“I won’t hurt him, but I will be waiting with you while he picks you up.”
I sigh, knowing not to argue with him. Liam would do as he pleases.
He waits outside my door as I get changed before escorting me downstairs. We wait out the front, and when the car pulls up, Kade gets out, and I can tell he is a little frightened of Liam as he ushers me into the car.
“Liam,” Kade acknowledges. Liam tilts his head to the side, watching Kade but remains silent. Kade quickly gets in the car and pulls away.
“That man is strange. I don’t like you hanging around him,” Kade says as we drive into town.
“Where are we going?” I ask him, ignoring his statement.
“To the café, we leave today,” he tells me.
“And Ivy?” I ask him.
“I am still thinking about it. I have yet to decide,” he says as we pull up out the front. We head inside and sit at the back tables, and Kade hands me a menu, but I set it down on the table.
“Right, I forgot you can’t read,” he exhales before clicking his tongue. “That is going to be an issue. I hope you’re a fast learner. You will have to earn your keep. I can’t have a useless Luna,” he says, staring at the menu. I shrink in my seat a little, not wanting him to know how much him saying that affects me.
The waitress comes over, and Kade orders for us. I remain quiet, picking at my food.
“Why are you quiet? You aren’t second-guessing about coming, I hope. I can’t remain here, I have a pack back home to run,” he tells me, and I shake my head.
“I am just worried about Ivy.”
He presses his lips in a line, seemingly annoyed.
“She is the king’s mate, she will be fine. Time to cut ties with her,” he says, and I look over at him in shock and disbelief. Setting my fork down, I get up.
“Abbie?” he says as I grab my phone off the counter, about to text Liam or Gannon to come get me.
“Abbie, where are you going?” he asks, but if that is how he feels about Ivy, then my mind is made up. I am not going.
I walk outside and unlock the phone when it is plucked from my fingers. I glance over at Kade, who has come up behind me.
“You don’t just walk out during a conversation,” Kade scolds me, looking livid.
“I am not going. If Ivy can’t come, I am staying here,” I tell him.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ihaven’t seen Abbie since she told me her mate wants her to leave with him. She spends all her time with him, which doesn’t bother me. Besides, I am happy for her. If it couldn’t be both of us, I’m glad one of us found a loving mate. But I know she is anxious about the king not letting her leave.
However, the king is acting strangely, too. Every night, I wake to find the king in my room asleep, only for him to be gone when I wake up in the morning.
At first, I thought I was going crazy. The king is here at random hours during the night; I always wake to his scent. Then, by morning, it’s like he was never here at all. His coming and going is making it harder. If he doesn’t want me, he needs to just leave me be. It’s selfish of him to keep putting me through this agony.
His coming and going is driving me insane.
He never says anything; just stares if I catch him and accidentally wake him, or he ignores me completely. My heart tugs painfully for those two nights. I don’t know what he wants, but it’s clear he doesn’t want me. But as his scent settles in the room eachnight, it feels like being rejected all over again. I start praying Abbie can convince her mate to let me join because I can’t live like this.
The breeze is cool as the day slows down, and all the servants prepare for dinner and end-of-day tasks. Tugging the white sheets from the clothesline with Abbie, we fold them, bringing the corners together and placing them in the basket. Our interactions have been flat out most of the day, and she has been quiet for most of it. I know she is itching to tell me something because she has tried a few times, but then she falls quiet because someone is always around.
A guard, another servant, so amongst the blowing winds and the flapping sheets, she moves closer to me before reaching over and dropping something into the front pocket of my apron.
I glance down before putting my hand in the pocket and feeling around for what it is. My fingertips brush something cool and metal, and I twist my wrist in the oversized pocket and look at what it is. It’s a watch.
“When the big hand is on the twelve and the little one on the seven, I am leaving,” she whispers, and I stare at her, scared. She chews her lip before glancing around nervously. Then she reaches into her shirt and produces a small key from her bra. She drops it in my pocket.