She crossed her arms.“So—do I get a terminal, or do I have to hack into your system?”
He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck.“If you figure out who’s behind this, I’ll put you on my team.”As soon as he realized what he’d just said, his face drained of color.“I didn’t mean—Your Highness!I wasn’t—uh, I mean—”
Azlyn laughed and held up a hand.“Relax.Just don’t tell my husband.He doesn’t need to know I’m here.”
The man winced.“Prince Zaynhasto know—”
“No, he doesn’t,” she interrupted, already scanning the row of terminals.“He thinks I’m either asleep or moisturizing.”
She turned back to him.“Look, are you going to help me?Or am I going to find a random teenager in the IT department who knows how to disable security logs?”
That seemed to do it.
“This way, Your Highness,” he muttered, clearly terrified but resigned, and gestured to a terminal on the far wall.
Azlyn lit up.“Perfect.”
She sat down, smoothing her hand over the keyboard like she was petting a cat who’d just chosen her over everyone else in the room.Finally.Something that made sense.
As she logged in with the password the man gave her, a strange feeling washed over her—peace.Determination.Purpose.It was the first time in weeks that she felt like herself again.
Whoever was behind Olivia and Lucy’s deaths had made a mistake.
They’d left a thread.
And Azlyn was going to pull until the whole thing unraveled.
Chapter 26
Zayn jolted awake, heart thudding.“Where is she?”he rasped into the darkness, eyes scanning the room.
Empty.
Of course it was.It had been this way for thirteen months—Azlyn always just out of reach.Even with her sleeping in the next room, he still woke up with the sickening fear that she was gone.That she’d left him.
And that wasnotacceptable.
“She’s mine,” he growled, ripping back the sheet and light blanket, striding naked into the bathroom like a man preparing for war.
Fifteen minutes later, freshly showered and yanking a shirt down over his chest, Zayn stalked through their suite in search of his wife.They’d been married less than twenty-four hours and he still felt...unsettled.Off-balance.Like the floor beneath him wasn’t quite solid.
Time to fix that.
“Azlyn?”he called, moving through the living room.No response.Her bedroom door was closed, so he knocked gently—then not-so-gently—debating how quickly he could get her back into his bed.Judging by their past, not long.But this time, it wasn’t just about the bed.
He wanted all of it now.Her heart.Her laughter.Her permanent presence.He’d give her anything—everything—if she would just be happy.If she’d stay.Let them be a family.Raise Griffin together.Have more babies, if she was willing.
Hell, after one month with Griffin, Zayn wanted five more just like him.Maybe six.A whole pack of kids clambering around the palace.He hadn’t been there for the first time around.That had been his biggest failure.
Never again.
He knocked again.Nothing.
Frowning, he opened the door—and froze.
Azlyn was lying on top of the covers, fully dressed, makeup smudged, fast asleep.
What the hell?
