Chapter 41
Razik
“Good morning, Magdalena,” Razik greeted, the words tight despite his effort to at least sound pleasant.
Magdalena, with her infinite patience and kind heart, wasn’t even phased. “Razik, my dear! Are you here for breakfast?”
“Not this time.”
“It’s been a while,” she replied with her ever-cheery disposition. “I’m beginning to think you’ve found pastries elsewhere.”
“I would never, Magdalena,” he answered, offering her a small smile. “I’ll plan for breakfast here tomorrow.”
“Lovely!” she exclaimed. “I’ll be sure to have your favorites on hand.”
Magdalena had been the head of Tybalt’s household staff for as long as Razik had lived here. Even when he’d been a youngling, she’d been at least a century old. Several staff had come and gone, but never her. A constant he’d clung to over the centuries when he really thought about it.
“Looking forward to it,” he answered. “But right now, I have to go see Tybalt.”
“Ah, yes,” she said in understanding. “He has been holed up in his office all night and into the morning. I’m certain he hasn’t slept.”
Yeah, Razik was certain of that too, considering the missive he received before the night was even half over.
Rapping his knuckles on the door twice, he let himself into his uncle’s study, the male behind his desk studying a report of some kind. His gaze flickered to Razik, then back to the paper, and Razik settled into a chair across from him.
“We need to make this quick,” Razik started. “I have to be at Kailia’s rooms in the next twenty minutes.”
“You won’t be reporting to the queen’s rooms today,” Tybalt replied, the words measured.
Irritation immediately settled in. “And why is that?”
Tybalt finally set the report down and sat back in his chair. One hand rested on the armrest, while the other sat atop his desk. “Cethin has requested— No, Cethin has ordered me to remove you as her personal guard. Care to explain why?”
“Sure. Cethin is an arrogant prick who kept things from his wife and is blaming me for her finding out,” Razik replied, and although he tried to sound casual about it, even he could hear the simmering anger in his words.
That fucking son of a bitch. He’d violated Kailia by going into her dreams without her knowledge, somehow kept her from using her power, and tricked her into a Lunar Marriage. Of course Cethin’s solution is to blame him and have him removed from his post.
“Razik,” Tybalt ground out, his patience clearly running thin. “For months, you have been gathering information on the queen. You’ve built a relationship with her, and now, when you are in a trusted position, you do this?”
Razik leaned forward, jamming a forefinger on the desk in emphasis as he said, “I built that relationship by being upfront with her. Why do you think she trusts me? When I learned Cethin was visiting her dreams, and she had no idea, yes, I told her. My loyalty is to her, not him.”
“They are one and the same, Razik!” Tybalt bellowed. “I do not know how to make that any clearer to you. The day you voted to make her queen in more than title, you ensured they were on equal footing.”
“That’s on you,” he retorted. “You are the one who threw me into the vote without notice. We should have discussed that beforehand, and you know it.”
“Would it have changed anything? If I had come to you and told you I was going to have you vote, and that vote needed to be no. Would you have honored my request?”
Razik opened his mouth to answer, but the words wouldn’t come. Would he have? With Kailia at his side and the eyes of the highest-ranking lords and ladies on him, would he have denied her something she had told him more than once she wanted?
“That’s what I thought,” Tybalt said when he remained silent.
“If you didn’t want her in the position, then you should have voted yourself,” Razik said. “You’re not putting this on me, Tybalt.”
“Tell me then, Razik. There’s no one else here. Do you honestly believe she should be in the position? Have you learned enough about her to confidently say she should be the queen of Avonleya?” Tybalt asked, the question genuine despite the tension between them right now.
“I believe she could be good for Avonleya,” he answered. “She’s not from here, not that the people know that, and she brings perspectives from outside the Wards. In time, I think she could be a great queen.”
“But right now? If something happens to Cethin, the crown now falls solely to her, even if they have children.”
“I’m not a fucking Oracle,” Razik bit out. “I can’t predict that any more than you can.”
“That’s fair,” Tybalt acquiesced. “Then let me ask you if you still believe she has other motives, or do you think her intentions are pure?”
Razik hesitated. He did still believe she had come to Avonleya for a reason. He’d just never figured out what it was. Not yet anyway.
“I think those two things can both be true,” Razik answered. “I also think that since Cethin and Kailia have equal power here, Kailia can decide for herself if she wants me removed as her personal guard.”
“And she has,” Tybalt said. “She agreed with Cethin.”
“What?” Razik demanded, blinking back his shock. There was nothing else to say if that was true. More than that, it meant Cethin had spun yet another tale to convince her of this.
“Knowing that, do you care to revisit any of the things we’ve discussed this morning?” Tybalt asked.
“None of my answers and comments change. I don’t say things simply to appease anyone,” Razik snapped.
“I am well aware of that,” Tybalt said, a bit of empathy breaking through the hardness of the Commander. “But you don’t build the kind of relationship you have with Kailia and not become invested in some way yourself, Razik.”
“It’s not like that. She was my job, and I was hunting for information. If she doesn’t want me anymore, that’s fine.”
He rubbed his brow the instant the words left his mouth. He’d never intended to say that last part aloud.
“Razik—” Tybalt started.
“I said it’s fine,” Razik growled, getting to his feet. “If there’s nothing else, I’m going to take some days for myself. When I return, I’ll be ready to report back to the Cadre.”
Tybalt nodded, watching him closely. “I only request that you check in with me daily.”
“No need,” Razik called over his shoulder, making his way to the door.
“Not as your Commander, Razik, but as your family,” he called back.
Razik waved him off, but he’d do it. He’d send a note every morning and night solely because Tybalt had asked.
He made his way down the various halls to his rooms, wanting to grab a few things from his study before he Traveled to his cave.
But when he pushed the doors open to his rooms, he found Wren seated on the edge of a sofa, wringing her hands together in her lap.
As soon as she saw him, she lurched to her feet, looking anxious.
“Wren,” he said tightly, instinctively scanning her for any sign of injury. “What are you doing here?”
“Waiting for you,” she answered. “I was told you’d come here this morning. I was hoping to speak with you before you start your day with Kailia.”
“I’m actually heading to my cave for a few days,” he said, moving around her to climb the spiral iron staircase to his study. “You can come with, if you want, but I’ll be there for a bit.”
“You know I go stir-crazy there,” she replied, her steps light as she followed him. “But I do need to speak with you.”
“We are speaking now.”
Feminine fingers wrapped around his forearm, tugging. “Razik, please. Can you stop for a minute?”
With an audible sigh of irritation, he turned to face her, crossing his arms. “What?”
“Okay, well, you don’t need to be a dick before I’ve even said anything,” she snapped, her own irritation flaring. When he only stared back at her, waiting for her to get on with it, she said, “Fine. I need to discuss our current arrangement.”
“What about it?”
“We both agreed that if a relationship came along with someone else, we would be transparent about it,” she ventured, the irritation bleeding back into trepidation.
“And?”
“…and that’s happened. I think?”
“You think?” he deadpanned. “If that were the case, you’d know, Wren.”
“Fine, then it has,” she said, throwing her hands up in frustration. “With Bram. And before you say anything, I know you don’t like him, and you think I’m being foolish about all this.”
“It’s your life, Wren,” he said, uncrossing his arms and turning away from her, even more ready to get the fuck out of here and retreat to his cave for a while.
“You don’t…” He heard her footsteps as she chased after him. “Razik, I’m trying to talk to you. He bought an estate house and wants me to live there with him.”
“You don’t need my permission,” he answered, picking up two books before rummaging through a desk drawer for a journal he’d been writing notes in.
“I know that, but you’re still a big part of all this,” she argued. “If you have strong feelings about this one way or another, I’d like to hear them.”
Slamming the drawer, he leveled his gaze on her. “I don’t care what you do, Wren. If you want to live with Bram, then do it.”
“You…don’t care?” she asked, her brows knitting together.
“No, I don’t.”
She nodded, at an obvious loss for words as she pressed her lips together. He turned away from her again, finding a leather bag to shove the books and journal into. He opened another drawer and pulled out the last sack he’d collected from the sailors.
“Anything else?” he asked, grabbing both bags in one hand.
“You’re being cruel, and I don’t understand why,” Wren answered, lifting her chin in an effort to hide her hurt.
“I’m not being cruel. I’m being frank,” he said. “Like I always am.”
“Not with me,” she countered. “And we need to discuss what this would mean for us if I do this.”