Her mother’s lips twitched. “Why, this one is charming,” she said with a laugh.
“Don’t encourage him.”
“What’s your name, young man?” her mother asked.
“Lord Thorne Reaux. I’m in charge of bringing Her Majesty and those accompanying her to King Grimaldi’s palace.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lord Reaux.” She held out a hand for me to shake. “My name is Evadine Aris, but you may call me Eva.”
I took her hand. “The pleasure is all mine, ma’am.”
When I glanced at Clarissa, she pursed her lips. “And you may callmeEmpress Aris.”
I stifled a chuckle. Galen was going to have his hands full. “Can I ask what happened on the boat? Why your mother remains dry,but you seem to have…” I trailed off, smart enough not to insult her again. Jokingly or not.
“Because I made her go below deck when the storm hit.”
“Why didn’t you go?”
“I wasn’t going to leave the others in the middle of danger.”
My smile faltered. “You—you stayed with them?”
“Of course. They’re my men.”
This empress was not what I expected. The leader of an entire empire, who probably had servants who would throw themselves on top of her to keep her covered if she commanded, yet she stood before me without a single inch of dry space on her body.
“I’m sorry you had such bad weather,” I said.
Evadine began wringing out Clarissa’s clothes, much to the empress’s chagrin. “Yes, well, I’m more concerned about the spontaneous burst of dead sea life we had to wade through,” Clarissa muttered.
I froze. “What did you just say?”
She noticed my change in demeanor. Her eyes locked on my hands, which had formed into balls at my sides. I unclenched them and tried to ease my tense posture, but she was quick and observant, nothing escaping her gaze. “Hordes of fish and other creatures showed up dead all around our ship, just beyondyourborders. There was no other threat we could see. Have you ever seen anything like that?”
Not again.
I let out a noncommittal hum. “How strange. No, can’t say that I have.”
She took a step closer. “Do you know how it could have happened?”
I chose my words carefully. “I have no idea, but again, I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t you think someone should look into it? Make sure it can’t happen again? Or worse, make it to land and harm people?”
She’d been here all of five minutes, and she was alreadytaking charge. The worst part was, she was right. But what she didn’t know was there was nothing either of us could do about it.
I nodded. “Of course. I’ll bring it up to His Majesty at once.” Clarissa opened her mouth to speak again, but I swiftly looped her mother’s arm through mine and changed the subject. “Why don’t I help you two to my carriage and have your things delivered to the palace? I’m sure you’d like to rest.”
“What I’dlikeis for someone to answer my questions,” Clarissa countered.
Good luck being married to Galen, then.
“My dear, the young man has already told us he doesn’t have your answers,” Evadine said, patting my hand. “You’ve had a rough few hours—let’s get you some dry clothes and a bath, yes?”
“A wise woman,” I agreed.
To my surprise, Clarissa scoffed. “Careful,LordReaux. My bark may be bad, but her bite is worse.”
