Page 72 of Beyond the Darkness

“Neither can I.”

“Anything else we need to tackle today?”

“Not much, no—some emails I need to answer about the masquerade ball. Things like that.”

Connie sipped his coffee, leaning against Hudson’s desk. “Speaking of that. Did you decide on a theme yet for the ball?”

Hudson swiveled in his chair to face Connie. “I’m leaning toward a ‘Venetian Carnival,’ with the usual elaborate masks and costumes, maybe even some performers on stilts and a few fire-eaters. What do you think?”

“That sounds incredible,” Connie replied. “It’ll be like stepping into another world.”

“Exactly what I was hoping for.” Hudson grinned. “And it’ll be a great distraction from all the chaos lately.”

Connie nodded, setting his coffee down on the desk. “True.”

Hudson reached out and took his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Which reminds me, did you ever hear back from the caterer about the menu options for this event?”

“I’m going to have to start marking menus as wedding or masquerade since we’re using the same caterer,” Connie said, checking his phone. “Okay, yes, they sent over some proposals last night. I’ll pull them up and we can look over them together after Torres leaves.”

“That sounds perfect.” Hudson smiled as he stood up, pulling Connie into a brief hug. “Thanks for being on top of things, mate.”

Connie laughed. “That’s what you pay me the big bucks for.”

As they parted, Hudson heard the sound of footsteps outside his office. “Sounds like Torres is here.”

“Right on time,” Connie said. “I’ll let him in.”

As Connie left the room, Hudson turned back to his computer screen, quickly scanning through his emails once more before Torres entered.

“Good morning, Your Majesty,” Torres greeted as he stepped into the office.

“Hey, Torres,” Hudson replied with a nod. “Thanks for coming by. Would you mind doing something for me before picking up Connie’s parents at the airport?”

“Of course not. What do you need me to do?”

Hudson took the small bag out of his desk that contained the rubies, diamonds, and gold nuggets for their wedding bands. “I need you to drop this off with the jeweler who’s going to make our wedding bands. He already knows that you’re coming.” Healso sent Torres a text message with the address. “There. You shouldn’t have a problem finding the place.”

“I’ll certainly take care of it. Did the stones come from your hoard?”

“Yes, the rubies and diamonds did. And the gold came from Connie’s.”

“How fitting,” Torres said. “Red stones for red dragons. I bet they’ll be gorgeous.”

“I hope so,” Hudson said with a smile. “They represent the union of our two worlds, quite literally.”

Torres nodded, clearly appreciating the significance. “Anything else you need from me today?”

“Could you let security know we’ll be having Connie’s parents staying with us too?”

“Will do,” Torres confirmed, tucking the small bag into his jacket. “I’ll handle it all.”

“Thanks, Torres. I appreciate it,” Hudson said, leaning back in his chair.

“Speaking of parents….”

“I’m fine,” Hudson reassured Torres. “You know the kind of relationship I had with my mother.”

“I do, yes, but that doesn’t change the fact that your mother is now gone.”

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