Page 226 of Night's Fall
I did all this beforeIdonned a somber sky-blue dress thatGermainehad found somewhere (it was not in my closet, that’s for sure, though not unattractive, it wasn’t me at all…and obviously,Ididn’t put on a flower broach).
And thenIsat with the king, the queen and my mate on a couch, with his siblings standing behind us in a room on the family’s more informal floor (that would be the second), three cams aimed our way.
KingFillionspoke, andInoted for the first time he was very good at it.
The speech was prepared, and whenIwalked into the room,Isaw him pacing and scrolling through it on a tablet, talking toGermaineand his aide, a female namedAllina, as he did.
But when he spoke the words to the cams, it sounded off the cuff.Sincere.Determined.Angry.Wretched.Eachemotion assigned to whatever the words referred to (concern for the state of mind of the realm after what had happened; that we would find the perpetrators; that this had happened at all; about the loss ofAnthemeand that poor male who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, respectively).
I had little doubt he was all of those things, genuinely, it was just impressive he could pull them off at the same time saying measured, prepared words.
Aleksei spoke briefly about howAnthemehad been on his detail for years, she was an exemplary agent, and as such, he selected her personally for my detail.Healso shared what a loss she was personally to the royal family, to him and to me.Andhe expressed sympathy for the male who had fallen after getting caught in the stream.
AndIhad a very brief statement to say, sharingIwas all right, albeit devastated atAntheme’sloss, saddened that one of our citizens who was simply going about his day got caught in the beam, but there were no words to express how gratefulIwas to theRoyalServicefor acting quickly to be certainIwas whisked to safety.
All of that was prepared, but genuine too, andIhopedIdelivered it as well as the king.
I was told our transmission would break into anything being displayed, streaming in real time, therefore, once the green light went off on the cams, my relief was great.
But me sitting with them earned me the first hugI’dreceived fromQueenCalisa, and a pat on the cheek while she murmured, “I’mvery proud of you,Laura.”
And with that, asIsuspected every royal family inNight’sFalldid throughout history, no matter what was going on…
We got on with it.
In this case, we went to dinner.
* * *
Even though the table was full of normally interesting, lively people—those being the king, queen, all three princes, the princess, me, theTruelocks, theVinestrongsandMonique—the mood at dinner was somber.
I specifically noted howQueenCalisa’sattention frequently turned toAleksei.
It wasn’t hard to understand why, since mine did as well, considering his mood seemed to deteriorate palpably as the night wore on.
Before the desert course, a male walked into the room, directly to the king, bent and whispered in his ear.
The king stood immediately and left with him.
Aleksei didn’t hesitate to follow.
I made moves to do the same, butMr.Truelock, who was my dinner partner, took my hand.
“In a time like this, my lovely, one must tread cautiously around a male shifter,” he advised.
Considering the last “time like this,”Alekseihad acted like a big jerk (though, understandably, still…),Isaw the wisdom of this and kept my seat.
It wasn’t long beforeAlekseicame back.
He stood in the door, his eyes beckoning me.
“Go,”Mr.Truelockmurmured.
I got up and went to my mate.
Wordlessly, he took my hand and guided me through thePalace.
We came out on a balcony on the south side.
