Chapter 11 Revelations
The General
The knock came just as I lifted the glass to my lips, intent on finishing the last of the wine, already wishing it were something stronger.
My spine straightened instinctively, tension tightening around my hand so sharply I nearly shattered the damn thing, just like I’d done downstairs.
I was known for my composure. An unyielding calm that most mistook for arrogance. My family had called it calculatingly cunning with an unbendable will of control. To my enemies, it screamed danger.
And none of them were wrong.
But lately, I wondered if that control was in danger of becoming more fragile than I wanted to admit. There was one person who seemed intent on testing it at every turn. One infuriating woman who managed, with nothing more than a single look, to dismantle the walls I’d spent centuries building.
Alexandra.
I told myself it was simple. That I only wanted her to get close enough so she would trust me.
So I could use her and manipulate her cooperation to gain what I needed.
But the longer I spent in her presence, the less that lie held weight.
Somehow, she had gotten under my skin, burning there and never letting me forget her presence.
So, when the knock came, I let myself foolishly hope that it might be her.
It wasn’t.
Suppressing a groan, I opened the door to find my second-in-command standing there instead.
“What do you want, Aster?” I practically growled in annoyance.
“Nice to see you too, my friend.” He smirked, making me roll my eyes at him.
“I might have welcomed you if I thought this visit wasn’t going to involve you lecturing me about this evening,” I muttered, stepping back to let him in regardless.
“Then asking what I want is a moot point, is it not?” he said easily, closing the door behind him and strolling in like he owned the place.
I stayed silent, letting my irritation simmer. My quarters were on the same floor as Alexandra’s, right next door, in fact. Not that she knew of course. I told myself it was for her safety, an extra precaution. And with a target on her back, it made sense. That was the official reason, anyway.
The unofficial reason was far less noble.
I wanted her near.
Even now, after that dinner, after that argument, after watching the fury and the hurt flicker in her eyes when I had lashed back with my words of retaliation… I still wanted her close.
Gods of old, there was something wrong with me.
“So…” Aster said, taking his place on my sofa as if he owned my living space. “Are we going to talk about what happened down there?”
I gritted my teeth as I took my own far less casual position against the counter of the kitchenette. I then folded my arms, very much like Alexandra had done this morning when she watched me commandeer her space, very much like my friend was doing now.
I exhaled sharply.
“Do I look like I want to discuss it?” I snapped, making him eye the empty bottle of wine on the counter.
He obviously didn’t get the hint, as he replied, “Actually, yes. And judging by that bottle, I’d say you need to.”
“And if I say you’re wrong, will you leave me in peace?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
Therefore, I wasn’t surprised when he said a single, “Nope.”
Again, I rolled my eyes, almost wishing he wasn’t my best friend so that I was free to kick his ass down the hallway.
No such luck, which was why I muttered, “Infuriating woman.”
Of course, I realized my mistake instantly as I had intended to refer to him in that curse, but instead only just confirmed his suspicions even more. Aster grinned, all too pleased with himself. The bastard.
“She’s got under your skin, that’s for damn sure.”
I shot him a scathing look. “She’s a means to an end. Nothing more,” I argued, and even I could hear my words lacked enough depth to be true.
“Bullshit,” he said, calling me out.
The word hit like a blade, and I turned to glare at him, but he didn’t flinch. He never fucking flinched.
“Don’t roll your eyes at me, General,” he said, sitting up straighter and pointing a finger right at me. “You like her. Hell, I think you’ve liked her from the moment she first challenged you by refusing your demands to open the gates.”
I felt my fists clench, already regretting telling him of the incident and slipping up by remarking on her bravery.
“Evidence would suggest otherwise,” I drawled in what I was hoping was a convincingly bored tone.
“She likes you, too.”
That one landed deeper than I wanted it to. My chest tightened before I forced a scoff.
“Then you’re a fool. Or blind. She clearly loathes me… or did you miss most of dinner?”
Aster shook his head, a half-smile playing at his mouth.
“Nope, and I won’t forget that for a long time. That was pure entertainment.”
I glared at him, and he held up his hands in surrender.
“All jokes aside, if she loathed you, there wouldn’t have been that much tension in the room. Believe me, I was there, and it was damn near suffocating.”
I arched a brow. “Tension?”
“Oh, come on. This is me you’re talking to, not just one of your subordinates.” His grin widened. “You were both practically vibrating across the table. She only changed when her uncle mentioned the book.”
Again, the cunning bastard knew how to strike, luring me on his hook as I couldn’t help but bite.
“The book?” I asked, and instead of that infuriating cocky grin of his, he exchanged it for shaking his head as if I had lost mine.
“Tell me that you saw her face.”
I remember the shift in her mood, yes, but as to the cause, I questioned it at the time, even glancing her way, wishing I could read her thoughts.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, so why don’t you get to the damn point and…”
“She was fine until that moment. Then it crumbled,” he said, cutting me off and finally getting to the part I wanted to know.
Although my reaction was to frown as I quickly started to replay the dinner in my mind.
The soft curve of her mouth as she’d smiled, the way it vanished when her uncle spoke.
And there it was… he was right.
“She thought it was special,” Aster said quietly, before continuing, each new word another attack to add to the build in my chest. “The book meant something to her. Most likely because it was from you, and she thought it was some kind of peace offering or something. Either way, the moment she realized her uncle had read it too… it stopped being personal.” He no longer sounded smug.
No, in fact, he sounded an awful lot like he felt bad for her.
I clenched my jaw, a slow understanding unfurling in my chest, and, with it, came the inevitable regret.
“She believed I’d shared a piece of myself,” I murmured, mostly to myself. “And then I made her feel like it was… commonplace, no longer a token of peace between us.”
Aster shrugged. “You gave her a history lesson, not your heart.”
I shot him a glare. “Careful,” I warned, telling him he had gone too far with that one.
He raised his hands in mock surrender, yet again. There weren’t many people I would be this merciful toward. I could only think of one other, and she was probably just finishing up the last of that huge bowl of ice cream she had commandeered during our fight.
“Hey, I’m just saying. If you wanted her to trust you, you might’ve tried talking to her instead of hiding behind books and cryptic answers.”
“And how do you know I gave her cryptic answers?” I pressed, making him scoff.
“I hate to tell you this, my old friend, but you’re not exactly known for being the most forthcoming.”
I rolled my eyes, as it was my only argument. Especially seeing as it wasn’t the first time I had heard the complaint.
His smirk softened then, his tone almost kind.
“She’s human. They don’t just want the truth.
They want meaning, and you gave her neither tonight, taking away the one she thought she had,” he said before deciding at this point to leave me with that, rising from the sofa after making a show of slapping his hands to his knees.
Once he was at his full, hulking height, he started toward the door, the weight of his words lingering long after him.
But before he reached the handle, I exhaled sharply through my nose and said, “Wait.”
Aster paused, half-turned, one brow arched in that infuriating way that told me he already knew what I was about to say.
“I…” I stopped, jaw tightening. Gods, I despised this part. “Perhaps you’re right.”
“Perhaps?” he echoed, clearly savoring my discomfort.
“Fine,” I bit out.
“You are right. Satisfied now?” I snapped, making him grin like a wolf.
“Immensely,” he replied smugly, and again, a punch to the face was tempting. An impulse I tamed, seeing as I needed his help, and clearly, he was far more perceptive in these matters than I was.
I scrubbed a hand down my face, the admission burning on my tongue.
“Stay. If I’m going to fix this, I could use another pair of eyes that aren’t blinded by my own arrogance.”
He smirked, but, to his credit, he turned back toward the room and dropped heavily into one of the dining chairs. His bulk practically shook the floorboards before he gestured for me to take the one opposite him.
“Well,” he said, leaning back in the seat with an infuriating air of triumph. “You finally said it.”
I glared at him, though a reluctant chuckle escaped me.
“Don’t make me regret asking for your help,” I said, knowing what he meant, because he had once remarked that I was incapable of asking anyone for help.
He only smiled wider.
“Too late for that, your Lordship.”
I groaned aloud and warned, “And you can cut that shit now before I really do regret welcoming you back in this room.”
He smirked, lifting his hands in surrender, which was a habit of his when pissing me off. For a while, silence stretched between us, my frustration mounting as I knew he was waiting for me to start. That was until he finally took pity on me, and his expression softened.
“You know, if she truly hated you…” Aster said, pausing and getting a rise out of me.
“What?” I frowned.
He tilted his head toward the wall, knowing she was on the other side of it, before dropping the bombshell of truth on me…
“She wouldn’t have worn that dress for you.”