Page 26 of Elven Prince

Rebecca was pretty sure Aldous could barely read.

“Right,” he said as he made a half-hearted attempt to pick up the mess. “Fine. But you already knew that. It’s not like you’re never around.”

“Oh sure, I’m around,” she said. “Enough to see what everyone elsewantsme to see. But I mean how’s everyonereally? New recruits settling in? Everybody have what they need? Maybe at least a little of what they want?”

Titus straightened abruptly as if she’d asked a surprising and rude question instead, then shot her a crooked smile. “Still fine. You were in the common room earlier, boss. You saw for yourself.”

“Again, I only see what everyone else wants me to see. That’s not the same. I mean, I get it. Things change when one of us gets voted into command—”

“AsRoth-Da’al,” he corrected, thrusting a fat forefinger in the air, onto which he’d somehow managed to jam several over-large silver rings.

Those wouldn’t be fun trying to get off later.

“Same thing,” Rebecca muttered. “I know you know what I mean. Doesn’t surprise me that no one else openly talks to me very much these days, but I figured, out of anyone who still would, it’d be you.”

He chuckled again and finally stopped fiddling with whatever new prize he’d found in the jumble of random valuables. “You want me to shoot straight with you, boss. Copy that.”

Rebecca straightened from where she crouched beside the totes and folded her arms. “Exactly. So let me hear it. Don’t hold back.”

The gentle, knowing smile he fixed on her next suddenly made her feel like a child trying to keep up with adult conversation during a dinner party—most of which had been hosted in her own home, despite no one expecting her to sit through the whole thing.

Blue Hells, that was such a long time ago.

“Truth is,” Titus began, “everybody’s just fine. No bullshit, Knox, I swear. The new guys’re fitting in better than most of us expected. Honestly, the witch sisters… They might come across as innocently clueless from time to time, but they know what they’re doing. Adam’s really taken a shine to Rick and the whole Intel team. Not quite sure what Braxus and Theo are all that skilled at, if anything, but they’re settling in like they ought to. I’ve heard no complaints.”

“That’s good. No complaints isn’t exactly everyone doing well, though…”

“After all Aldous’s fuckery? You bet your ass it’s the same.”

“Ithinkyou meant that as a compliment,” she said, barely containing a smile, “but it doesn’t quite feel like one.”

“Bullshit. You know exactly what I mean by it.”

She couldn’t argue with him there. “I guess I should just take that as a win and keep going, huh?”

“Best damn strategy around, if you ask me.” Titus returned to absently pawing his way through various piles, but she knew he was still listening. Mostly.

“And if you had any issues with anything,” she added, “or you heard someone else might, you know you can talk to me about it, right?”

“Of course I do, Knox. You moved upstairs into an office. Not through the Gateway.”

She barked out another laugh.

No, she’d moved through the Gateway to escape unwanted responsibility once already, but she wasn’t about to say that out loud.

If only he knew…

Titus grumbled and cleared his throat. “If you ask me—”

“Good, ’cause I am.” She flashed him a quick smile when he looked sharply up at her before his booming laugh filled the storage vault again.

“Right. Nah, everyone mightactlike they don’t wanna say anything in front of you, or step out of line or nothing, but it ain’t ’cause they’re scared of you, Knox.”

Shit.

Thatkind of answer felt loaded with all sorts of possibilities. The vast majority of them were not good.

HadTitus, before anyone else, figured out who she really was?

---