Page 92 of Elven Crown

Which she knew was exactly what he had intended.

She hadn’t made it very far down the hall before a newly rising flare of tingling warmth rippled across her back and up over her shoulders.

A second later, Maxwell was once again walking beside her, easily matching her quickening pace, his head dipped low in thought.

Okay, so no one butMaxwellthought her immediate departure odd.

Then he finally found his voice, which came out sounding oddly like a growling whine. “You told theelfyour plans for those weapons. But not me?”

Thatwas what he took issue with, of all things?

Rebecca wanted to correct him. She certainly hadnottaken Rowan into her confidence. At the same time, she just didn’t have the energy to let herself get sucked into even more of her Head of Security’s dramatic misconceptions.

If she kept this up much longer, she’d lose what remained of her composure, and she couldn’t predict how she would react or what she might let slip in her frustration.

“We’ll talk about it later,” she murmured, shaking her head but refusing to look at him.

She’d heard the surprise and hurt in his question and didn’t want to see it reflected to her in those silver eyes too.

The nausea she’d felt when realizing Rowan had walked her right into his well-laid trap not only remained, but now it had only grown stronger. Especially now that Maxwell assumed she’d given the elf preferential treatment.

None of this was supposed to happen.

Now all she could think about was how much she wished Rowan had never shown up here. That she hadn’t contacted orbeen forced to think about this elf man from her past, who had nothing to do with her present beyond the imminent threat he posed to it.

Tonight, though, she couldn’t do a thing about it.

“If I’ve given you reason to think you can’t trust me…” Maxwell began.

“No, that’s not it.” She stopped to look directly up at him. “Look, that’s not what happened. I didn’t have a private conversation with Blackmoon about the weapons. I must have just been thinking out loud somewhere, and he picked up on it. He shouldn’t have shared it with everyone else anyway, but I’ll deal with that later. Right now, I just… I need to call it a night.”

Then she nodded, hoping she had somewhat reassured him.

Maxwell studied her face, then returned the nod, and that was that.

Rebecca turned to keep walking, thinking only of sprawling across her mattress and drifting off to sleep as quickly as possible. Then the echo of footsteps behind her in the hall drew her back to the here and now.

Maxwell was still following her.

“I’m just going to my room, Max,” she called over her shoulder. “Don’t need an escort.”

“It’s for your protection,” he said. “Standard protocol.”

“Then maybe we need to update protocol. I don’t need constant supervision or the red-carpet treatment. I’m not Aldous. What Idoneed is to be left alone when I want to be left alone and for everyone to just leave it at that.”

His snort made her stop and spin around to see just what the hell he thought was so funny.

Maxwell smirked at her, unaffected by her growing frustration, and replied without missing a beat. “If that were the case, no one wouldeversee you.”

Did the shifter just make a joke?

She might have laughed if she hadn’t been so completely exhausted, though a tiny smile appeared for a moment before she rolled her eyes. “Good night, Hannigan.”

Then she left him and hurried toward the compound’s residential wing and the privacy of her own room.

A few more seconds lapsed this time before the echo of his footsteps following her continued.

Had she not made herself perfectly clear?

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