Page 83 of Heir of Draga

Thank the goddess. An outright challenge would have been disastrous.

Adelina rolled her shoulders back and cracked her neck, hoping the worst was over.

Nadyah sat down and handed the plate of food to Roxy. Varan didn’t sit. He leaned against the only door, hands loose and ready to reach for a blade. The one he’d had before gone into one of his hidey holes.

Kaita and Nash didn’t sit either, but they waited. Both of them had their arms crossed over their chests with impatient, unhappy frowns on their faces. Adelina could see the resemblance between them even if they weren’t related. She wondered if Nash could see it between her and Nadyah – a pair even if it wasn’t necessarily physically obvious.

The windows were high and curved, each one twice her height, but narrow. Adelina crossed the room and looked out, scouting their location in comparison to the landing station. She could see her starships as well as Nash’s off in the distance. There was a good amount of them…he must have found the other two royals who’d been hiding in the Hai Galaxy.

Adelina didn’t ask about them, instead she took out one of the anti-spy tech devices she’d stolen from the royal vault over the cycles. It was the same one her mother liked to use in the Queen’s Solar during their weekly tea – not that they’d had one since her grandmother had been banished from the palace and stripped of her title.

The pulse deactivated any spy tech in the room, ran the dimensions, and then created a small shield around them to prevent anyone from listening in on what she was about to say. Adelina wondered sometimes why she kept it a secret. It would be so much easier to simply tell everyone.

At least she could start with the male who had stolen her heart so effectively.

Adelina turned and faced Nash, leaning against the window. She let herself study him, noting the way his fingers tapped on his arm impatiently, but otherwise he was still as the dawn except for the way he studied her.

They both took their time taking in each other’s changes.

There was a new scar that went from his shoulder up his neck and across his jaw. Adelina clenched her teeth and tried not to think about how he’d gotten it or how close he may have been to dying. Tears pricked her eyes as she noticed another marring the bands of ink on his arm. She blinked and took a deep breath.

Nash took in her pants, the strange mix of styles that she wore as Adelina and Lina, and she wondered if he’d seen anything that had been on the livestream the last few weeks. He probably knew nothing about what had happened since he left Draga Terra.

Goddess, it felt like an eternity ago.

“Much has happened since you left,” she murmured, noticing the way he favored his left side. Adelina would have to call in one of her physicians to tend to him and the rest of his people. No doubt they would need much since being on the run for over six months.

Nash snorted like she was being intentionally obtuse. Adelina gave him a slight smile and a shrug to ease Varan’s predatory intensity. He hadn’t once blinked, staring at Nash like a wolf on the hunt.

“Raena tried to pawn me off on the Neprijat King when he called to request her hand in marriage. He stated her acceptance would cease fire on Seprilles and bring peace once more. She denied him and he would not accept me unless she abdicated as well as Giselle, or they both died.” Adelina inspected her black lacquer nails, focusing on them until they were completely human. Nash had to understand every change, and until she showed him firsthand…he had to know exactly what he was getting into.

Then she hoped he would choose her regardless, that he would still love her enough to accept her as she was.

“I decided it was too much of a risk to stay unwed and in Draga I am free with at least one husband as that husband would hold the rank of prince. Anyone else is a consort.” She glanced at Nadyah and her courtesan gave her a reassuring nod. She was here for her as she always was. “Or an official Mistress.”

Nash looked between her and Nadyah as did Kaita. Both of them relaxed a bit, if only because of their surprise. Adelina slipped her hands into her coat pocket to hide their shaking. She’d known Nash disliked Nadyah, but she’d promised herself and her courtesan a male’s opinion would not change who she was.

“Varan had already danced with me at my coming-of-age party and due to our previous friendship; I was inclined to marry him. At least he was someone I could trust.”

Adelina swallowed hard and looked at Varan – her Prince of Thieves, her husband, and the friend who had saved her in so many different ways. She didn’t try to hide the tears rimming her eyes or the love she felt for the male who had fused with her very soul.

“Raena…lost control…after that incident with the Neprijat.” Her heart rate picked up and damn all the hells, it was still difficult to talk about what had happened in that council meeting. “She executed three nobles in front of everyone – and I had to kneel in their blood to gain permission to leave as quickly as I did; to come here and request aid for the war after so many of our people were already dying. I don’t – know what would have happened to me…if not for Varan.”

Finally Nash looked less angry and instead he appeared – apprehensive. As though he almost didn’t want to know what else had led her to this very moment, to the female she was now.

Adelina cocked her head, wondering if the Corinthians would even understand the ramifications of what she was about to tell them. “Do you remember when I told you to stop the night of my coming-of-age party? How angry you were when I wouldn’t tell you why?”

Cautiously Nash nodded, looking at Varan and then Nadyah.

“There were some issues with my biology. Ian ran a full diagnostic which revealed my genetic condition.” Adelina narrowed her eyes at Kaita, warning the girl without words this was something that had to stay in the room. “I am one quarter courtesan,” she admitted.

She let that sink in for a moment, watching the two Kharan royals closely. Kaita didn’t seem to understand, but Nash had some idea because he looked at Nadyah and then at her with some dawning comprehension.

“Yes, that’s why my jasmine scent can be sweet or dark, and why I am no longer submissive. I choose not to be,” Adelina told him, trying not to hunch her shoulders under his possible judgement.

But Nash kept his face blank as he processed her words. It gave her the courage to continue.

“Courtesans can be mated when they copulate with another who matches them genetically. I was afraid you were my mate so I had to test your DNA first before we could safely…” she trailed off and shrugged again, looking out the window. For some reason this was the most difficult part of her confession and the rapt attention of everyone in the room was a weight she wasn’t used to.

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