolute piece of shit when it comes to you, that tracks.”
His eyes lit with humor, but his lips simply murmured, “Yes. But although those bids were not strictly confidential, they weren’t announced to the media either. We’re tracing who told who what to see if we can get a lock on someone sharing that information with Tatra, or a sympathizer.”
“Sounds like a good plan,” I replied. “I assume you’re heading up to Gehenn to be in on the interrogations.”
He nodded.
“Okay, then before you get on with important things, I want you to know what I’ve been up to this morning.”
“What you’ve been up to?”
“Yes. I’ve made some decisions and carried them through.”
He looked shocked.
This expression was explained when he asked, “How long have you been up?”
“Long enough to make some decisions and carry them through.”
There wasn’t humor in his gaze, but wariness, when he asked, “And what are those?”
“I commed my boss. I told him you and I are courting, it’s serious, and because of that, there will be a good deal of time I’ll need to spend in Abyssinia, which means I’ll be away from the gallery on a regular basis, including right now and for the foreseeable future.
I also shared I’ll understand if he needs to find a replacement for me.
Though, with that said, we’ll be coming out officially at Laura and Aleksei’s engagement ball, and there’s a good possibility, shortly thereafter, I’ll be moving to Abyssinia permanently, so he might want to get that ball rolling now. ”
Tanyn said nothing. He didn’t even move.
So I kept going.
“I asked for his discretion with that. He’s a good male. He gave it. Though, that’s a juicy bit of gossip, so I don’t know how long that will last. I did the same with my sales associates. It’s likely they’ll let something slip first.”
Tanyn remained quiet.
I kept speaking.
“I also asked Mom to pack more thoroughly and send up the cases. She says she’s getting right on it, and they’ll be here this afternoon.
This, of course, consisted of her asking me what’s going on.
I hadn’t talked to you yet, so I didn’t tell her about the attack.
I just told her I had to have a chat with you before I could share more.
Since then, she’s obviously talked to Dad, who commed and demanded to know what was happening.
I gave him the same line. He gave me a command.
He wants a comm with you, me and him at noon.
I told him I might be able to make that happen, but I couldn’t guarantee it, and he’d just have to cool it until I knew what you wanted to do.
This didn’t make him happy, but he didn’t push it further. ”
Tanyn finally found his voice.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because you don’t need to be worrying about me at the same time worrying about what’s happening, and you’ll worry about me more if I’m down there. So, until you get a lock on what’s happening, I’m up here, with you, so you have one less thing to worry about.”
What I didn’t add was: I was up there, with him, so I could see to him.
Yes, all of this was an extreme escalation in our courtship.
Yes, it was now me who was extremely escalating our courtship.
No, I had not taken the time to think deeply about why I was escalating our courtship in such an extreme way.
I was just going for it.
And it felt right.
So I also wasn’t questioning it.
I might share all of that later.
But for now, he needed focus.
And I was giving him that.
I thought a wet and wild kiss would be in order for how mega I was being.
But I didn’t get a wet and wild kiss.
Instead, he caught my head in both hands and stared at me with lightning cracking through his black gaze.
“I take it you approve of my decision to essentially move in with you for the time being,” I quipped.
“I’d approve of your decision if you just moved in with me.”
Of course he would.
“Great. Then we’re good. Oh, and I haven’t mentioned anything to Laura, Gayle or Mon. I’m assuming Aleksei knows what’s going on?”
“He does. And Fillion, Bain, Dagsbrun, Niall, and Mac. We have a conference comm in the situation room downstairs in about an hour.”
I did the mental calculations and stated, “So the noon talk with Dad is out.”
“You can tell him what’s happening. He won’t say anything to anybody.”
“He might haul Mom back up here.”
“We have room.”
So accommodating.
So farging sweet.
“Does Laura know?” I asked.