Page 97 of A Cruel Kindness

I woke up quickly, rolling over him and pinning his wrists to the bed. “What if I don’t want you to leave?” I asked with a pout. “I could just make you stay here.”

Soren flipped me on my back before I could even blink, securing me much more effectively than I’d done to him. He then made a very, very strong argument why I should listen to him, making me finish twice with his mouth before the sun fully rose in the sky.

When I tried to reciprocate, he pulled away after one last, smacking kiss on my mouth and disappeared back down the tunnels, leaving me frowning in the middle of rumpled sheets.

Well, I certainly wasn’t going back to sleep now.

I took a long bath, then dressed myself, waiting for the summons that would inevitably come for my meeting with my father. I was sure he was planning an interrogation.

I tucked the envelope from Elijah in the waistline of my skirt, making sure my sweater was enough to obscure it.

Sure enough, right as I was getting restless, Laura knocked on my door saying, “Your father would like to speak with you.”

I really wished Soren was here for this, but it was better to do it alone. My father wouldn’t listen to me if he was too busy glaring at Soren within an inch of his life.

Laura led me to my father’s office and with each step forward I grew more and more anxious.

I don’t like this, the Bond singsonged in my head, with the lilt of someone telling you that you were wrong and they were waiting for the opportunity to say I told you so.

The Bond was protective of me and my father was ultimately not someone who had my best interests at heart, unless they happened to also be in his own best interests.

By the time Laura dropped me off with my father, he was standing at the floor to ceiling windows, staring out over the city.

“You know, when I swore before God and the priestesses that I would protect this world, I knew that my oath was greater than most,” he said, clasping his hands behind his back. I followed his gaze out, to the shifting heights and makeups of the buildings, stretching farther than the eye could see.

And that was just a piece of what my father ruled over.

“I was the second Emperor to know that I was swearing to protect this planet from our enemies, rather than ourselves.” My father turned back towards me, his posture as hard as his tone. Not an ounce of gentleness for his only daughter.

He’d never been paternal in the slightest. It was why my brother had run away to university on the far edge of the Edelstenne islands and hadn’t returned for four years.

“And?” I asked, the word pushing out through a tight throat.

My father’s mouth quirked in a grin, ever the one to know more than everyone else in the room. “And that has doubled the burden on my shoulders. I must make hard decisions, even ones that leave me sleepless at night. I’m sure you can relate after what you’ve seen.”

I had to breathe deep to dispel my nerves. There was a chance he’d discovered what I’d done. I wouldn’t put it past him.

I had bigger things to focus on than trying to interpret my father’s grandiose life lessons. I removed the envelope from the back of my pants, extending it to him.

“We’ve made contact with the Prince’s favored general. He asked me to hand deliver this envelope. I’m told it contains peace negotiations.” There, that sounded good enough. I tended to be soft spoken, preferring the sneaky way around but my father liked to barrel right through people.

The only way to prevent that from happening to you was to stand your ground.

My father looked at the envelope in my hand like it would poison him.

“It’s not going to kill you,” I snapped. For all my father’s overconfidence, he was concerned about some Muli paper and ink.

My father took the envelope out of my hand, inspecting either side. “I’m surprised you didn’t open it. You had a habit of rifling through my things.”

He was baiting me, but I wouldn’t give him a reason to claim I’d committed active treason. “Elijah—the general—told me that the paper would disintegrate if I tried to do that. I chose to preserve the message for you.”

My father nodded before sliding a finger under the seal and breaking it. My heart rate started to pick up as he slowly pulled the missive out of the envelope as if it contained the answers to my future.

I guess it did. It affected two entire planets.

I watched him closely as he read, grabbing onto every little micro-expression. Then possibly the worst of them all followed.

He smiled.