“Fine,” Ellie sighs and crosses the room to us, Nix following. But Hartley snaps in front of me, inches from my face, and her eyes blow wide.
“Oh my gods, sorry. Too close,” she says, stumbling back.
A brief pause extends before Del and I break into hysterical laughter.
“It’ll take a while to practice your aim and spacing, Hartley,” Del says through his throaty laugh.
My eyes water in my joy of the innocent moment.
Emmanuel approaches her, gaze roaming Hartley up and down. “Snapping on command your first day is very impressive,” he praises, and I try to keep my jaw off the ground. I’ve never heard the male compliment anyone.
“Perhaps your trajectory as an assassin for the Night Kingdom is a wise choice,” I say.
Emmanuel’s narrowed eyes find mine. “No one said anything aboutassassin,” he retorts.
Emmanuel rarely argues with me on anything not to do with my safety. So rare, I think it’s been a few decades. “I won’t deny talent the position it deserves. We’ll see what comes of her.”
“Well, I’d at least like a shot at it,” Hartley says, tossing her hands on her hips between us as Emmanuel and I stare at one another.
Em finally gives up and walks off.
“You’ll get your shot,” I promise her, and Hartley bows deeply before following Del, Nix, and Ellie out of my rooms.
As soon as the door snicks shut, Emmanuel is back and pacing—another rarity.
“What iswrongwith you?”
He halts and faces me. “What if she’s my mate?”
I roll my eyes. “Come on, Em. The odds of that are close to zero.”
“I can’t have my mate as an assassin for the crown. I won’t be able to focus.”
My eyebrows raise. I’m surprised by his assuredness and his admission to distraction. “You don’t know what she is to you.”
He starts pacing again. “I’m drawn to her. It’s scaring the shit out of me. I can’t ignore that and hope for the fucking best.”
I splay my hands, desperate to understand how he sees the future. “So what, we’re just going to lock her in a tower to keep her safe until you feel up to testing out a bond? Or better yet, if she is your mate, you’re going to abandon your life’s work and run away together?”
His body stills next to the roaring hearth, but he doesn’t respond, which means neither option is off the table.
I try a different tack. “Or, as mates, you’ll be unstoppable. Your ability to communicate without speaking,your physical knowledge of each other through the bond. There are numerous advantages.”
“You’re forgetting the best part,Veya,” he says, tone rigid as his eyes slide to mine. “My death is her death, and hers is mine.”
That’s not always the case from what we’ve learned from other vampires over the centuries, but I won’t pick another battle. “Look, I know you don’t want a mate in your life,” I say. “It complicates things.Trust me, I understand that. But we don’t know who she is to you yet. Let’s worry about thisafterwe take Goreon.”
His eyes clear of concern at my request. “Fine. Let’s get some rest,” he says, disappearing through my bedchamber door without another word.
I stare into the crackling fire, my body defeated with exhaustion.
My mind shifts to Aurelia and Samantha as they race on horseback through the day to the Night Kingdom wall, and I send a prayer to the gods to watch over them.
I learned long ago not to fortify faith with false hope; fate will always win in the end. But it won’t stop me from groveling to the gods and laying my wishes at their feet.
Heaving my emotions out with a forced exhale, I move to my room and change for bed, Emmanuel already softly snoring on my floor, still dressed and armed.
My bedroom door flies open just before sunset, and guards snap throughout my suite.
