Page 27 of Elven Prince

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Rebecca’s face burned at the thought of what Titus was really trying to tell her here.

Her task force wouldn’t open up and be themselves in front of her, but not because they werescaredof her. That meant there was still a reason for it.

A reason Titus thought he knew.

She swallowed and fought to keep her voice level. “Then what’s the reason?”

“Plain old respect,” he replied, turning to discover new treasures while knocking over several more piles of others in the process. “Honestly, I almost forgot what that looked like before Aldous got…taken out of the picture. But I know it when I see it. And it’s because nobody wants you thinking less of them ’cause they did or said something the wrong way that don’t line up with protocol and shit.”

When Rebecca leaned back against the edge of another antique desk beside her and it wobbled beneath the added weight, she abruptly straightened and pretended not to have noticed anything. “I feel like anyone who knew mebeforeshould still know I’m not exactly the biggest fan of protocol.”

“Oh sure.Iknow that. Everyone on our old team knows it too. But I also gotta say there weren’t many more of us whodidknow you at all before you ended up Roth-Da’al.”

Then why did everyone vote me in?she wanted to ask, but that line of questioning didn’t seem very productive.

“But trust me,” Titus continued as he removed his hand from a cardboard box, which he’d already wrapped in several long strips of expensive silk. “It ain’t because anyone’s scared of you. That’s a fact. Naw, if there’s anybody to be scared of, and I’m not saying Iam,it’s Hannigan.”

The laugh bursting out of Rebecca cut off sharply when she clamped her mouth shut. “What? Scared ofhim?”

“I saidnotme.” Titus lifted both hands in concession before the rest of the silk scarves slipped between his giant fingers like water to flutter down to the floor. “Yeah, I know. You neither. Obviously.”

“It’s that obvious?”

He sent her a deadpan stare and raised an eyebrow. “Think about it. How many folks do you see on a regular basis chatting up our good ol’ Head of Security because it sounded like afunidea?”

She couldn’t hold back a snort. “Yeah, I think I get your point.”

Dammit, now she was thinking about Maxwell again.

The whole point of coming out to the vault—beyond re-upping task-force funds to keep on hand at HQ—was to getawayfrom Maxwell Hannigan. To get him out of her mind. To give herself a break and even a little bit of space where her shifter Head of Security wasn’t a major focal point.

Good fucking luck with that.

“Speaking of,” Titus continued absently, as if he were about to broach the most benign topic ever, “what’s the deal with you two, anyway?”

“What?” Rebecca would have whirled around if she hadn’t already been facing him. With nothing else to occupy her physically while her mind reeled for viable ways to answer that bombshell of a question, she shuffled back and forth beside the desk, knocking over other piles of valuable items tucked away without rhyme or reason to their organization. Or complete lack thereof.

“You heard me,” Titus muttered, though he made a point not to look at her when he said it.

She had to give the vuulbor credit, at least. He knew how to read a room, especially when it was just the two of them.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” It was the only thing she could think of to say, because this was the first time anyone had flat-out asked about her and Maxwell. At least right to her face.

All things considered, it was amazing no one else had brought it up sooner.

“Nah, come on.” Titus clicked his tongue before lifting an enormous storage chest like it weighed nothing and dumped it upside down, spilling its contents of jewelry and coins and feathered hats and a ridiculous number of rolled-up cloth all over the floor. “It’s obvious as hell, Knox. So if you’re trying to keep what you think is still a secret, lemme just stop you right now and tell you it ain’t.”

“Obvious, huh?” she replied, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.

What the hell was she panicking about, anyway? He’d nailed the truth. It wasn’t like it was against the rules…

Not as far as she knew, anyway.

No, it was just against her own personal rules. Maybe even worse than that, because that stupid rune tattooed on the shifter’s chest made it impossible to fully trust him anymore. Like they’d gone full circle and were starting all over again with each other.

Only this time, Rebecca and Maxwell were each armed with a lot more knowledge about each other.

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