Page 93 of Elven Crown

Wanting to give him the benefit of the doubt, Rebecca kept walking as if she hadn’t noticed a thing. Maybe he was going somewhere else and just happened to take this route.

But no, she’d told him she didn’t need guarding just to go back to her room, but standard protocol dictated she had it anyway. Andthatwas what Maxwell had prioritized.

The realization frustrated her to no end, and at the same time, Rebecca couldn’t help but enjoy the fact that he hadn’t listened to her words. Probably because she hadn’t given him an official order to leave her alone.

It felt like a sign of someone she could count on, if she ever let herself count on anyone. Someone she could trust to be dependable when it came to the rules and the foundation of what did and did not need to be accomplished and strictly adhered to.

A certain level of stability undoubtedly went hand in hand with a Head of Security who didn’t balk at her comments, who would continue doing his job unless she specifically ordered him to do something else.

Even if she ordered it, though, Maxwell would probably continue to follow standard protocol, assuming he disagreed with her orders.

Rebecca had, after all, promised to let him do his job, the same way he’d promised to trust her. Or at leasttry, to the best of his ability.

She wasn’t trying to hide anything from him now, though. So what was the harm in letting him do what he thought was necessary within the parameters of his job description?

After all, it had only been a few days since they’d made that deal to give each other a little more credit and a little more slack.

Maxwell followed her all the way to the intersection with the hallway directly into the residential wing, but before turning that way to head to her room, Rebecca stopped.

She wasn’t sure why, because she didn’t immediately turn around to face him.

Instead, she stood there at the branching hallway, more focused on the tingling warmth of energy and the magnetic pull intensifying now with every step Maxwell still took toward her.

The sensation she’d been trying to ignore for nearly a week now finally grew too strong, and she spun around to confront him about it one more time.

Suddenly, it seemed like letting this dark pull of need and longing with her into her room for the night was a terrible idea.

“Is there a problem?” he asked before stopping only a foot away.

Far too close and somehow not close enough.

“This is too much,” she said and had to clear her throat. She’d meant every word, but the way her body leaned toward him all on its own made it feel like a lie. “This following me down the halls everywhere I go. It’s not—”

“It’s a security detail.”

“I know what it is, Max. You and I have already covered plenty of times that I’m not Aldous and that I don’t plan on doing things the way he did. That there need to be changes around here. And this is one of those changes. But it doesn’t really seem like you’re even willing to work with me on that, and I needthis, specifically, to change.”

His eyes widened a little before his expression softened and he let out a sigh. “I’m not trying to pry. I won’t get in your business. I don’t need to know what you’re doing when you get where you’re going. Thathaschanged, because we agreed that it would. But Iwillmake sure you get where you’re going in one piece before I leave you alone. Anything could happen.”

“In here?” she asked, spreading her arms and sweeping her gaze around the hallway. “What’s going to happen inside these walls? We’ve already gotten rid of the biggest threat.”

The shifter raised an eyebrow. “Your private room is severely underprotected.”

“I disagree. It was secure enough when it became my room six months ago, and it’s secure enough now. Anything more than that inevitably sets me apart from the rest of this task force. Which is another thing Aldous did that I have no intention of repeating.”

“Maybe you should.”

She would have snapped at him for presuming to tell her what to do, but his particular statement caught her off guard. The words at the tip of her tongue fled from her mind instead before she shut her mouth with a soft click. “Maybe I should what? Set myself apart from everyone else? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you might benefit from one or two more degrees of separation.”

“This is me asking for more specifics, Max.”

He held her in his gaze as his eyebrows drew into an even deeper frown.

He didn’t want to tell her specifics.

Why?

---