Sam metLauren at the bunker behind the palace. She leaned against the doorframe as he approached and lifted a perfectly manicured brow. “Why does your face look like that?”
His smile dropped instantly. “My face always looks like this.”
It was the wrong thing to say. “No, it doesn’t. Why do you look happy? Did you fuck someone when you were supposed to be working?”
He and Lauren had warmed each other’s beds, but that was as far as it went. They’d been friends forever, and Lauren often found comfort in other companions. Sam did occasionally, but it was rare, and now she smelled blood in the water.
Something about referring to Anastasia as a ‘fuck’ set him off, and he turned on her. “Do not speak that way about my personal matters again.”
Most would have run screaming at the promise of violence in his voice, but Lauren’s face lit up like a Plenilune festival. “Youlikethis person. Spill.”
“I do notlikepeople,” Sam countered. “We have a job to do. Did you learn anything or not?”
Lauren planted both hands on her hips. “It’s okay to want something for yourself, Samyaza.” Her voice softened. “It’s okay to behappy.” When he ignored her, she dropped her hands to her sides. “No. Gedeon was fucking someone, unimpressively, might I add, but there was nothing amiss.”
Sam rolled their tiff from his shoulders. “Gedeon hired non-Aatxeguards to be spies around the palace, which I already knew from Adila, but Anastasia confirmed it. According to her, staff members are fired for mentioning anything negative where the king and new guards are concerned.”
“Damn,” Lauren said finally. “What is he hiding?”
“I do not know,” he replied.
“That doesn’t tell us much, but at least it’s something,” Lauren said and patted Sam on the shoulder. “I need to get to Rory.”
He stalked back to the bunker to change.
It’s okay to be happy.
23
VINCULA
Caius satin the sandwich shop, staring at the chair across from him where Rory once sat. She wasn’t in the soulscape last night, and he was miserable.
“Your Grace?”
He turned toward the delicate voice to see a pretty young woman standing beside him, holding a sack. Her hair was a soft blonde, and she had a gentle air about her.
Caius struggled to place her. “What’s your name?”
A slender hand brushed a wisp of hair away from her face as she smiled politely. “Brynne.”
Brynne Taylyr. A light went off in his head. “Convicted of theft and assault.”
She averted her gaze and shifted uncomfortably. “Yes, Your Grace.”
He gave her a once over, remembering her arrival. It was shortly before Rory’s, and unlike his mate, Brynne had been polite and cooperative when she arrived.
The girl was caught with groceries shoved into her large bag. Most people did not need to steal food because The Crown provided a certain number of food credits for every person in Erdikoa each month. She was sentenced to Vincula because when the shop owner grabbed her arm to stop her, she decked him in the face, earning an assault charge.
Caius meant to seek her out and figure out why she’d stolen food, but Rory arrived, and everything else was pushed aside.
“Sit down.” He stood and pulled out the chair across from him.
“Your Grace, I only wanted to borrow the chair.” She pointed to a small, chair-less table across the crowded deli. “There were no extras.”
Caius tapped the back of the chair. “Sit.”
She snapped her mouth shut and sat tentatively, clutching her sack lunch like a lifeline.
