I rose to my feet, throwing a wary glance at the door.
“I—I—” I turned slightly away, not sure why I found it so disrespectful to see the prince in a state of undress when I was planning to kill his father.
A bit of red tinged his skin as he pulled a shirt over his head.
He’s embarrassed.
He motioned to one of the adjoining rooms, shutting the door behind us to keep out any listening ears.
“How did you get in here?”he growled, but then his eyes caught sight of my bag of chalk.“Did you climb all the way up here?”
I crossed my tired arms, glaring up at him.“I considered knocking on your sister’s door and asking to join the meeting, but for some reason, I didn’t think that would go over well.”
My words piqued his interest.“What did you find out?”
I watched his demeanor transform back into calm.Into control.I had caught him off guard, but he knew how to quickly adjust other people’s perception of him.
“She was meeting with the chancellor.”
He tilted his head.“The chancellor?You’re sure?”
I shrugged.“I didn’t see his face, but that’s what she called him.She talked about gathering more support, that she needed to give them hope, that they would need a leader after the change and she wanted them to trust her.They didn’t say any specifics.Just vague explanations.”
A wave of understanding washed across Valeris’s face.“I think I know what she’s referring to.Did they say anything else?”
“She mentioned she didn’t want her brothers to have any part of it in the end.”
Valeris scowled.“Nothing else was mentioned?”
I shook my head.“That’s all I heard.”
“Well, that’s enough to get us started.”He glanced again at the bag of chalk swinging at my side.“Where did you learn to climb like that?”
I quirked an eyebrow.“Don’t tell me the prince never sneaked out of his rooms at night?”
“I don’t need to sneak around with my family.They’re fine with airing everything out in public, but you didn’t answer my question.”
“It’s not a learn from where, but who.My brother taught me.He had more reasons to sneak out than I did.”
“Ah,” Valeris said.“And how are your brother and his outlaw girlfriend faring now that she’s no longer in a prison cell?”
I shrugged.“Fine, as far as I can tell.”
He squinted at me, and his emerald-green eyes had a way of peering into my soul.“I believe you were also supposed to have more information about my brother’s murder as well.”
I inspected one of my fingernails.I needed to get on that.It was the main reason we had struck up our original shaky alliance in the first place.
“I haven’t found what I’m looking for yet,” I said.“You keep ruining my evening plans.”
“And I’ll keep ruining them until your end of the bargain is fulfilled.”
I took a step toward him, and his throat bobbed as he looked down at me.“In all honesty, it sounds a little bit more like blackmail than a bargain.”
“I dislike the term blackmail,” he said.“It leaves a bitter taste in my mouth; however, I think alliance would be a better term than bargain.”
I rolled my eyes.“Because this is of such mutual benefit to me.”
He leaned forward, and I tensed.A shiver traced down my spine as he whispered in my ear.“Shall I escort you down to the dungeons, then?”
