Page 100 of The Princess and Her Grand King

His instincts had been on edge all night from being away from Emeriel. She was safe, protected under Vladya’s watch.

But while he trusted Vladya with his life, he didn’t trust the voices in Vladya’s head.

That risk alone had kept Daemonikai’s nerves taut all night.

“Wegai,” he called out.

His head soldier appeared instantly, having stayed close all night, wisely keeping his distance as ordered.

“Your Grace,” Wegai acknowledged with a bow.

“Gather the men. We’re heading back.”

They were near the garden’s entrance when Daemonikai froze, his senses latching onto something.

A scent so faint it was almost a ghost in the air.But he would know that scent anywhere.

“No one moves,” he ordered.

The soldiers stilled as he tracked the scent further into the garden.

There, on the concrete, a tiny drop of blood gleamed faintly in the shadows.

Daemonikai crouched, breathing the scent in deeply, letting it fill his lungs.

He hadn’t been mistaken.Sinai’s blood.

If it had been anyone else’s, he might have missed it. From a distance, all blood smelled the same, it required a level of closeness and familiarity to notice subtle differences.

This blood he knew intimately.

As familiar to him as his own, for he had lived on it, survived by it, for two thousand years.

What was Sinai’s blood doing here?

“Wegai, come.”

The soldier stepped up without hesitation.

“Go to the Ladies’ Headquarters and issue an official arrest of Mistress Laelsienai,” he ordered. “Do it now.”

***

“Hm, someone is quite pleased this morning,” Daryl murmured, his voice thick with sleep.

Sinai grinned, turning to face her lover. The first light of dawn peeked through the window, casting a soft glow over the room. Satisfaction thrummed in her veins.

Picking up her nightclothes, Sinai slid them on. “Nothing like good sex to celebrate a victory, Daryl.”

“I’d have to agree.” The high lord leaned in to kiss her. Pulling back, his eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Although you haven’t told me exactly what victory we are celebrating.”

“Ignorance is bliss, My Lord of Trade,” Sinai drawled, stretching luxuriously before she rose, casting a sly glance over her shoulder. “Let’s just say I finally caught a very elusive, very feisty mouse after a long time of setting traps.”

“Hm. And was this mouse worth all the trouble?”

“Oh, yes,” she purred, recalling Emeriel's pained grunt when the arrow made contact. A smirk curled on her lips. “Very much so.”

Daryl shook his head, half-amused, half-wary. “You scare me when you get like this. Is this mouse the reason for that bruise on your cheek?”

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