“I’d never tell such a lie,” Doren says as he leans down and gives her forehead a kiss. “We must be off, though. Don’t want Nero and I to be late for our first day in the Sanctum and Iric needs to get to the healing villas.”
My eyes widen. I completely forgot Ellian spoke to those two about that. Well, I don’t know if I really forgot or was just too focused on Laney to really think about it much.
“Have a good first day,” Yemi mumbles.
My lungs scream at me as I suck down the surprised gasp that tries to rip out of me. Nero, Doren, and Iric all lay a kiss on her lips, and her red face tells me to shut the hell up when she faces me.
Oh ma’am. We have some things to catch up on.
“Didn’t you say you wanted to starshoot, so you weren’t late?” Rose asks Lambrit.
“I did. I just wanted to make sure everyone was okay and if that was okay with Amick.”
“That sounds spectacular. Everyone is in slow motion this morning. You’d think the God of Time would rush this along for us.”
He lays a quick kiss to my lips, not bothering to tell anyone else bye before he’s gone. No one takes offence at all as we all chuckle to ourselves.
“I’ll see you later,” Lambrit says as he gives Rose a kiss, then he’s gone as well.
“Well, come on. We’ll walk with you all, then leave as well,” Creed grunts.
“Actually…” Rose says, twisting her fingers as her gaze bounces between Yemi and me. “Will you guys go on ahead? If that’s okay. I just need to speak with Thayla and Yemi.”
Concern twists in my chest, but my men and Sevryn are immediate in telling her that’s fine. Poor Creed and Riven get the realm’s quickest peck from me as I keep my attention on her and her fidgeting.
“I’ll meet you at the Court,” Kyzen says, laying a kiss on my cheek.
The second the four of them are gone, I face her fully.
“What’s wrong?”
“I…gods, I’m going to sound so crazy,” she says, pinching her nose.
“You’re not. Did something happen?” I ask.
After a moment, she tosses her hands up, then places them on her hips.
“Lambrit’s been sneaking out every night and we fussed with each other about it this morning.”
My head jerks and I frown. That’s literally the last thing I expected her to say.
“Sneaking out? What do you mean? Where the hell has he been going?’
She shrugs. “I have no clue. That’s exactly what we fought about. He did it the second night after what happened and told me he just needed to clear his head. I told him I completely understand and I’d keep an eye on Laney if she woke up. Hedid it every single night she was there, but he was only gone like an hour or two. Last night, he was gone almost the entire night. Literally six hours. I was too afraid to wander around in the dark, so I just paced the freaking house and waited for him to return.”
“Oh, what the hell? I’m going to kick his ass,” I say, crossing my arms.
“No, please don’t say anything. I just wanted to tell you and ask the two of you if you would…” she trails off, tearing her gaze from us.
“Stalk him? Sit outside your house and wait until he leaves, then follow him. Absolutely we will,” I say, and Yemi nods right along with me.
She laughs, but the sound fades fast. She squeezes her eyes shut and sighs.
“I know he’s not doing anything wrong. I just don’t understand why he won’t tell me where he’s going or what he’s doing. I’m worried. I know he has a lot on his mind, but my literal power is to incite rest and relaxation. With my nice little power boost, I could ease his mind for a whole night if he let me.”
The concern in her tone hurts my heart, and I tug her into a hug.
“We’ll find out what’s going on. I promise.”
