Sterling knocked. Nicholas opened. The two n looked at each other across a threshold that neither of them wanted to be on opposite sides of.
Sterling’s body went still, caught between protocol and the reality of what he was looking at: two wolves, in the king’s private wing, in a room that slled like Guinevere’s tears.
His dragon wanted out. It took three breaths to force it back, and it went unwillingly.
Nicholas gave a single, slow nod toward the bathing chamber door. The nod said: she’s in there. She’s safe. I’m out here. The line is where it should be.
Diplomacy had died in the jungle. Nicholas had carried Maddox through a collapsing tunnel without being asked. He had fought dark fae beside Drakencrest warriors like species was a footnote.
Maddox would be furious if he were here. But the man across the hall couldn’t rember her na.
Sterling crossed the room. Outside, rain hamred the glass so hard the panes rattled in their fras.
He knocked on the bathing chamber door.
"Gwen. It’s Sterling."
The door opened.
Sterling clocked a few things imdiately. The lock was no longer functional. Or attached. Her hair was damp in loose waves, which ant she just showered. Her eyes were red. She had on the sa pajamas from earlier, which was logical given all her belongings were in a room she couldn’t enter. Her hands were also freshly bandaged, and Nicholas’s scent ca from the bathing chamber, which ant he’d dressed her wounds. Because no one on Maddox’s side had thought to check on her or find her until now.
There were a million things he could have said. Things he should have said. But Sterling Emberfell didn’t do emotions.
What ca out of his mouth was:
"You look terrible."
A ghost of a smile appeared on her face. "Thanks, Sterling. I needed that extra boost."
He let out a breath. He or Ryker should have gone after her imdiately. Maddox would have wanted that. But he didn’t. And now, instead of doing the one thing that should have been done first, he was about to deliver bad news and worse news.
"Did Maddox ntion to you what you would be doing today?"
"Doing today?" Her voice cracked on the second word.
Sterling dragged a hand down his face. "Of course he didn’t. When Maddox snaps out of this, I am going to kill him all over again."
Her next question ca out fractured, held together by nothing except the need to ask it. "Did Aldric figure out what—"
"Not yet. I’m sorry." Sterling held her gaze. "He’s not himself, Gwen. Kael is working on the mory issue. I never thought I would say that sentence."
"I can’t feel him through our matebond at all." The words ca out so steady it sounded practiced.
It dawned on Sterling then, that she probably had.
"I’ll pass that along." His jaw tightened by a degree that, for Sterling, was the equivalent of throwing a chair. "You’re riding today. Skyrunner Lethal Simulation. Wear the wolf crown you wore the night Maddox bought you. You can shift in that, correct?"
"Yes."
"Good. Zip suit too. I need you in the war room in forty-five minutes. Then down on the fields after."
"Understood," she whispered. "I don’t think I’ll be my best today though."
"No shit," Sterling said flatly with no warmth. "Welco to the club, Gwen. We need you to do the simulation because of politics."
"Because I am a wolf." Her voice broke again.
"Yes."
"I understand." She wiped her eyes. "I couldn’t shift yesterday with the wards. Are those—"
"Wards are fixed," Sterling clipped. "The elders have wanted you gone since you walked through the gate and see you as a liability that cost seven hundred and fifty million gold. There are at least two hundred other won from dragon bloodlines who’d be much more advantageous for Maddox to take as a wife. Even before Kael’s bullshit, we were on the brink of a civil war."
Her eyes widened for a half second. The look of a woman who just had her biggest insecurity confird. One she hoped was not as bad as she thought, was actually much worse. Sterling saw it before she could recover.
Her face said: I thought since they were at our wedding, they had accepted my presence. I thought the ceremony ant I was welco here. Seven hundred and fifty million is a debt I can never repay.
"Maddox can’t rember your face," he continued, not addressing that. "Without him, you have no shield or legal standing. You are no one. That’s the math. The dragon trial is the only card I can put in your hand. Play it. Do it well. And don’t fuck it up."
She wiped her eyes with the back of her bandaged hand, losing the fight to hold her tears back.
"I understand."
"Good." Sterling’s discomfort was audible. "Blair will grab what you need from Maddox’s room."
The sentence was practical. The subtext still hurt.
"Thank you, Sterling."
"Stop fucking thanking ," he snapped, the words hitting like a whip. "And stop crying. There are people with bigger problems in this Keep. I don’t have ti for this."
Guinevere recoiled.
A chair in the other room broke at the sa ti. Nicholas was standing, amber eyes burning so bright they lit the dim room, and the sound that ca out of his chest was not a word. It was a warning that predated language.
Sterling blinked a few tis and shook his head once.
"That was out of line."
"It’s okay. I’m not myself right now." She hiccuped and wiped her eyes again.
"I don’t do emotions." He exhaled. "I’ll let Blair dress for the summit. Full creative control. No veto power. Whatever she picks, I wear to a war eting. In front of generals."
She gave a wet laugh. "You don’t need to do that. I understand. My brother is the sa way with emotions."
All the color drained from Sterling’s face. She didn’t notice.
"War room. Blair will show you where it is."
That was how he left things. He turned from the door.
In the sitting area, wolves were fuming. Nicholas’s eyes were two points of amber light in the dim room. They had not returned to human.
Nicholas’s wolf was silent. The stillness was a decision being made in the place where instinct lived, below thought, below strategy, below every political calculation that had kept him on the correct side of every line since he’d arrived in this Keep.
If Maddox didn’t want her, Nicholas would pay seven hundred and fifty million right now. He could do five hundred today. Give him three days to liquidate an estate and he would get the other two hundred and fifty.
The thought arrived fully ford. It sat in his chest beside his wolf with the weight of an inevitability, the kind of conclusion a man reaches when he has watched the woman he loves be jerked around one too many tis.
In no universe was this okay.
The second Sterling entered the sitting area, Nicholas stopped him.
"Sterling, a word."
User Comments
0 comments from readers