Page 107 of Night's Fall
“No opportunity this good should be squandered, your highness.”
Dang.
She was hedging.
AndAlekseiknew it.
“What’d they do?Oralternately, which one did something?”Alekseidemanded.
Germaine’s expression turned openly cagey.
“What’d they do?” he pressed.
She cast her eyes toward the queen.
QueenCalisasighed delicately before she spoke.
“It’s unsurprising he figured it out.He’sfar from dim.Therefore, admit it,Timothee.”
Oh dear.
This was my first time in her presence.Ididn’t realize how tense and angry she was.
But regardless of that delicate sigh,Iwasn’t missing it now.
“I’m not a child,”Timotheebit back.
“Lilith, even though he’s been on this earth thirty-one years, grant me the day when that’s actually true,” the queen prayed.
“Quiet,Caly, you’re too hard on him,” the king, who’d seated himself again, murmured.
“And you, sir, are not hard enough,” she rejoined.
“We have company,” the king retorted.
“AsIunderstand, they’re not that, but instead, they’reLaura’sfamily, and she is now ours,” the queen returned.
His chest puffed out. “Butthey are not mine, nor are theyTim’s.Hedoesn’t have to confess in front of strangers just because of some masculine peccadillo he got up to.He’sa male!He’sa prince!He’syoung.Maleshave oats to sew.”
“IfIhear one more metaphor that absolutely doesnotin any way excuse bad behavior, but instead, is an indictment of it, because a male who is amaleshould know better,I’llscream,” the queen declared.
“Bloody hell, enough!”Alekseiclipped loudly. “Whatthe fuck did he do?”
It wasErrolwho told on his brother, and he did this gleefully.
“He got a human female pregnant, and when she refused to get rid of it, he doused her drink.”Hegrinned slyly. “Andthat sure did the trick.Butit made her sick.Shehit a clinic.Theyran tests.Andshe knows what he did.”
The entire room grew preternaturally still.
For my part,Ithought it would be me who got sick at hearingAleksei’sbrother was capable of this level of vileness.
“Get out.”
The skin all over my body got cold at the terrifyingly murderous tone ofAleksei’svoice.
And this was aimed atTimothee.
I shifted closer to him and started to stroke his back, hopefully soothingly.Butat the feel of how tense his muscles were,IknewIwas doomed at offering any solace.
