Selediel #2
Tanyn confirmed it by saying, “You noticed it. You did something about it. And I know one of them, Camaryn or Barret, spoke to the staff about it because I’ve already noticed a change in their manner.
Less tense, more attentive. And the female who took my order for your coffee also brought your coffee. ”
“This isn’t a big thing,” I said.
“It is to me,” he refuted. “Though, not as big as resting in the knowledge that you were looking after Manny and Zyr while I was necessarily occupied doing other things. Equally huge, knowing it took less than two weeks for you to win over Nayden, who can hold a mean grudge. But you won Uly in a day. And I can promise you…that is no easy feat. They would never behave like they did last night with me in front of you if they hadn’t fully accepted you.
They were as they always are. You were a part of us.
Or at least, last night they performed a sort of initiation. ”
And now it was coming clearer.
Tanyn made it even more clear.
“You took a leave of absence from work to give me peace of mind, and I didn’t even have to ask. You went right into action to sort unexpected visitors. And you barreled right in to calm Mac down.”
“Tanyn.”
“And you call me Tanny when you’re being sweet.”
I pressed my lips together.
He slid his fingers along my jaw then his thumb over my lips.
And he said softly, “I know you aren’t there yet.”
Oh, I was thinking he was wrong about that.
And that scared me most of all.
“And I don’t want to alarm you,” he kept on. “I just want to be upfront about how much all of that means to me.”
“It really isn’t that big of a deal,” I whispered.
“You are very wrong, my beautiful Catla,” he returned in his own whisper, his gaze darkening, the red lightning flashing, and his voice lowering even further. “By the gods, I wish my mom could have met you.”
Unh-unh.
No way.
I had one heartbroken female on my hands, one incensed one. I still hadn’t told Tanyn about Mira being kind of a bitch.
And since my chicks were here, I was forming a plan.
Not to mention, he had traitors to interrogate.
I didn’t have time to weep in my male’s arms, and he didn’t have time to hold me through it.
We both had shit to do.
“Don’t make me cry first thing in the morning,” I snipped.
His response was to kiss me.
It was deep and long and wet, and when it was over, the last thing I felt like doing was crying.
Sadly, the only thing I felt like doing was not what we were going to do, since he got up, taking me with him, and put me on my feet.
“I must go,” he said.
“New rule,” I retorted, remembering to be in my normal bad morning mood. “No kissing me and getting me all bothered right before you ‘must go.’”
“How will I be certain you’ll be waiting with bated breath for me to come back?” he teased.
I stepped away from him (even if I didn’t want to) and said, “Okay. You can leave now,” (and I didn’t want that either).
He grinned at me.
No.
It was a smirk.
It might be the best of the lot.
I glared at him.
He took his life in his hands, bent for a quick peck, and when he moved away, he said, “I’ll text comm when we get there. And then again on our way back.”
“You better.”
He stopped at the door, did his adorable air kiss thing that was highly detrimental to me retaining my bad morning mood, and walked out.
I took in a very deep breath, held it ten seconds, then counted for ten seconds as I let it out.
I did it again.
Only then did I walk to the closet.
And coffee.
All five females were sitting in the queen’s breakfast room, eating breakfast (Mangold had gone with the men to Gehenn, or more to the point, Zyra had shooed him into the craft along with the men).
Gayle was chasing egged toast across her plate.
I wasn’t sure she’d taken even that first bite.
Aleece was eating like she was a pit ball player, carbing up for a match.
Laura was sipping coffee, casting guilty I’m sorry glances at Aleece and worried You’re freaking me out glances at Gayle.
Zyra was pretending all was fine, even while she kept shooting me looks that asked what in the hells is happening?
Also, weirdly, she kept simply shooting looks at Gayle. Looks I wasn’t sure about. They were maternal and concerned, as Zyra was wont to be.
They were also more in a way that made me feel squiffy.
I was further sipping coffee, remembering how sweet it was that Tanyn thought I had “magic,” but finding it had escaped me in this moment because I had no idea what to do.
But I had to do something because we were sitting down with the males that night to iron things out, and I didn’t need Aleece launching herself across the table to wring Bainon’s neck, and I didn’t need Gayle supplicating herself to Cormac, begging him to love her.
“Okay,” I announced grandly. “This is the deal.”
I wasn’t exactly sure of the deal, and was less sure when they looked at me: Laura, expectantly, Zyra, hopefully, Aleece, balefully and Gayle, glumly.
Before my brain could catch up, my mouth laid it out.
About Barret, Camaryn, the staff, how Tatra treated them.
And then about what Mira said regarding my family being traitors.
That knocked the glum out of Gayle.
In fact, that shifted all of them straight to ticked right the hells off.
“You are joking,” Laura spat.
“I’m not,” I told her. “Now, listen. Tanyn said something, and so much has happened, I really didn’t latch onto it at the time. But he says they’re working under the theory that there’s a leak.”
“A leak?” Zyra asked apprehensively.
I nodded.
“He thinks someone shared that he’d begun renovations on the citadel, and that was why it was attacked.
Not that it was a secret, but it isn’t like there’s anyone living there who could see contractors come and go to give bids, who would then pass on that information.
Or glaziers and masons at work. So it has to be from this castle, his staff. ”
Unfortunately, this made them all look apprehensive.
But in for a credit, in for the whole line.
“Now, it might not be one of them directly reporting to Tatra. It might be they inadvertently told someone who has ties to Tatra. But tomorrow, I’m going to be introduced to all of the employees, the castle staff and the crown’s administrative staff. And I want you all with me when that happens.”
“Um, I’m learning a bit about these kinds of things,” Laura butted in. “And I think you should do that on your own.”
“You should do it on your own,” Aleece, a princess since birth, confirmed.
It struck me I had access to a princess since birth, who would definitely be someone I could hit up to help me wrap my head around the idea of being a queen, but I tucked that away for later and stayed on target.
“I can do it on my own, but I want you all to help me size up beings. With a focus on Mira. She tried to excuse what she said slipping out, saying it happened because she has so much on her mind. She said that, but I didn’t buy it.
I haven’t mentioned it to Tanyn yet, because when I do, he’ll lose his mind, and he doesn’t have time to do that right now.
So I don’t know if he hired her, or she came with him, or he inherited her. ”
“If you’re trying to ferret out a spy, you need to know that about all of them,” Gayle said.
“I’m guessing the castle staff were inherited,” I told her. “At least Barret and Camaryn have been here for some time.”
“Then the admin staff, which of course he’d appoint,” she replied. “And I would say especially them.”
“Servants see and hear a lot of stuff,” Aleece put in.
“I’m sure,” Gayle told her. “But if what Cat is saying is the case, they’ve been too beaten down and traumatized to do anything.”
“They probably also all have pretty strong NDAs,” Laura added.
“I should hope so,” Aleece said. “But admin would have the same. Unless Arnaud was more of a complete moron than we thought. That said, Tatra is not. And if they’re Tanyn’s team, he absolutely is not.”
“Someone up to no good won’t care about an NDA,” Zyra remarked. “And I’m sorry Gayle, but if someone is feeling misused, that’s also a motive to strike back.”
Gayle inclined her head to concede the point.
Laura agreed, “Precisely. And making matters worse, if they’ve been underpaid, the serving staff would also still be in play, because they’d be ripe for someone to bribe them for information.”
Too true.
“Okay, so while you’re here, I want you to keep an eye out, an ear out, and your demon, shifter and fae senses open,” I said.
“Wouldn’t Tanyn have beings looking into this if he thinks there’s a leak?” Zyra asked.
“I’m sure he does. That doesn’t mean we can’t do what we can do.
We’re living right in the middle of it. Some investigator or agent might not be.
Unless Tanyn has someone undercover, and whoever that might be would be a new being to the rest of them, and therefore, if someone is doing something nefarious, a spy in our midst, they’d be wary of them.
But we might be in a better position to ferret something out. ”
“To be sure, they’d underestimate the females,” Aleece said bitterly.
“Okay, you should know, I got really angry at Aleksei when he told me what Bainon did to you,” Laura announced.
“And full disclosure, I learned about it too, only recently,” I put in. “And Tanyn was just bottom line angry Bainon did it.”
“Aleksei was too,” Laura added. “It was simply…he didn’t feel he could intervene between mates.”
“Same with Tanyn,” I said.
“I’m not mad at you guys,” Aleece told us, and focused on Laura. “Though, I am at Aleksei. He’s my brother.”
Laura grimaced in solidarity.
Oh my Laura, stuck between the male she loved and the overall sisterhood, not a good place to be.
“Mostly, I’m pissed as shit at Bainon,” Aleece went on. “I mean, what the actual fuck?” she turned to Zyra and mumbled, “Sorry about the language.”
“You’ve a right to be upset, lass,” Zyra said. “And no one has a right to ask you to temper it, especially not so soon after learning of this. Also”—she grinned—“that’s one of my favorite words.”