Rin glanced away.
“You’re blushing,” Kel pointed out. “Doesn’t that mean yes?”
“Yes means yes,” Rin corrected, only to have Kelevra advance a foot closer.
“Are you saying yes then, Consort?”
“You haven’t asked me anything,” he said. “Stop it. You’ve been summoned by your sister, remember? We don’t have time for this.”
“There’s always time to fuck you.”
“Not after making me struggle to do up those ties for fifteen minutes.” Rin found Kel’s clothing much more complicated than the simple t-shirt and cargo pants he was required to wear by the Academy. “I’m not wearing one of those. Don’t even bother trying to make me.”
“It takes a certain type of personality to pull these off,” Kelevra said. “You’re a little too rough around the edges. You’d dirty them up.” He captured and shook Rin’s chin lightly before laughing and heading toward the door. “Lyra didn’t say what she wanted, are you sure you don’t want to come? It’s a good opportunity to see the Little Palace.”
As the Heir Imperial and next in line for the throne, Lyra lived in the Little Palace—which was basically just a fancy mansion on the east side of the capital city. Kelevra had once lived there as well but had moved out as soon as he’d entered the Academy.
“Some other time.” Rin had no interest in meeting with Lyra and potentially getting cornered again. He still hadn’t figured out a way to deal with the Royal doctor situation, and was mostly just grateful Kel had yet to bring it up again since that day. “Do you think she’s discovered something about Nila’s murderer?”
Kelevra shook his head. “Unlikely. Madden says whoever did it covered their tracks too well. Even my Retinue is struggling to find anything. Whoever shot at me, they were smart about it.”
Rin didn’t like that. It made him uncomfortable not knowing what was up or what to expect. Whether or not he should be looking over his shoulders. “Let me take a look.”
“You want to investigate? Don’t take this the wrong way, Flower, but you’re a sophomore. If my guys couldn’t do it, what makes you so confident you’ll fare better?”
“What makes you so certain I won’t?” he countered.
Kelevra watched him for a moment and then lifted his multi-slate, sending off a message. A second later when Rin’s dinged he motioned to it. “That’s all they’ve gathered. Instead of focusing on who might be out for me—since that list is much longer—Zane concentrated on collecting data on Nila and any potential enemies she may have had. They couldn’t find anything, but you’re welcome to try.”
“Thanks.” Rin was already moving to the bed to perch on the edge and comb through the files.
“Flower.”
“Hmm?”
“Consort.”
At the firm tone, Rin glanced up. “What?”
“Aren’t you going to thank me properly?” Kelevra asked.
“You realize you’re entirely too needy for your own good right?” Despite that, Rin found himself rising and walking over. He stopped in front of the Imperial Prince and instead of giving him a peck on the cheek like he assumed the guy expected, he leaned forward and sealed their mouths together.
His tongue licked at the seam of Kel’s lips and then dove inside when he parted them, tangling with his in a small bid for dominance that didn’t last nearly as long as either of them clearly wished.
Far too quickly, Rin was pulling away, sighing in mild disappointment. He waved toward the open door at Kelevra’s back. “You’re going to be late.”
“This is all so very domestic,” Kel chuckled. “Who would have guessed I’d be into this sort of thing?”
“Ditto.” Rin hated to admit it, but it was kind of nice. Having someone to come home to, to ask about his day. To care if he’d eaten or had enough water to drink. It was different, but nowhere near as stifling as he’d feared in the beginning when he’d first moved in.
“I’ll call you when I’m on my way back,” Kelevra told him, and then with a wink he spun on his heels and finally disappeared into the hall.
Rin listened to his retreating footsteps and then sighed, heading to the bed to go over the notes Zane and Madden had collected.
There really wasn’t much. They’d conducted a few interviews with her friends and family and had opened an investigation into her disappearance initially. It’d been released finally a few days ago that she was dead, but since the body had never been recovered, there wasn’t anything to go off of there either. They had Kelevra and Rin’s statements that she’d been strangled and that was about it.
According to her parents, she’d acted normal leading up to that day, with nothing strange standing out. Her friends had said the same. There’d been no suspicious people in her life, and even a search through her multi-slate had backed that. She’d had conversations with her best friend and her boyfriend earlier that day and nothing else. No strange emails or messages from unknown numbers either.
