I kissed his shoulder quickly, and his sharp intake of breath made me smirk. I adored how Monqilcolnen was so greatly affected by my presence. I felt so powerful with him. I didn’t have to be in control either, though he was ceding control to me more and more of late. Just watching how he reacted to me, howmuch he cared about me, how much he desired me was enough to make me feel like the ruler of the universe.
“Wyn?” he asked.
“No,” I replied, realizing I hadn’t answered his earlier question.
Monqilcolnen paused in his step, stumbling, before he resumed his earlier pace. “You’re not sleeping in our—my quarters tonight?”
His slip made me bite my lip. How I wished it was true. “I am, though I’m having dinner with Urgg and Seth tonight.”
“That should be fun,” he commented, his voice upbeat. “That means Kalvoxrencol is available. Perhaps I can convince Serlotminden to join us.”
“I’ll invite Bartholomew.” I liked the other human, though I hadn’t spent much time with him.
Monqilcolnen smiled, and the sight still sent a ripple of awareness through me. “Thank you, Peace.”
I ducked my head, shuffling. “Of course.”
We parted at the lift, though not before Monqilcolnen gave me a quick kiss.
Trying to suppress the heat rushing through me, I pulled out my touchstone. “Bartholomew Reginald Lucian Cavendish-Wallingford,” I said. Serlotminden’s mate had a very regal name—I quite enjoyed saying it—but he’d refused people from using the entire thing unless it was necessary, like with NAID. In person, it was either Bartholomew or Teddy.
“Wyn,” he said, his voice smooth and utterly without emotion. In my limited experience, Bartholomew was rather hard to surprise or get to emote in any way. “What’s going on?”
I’d never spoken to the prince consort like this. I straightened my slumped shoulders and took a deep breath. I wished to be friends with him, and this was the first step.
I asked, “Would you like to come to dinner with Seth, Urgg, and I?”
Silence was my response. I waited and waited and waited until Bartholomew replied, “Yes.”
“Seth probably won’t mind leading you. It’s at our regular place.”
“Fine.”
“I look forward to spending more time with you.”
He grunted.
I had no idea what else to say to the quiet human and ended the session. I moved through the bustling crowd toward Mistress Kel’yeena’s noodle shop. I stepped inside and went straight to the counter to greet her.
When I brushed a web near the counter, beads clacked as she came out to see who was calling for her. “Wyn, I have missed your breath.”
“And I yours.”
“Busy with that new mate of yours.”
My soul pounded and heat suffused my limbs. If only that were true, then I wouldn’t worry about him leaving me behind. “We’re not mates.”
Her mandibles clicked and the beads on her abdomen shook and smacked with her movements. “No? That seems odd.”
I didn’t know what to say, but she did.
“You are spending time in his nest and your webs are entwined,” she replied, her front legs shifting and rubbing the fine hair there. Her mandibles clicked as she said, rather forcefully, “Is he denying you?”
“No,” I told her. “Monqilcolnen would never do that.” He wouldn’t. If I told him I thought of him as my mate, even though I wasn’t there yet so I had no need to worry, he would accept me.
“Then you are denying him?”
“No.” I wasn’t, was I? He hadn’t hinted I was his mate. “No,” I repeated. “We are courting.”
