Page 176 of Night's Fall
My beast trembled at that, and something else twisted, but he wasn’t my first,IknewIwasn’t his,Ialso knew we both understood on a primitive level we would be each other’s last, soIhad to get over it.
“I’m sorry.Thatwas abrupt,” he said low. “However,I’mputting this matter-of-factly,bissi, becauseI’mstruggling here.”
He felt my response.
AndIknew he was struggling.
This woman had been his lifelong friend.Icouldn’t imagineCatlaever turning on me.Notever.
I cuddled closer to him and urged, “Goon.Andsay it however you have to in order to get it out.”
He nodded, sipped his drink and returned his attention to the fire.
“I was also of an age where it was time to marry, and she seemed a good match.ButIcan’t deny that the political alliance didn’t hold some sway.We’vehad an unprecedented period of peace.Theonly time this lasted longer was theGreatPeacethat began nearly eight hundred years ago.I’veonly experienced war in simulations atRedLair.Evenif those were only simulations, they were far from fun.Thebiggest lesson they taught me is that war is to be avoided at all costs.Butthe bottom line is,I’mTrueHeir, and it’s my destiny to do what’s right forNight’sFall.”
“Of course.”
“However, the more timeIspent with her, the more it became clear thatAnnais an elitist, like her mother.Sinceour break,I’vecome to suspect thatAnna, or her mother, were behind my mother discovering our affair.Theydid this with the purpose of making it more than an affair, becauseAnnahas few choices for a husband who matches her in status.Arnaudis out, he’s a pervert, but even if he wasn’t, he’s a pretender.Tanynhas always dislikedAnna.He’sa broody, intense male who was deeply affected by his father’s desertion of his mother, and the subsequent stripping of their status, which meant life changed for them greatly.Evenso, he’s highly intelligent, andIshould have read his aversion to her as what it was.AndPrinceCormacofLand’sEndis a throwback.He’smore male than any maleI’vemet.NochanceAnnacould lead him around by his dick.”
“And she thought she could do that to you?”Iasked in shock.
He turned to me. “Whenwe spoke of her before,Imentioned the long con.Partof whatI’mstruggling with is she’s given me reason to believe that even our decades of friendship were something she cultivated for the ultimate end of marrying me.”
I gasped. “That’sdiabolical.”
“So is sending assassins to murder the creature of a male’s true mate.”
Very true.
“Thus, you think she’s behind it,”Ideduced.
“It was messy, ending things with her.However, onceIexplained the situation toMomandDad, they understood whyImade it.Flurriesof every form of diplomacy were dispatched, and things were smoothed over.Mostof the mess was becauseAnnawas livid.Withoutme on her leash, she’ll have to turn to theSixRealms,ThreeRealmsorSevenRealmsto find what she considers an appropriate match, and she’d have to move there, for her husband would one day be king.Italso might mean her husband would be a vampire, and she would not do well with her days turning to nights.”
“Okay,Aleksei, but what could she possibly get out of harming you or me?”
“Revenge for being cast aside, something she is definitely not used to.Ora misguided notion that if you were not in the picture,I’dpull her back into mine.Remember, in the second attack, no one knew you andIhad found each other yet.”
“But that doesn’t explain why the assassin turned his weapon on you.”
His lips twitched with vague amusement. “I’muncertain of the assassin’s creed, but there could be dozens of reasons why he shifted targets.Braggingrights alone would be one.”
I hated to admit it, but this was true.
“And now…what?”Iasked. “Whatif you find proof it was her?”
He took another sip of his drink. “Thisis part of my struggle.I’mhurtIlost a lifelong friend.I’mangry at her along with myself thatIdidn’t see through her and allowed it to go as far as it went.I’mstunned she may be behind this, because that puts her self-absorption and cossetted behavior in a bald and grim new light.Andthe last part is, this will be a diplomatic nightmare.Wehave one realm embroiled in an alarming internal struggle.Twomore cannot be at each other’s throats because thePrincessRoyalis a spoiled bitch.”
He was so right.
And this was so messed up.
“I see why this is weighing heavily on you,”Imumbled my understatement.
That brought me a fully amused smile. “Indeed.Andthis means, unless we discover all that is behind it beforehand, which we might not, this will make theMidnightMasquevery interesting.”
By the gods.
How hadIforgotten?
