Page 32 of Dreikx

“I’m on my way.” Wiping my mouth, I wait for Tamey to say goodbye. Something hollow takes up residence in my chest, and I frown, trying to figure out what it is when Tamey descends the steps.

She wears a short white dress with a tiara and high-heeled shoes, which lengthens her legs. In her hand, she holds a dagger adorned with many pearls of Regha and a large purple velvet bag.

At the bottom of the step, she lifts the dagger.

I step back.

“What do you think?”

“About homicide?”

She laughs. “About the dagger.”

I extend my hand, and she places it in my palm. Immediately, I recognize it. “I’ve seen this piece before. Your uncle Kinre has one.”

“Mm-hm.” She proceeds outside and gets into my pod. “That’s Uncle Loven’s dagger. He sold it to Haev. Haev sold it to me.”

“What do you presume to do with it?”

“Gift it to the heir, of course.” She lifts up a purple pouch. “Here are the gifts for the princess and my brother. We have to bring gifts, you know.”

“We?”

“Aren’t you coming to see the baby?”

“I’m going to work and will visit later.”

“Oh no, we go now.” She squeals. “I’m so excited!”

“Tamey, I don’t like you leaving the house. For the time being.”

Her face drops, and the hollow in my chest tightens. Frowning, I rub my chest.

“Longing. Guilt,” she says.

“You have to work on developing a way not to read my feelings. I don’t read your mind.”

Tamey blushes. “Sorry.”

“Thank you.”

“I want to see the baby, Dreikx. I’ve been looking forward to his birth since the news of pregnancy came. I know there are dangers in this world. I know who I am. I know people would love to get their hands on me. I know this in the same way I know you would die to protect me. So let’s live a little and travel a lot.”

I approach the pod. “Very convincing.”

She smiles, then scrunches up her nose. “You’re being sarcastic.”

I tap my claw on the pod’s door. “Your logic is flawed. If you know you’re in danger, you should take steps to secure yourself. I have taken those steps for you. The house being one of them. It is the safest place on Earth, safer than the Stronghold.”

She gasps. “Nothing is safer than a Stronghold. Don’t let the Horde hear you say that.”

“They’ve heard it a million times. I have offered the dome technology to them. They refused.”

“I don’t refuse any safety measures, but I refuse to be kept inside a glass cage.”

“All beautiful things are kept inside a cage of one sort or another.”

“You think I’m beautiful.”

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