Page 234 of Night's Fall
“The gallery has been repaired.She’sworking withTerrintonon the next showing,”Mr.Truelocksaid.
I examined his face, searching for signs of worry his daughter was out in the world, a possible target.
But either he was very good at hiding it (which was a possibility), or he trusted theRS(also feasibly genuine).
WithMoniquegoing first, one by one, they all took off to find their new palace offices and get to work, andIlingered alone at the breakfast table, sipping coffee, trying not to think, and thinking too much.
In an effort to curtail that,Ileft the table and wandered thePalaceby myself.
I definitely needed a guided tour.Therewere a number of rooms, but none of them had plaques outside that said “this is the room the family uses to do so and so.”
I did notice that everything on the second floor seemed more lived in, even if it was imposing and refined, bearing testimony to whatI’dalready figured out, it was the family living area, whereas whatIfound on the first floor was more formal.Meaningthe first floor was where they did their royal business.
AndIalready knew the third floor was where they had their private spaces and where some guest rooms were located (Ididn’t peruse that floor).
I was out in the courtyard, trying to enjoy the nip in the air that was brought on by the gray skies and the coming autumn and giving myself the opportunity to see the lush but exacting layout of the garden close up, whenIheard the mighty flap of dragon’s wings.
I looked up to see a dragon, smaller thanAleksei’s, but with a goodly number of horns and spikes, the ridges of his wings, his brow and his breast an iced blue that looked fierce against the rest of his black.
He flapped down to land behind some shrubbery not close, but not far from me.
I saw a member of staff scurry behind the shrubs with an arm full of clothes, the proud dragon’s headIcould see over the top of the neatly clipped shrubbery disappeared, and within minutes,Timotheewas stalking out from behind the bushes.
Toward me.
I said nothing as he approached, becauseIwas a little surprised how awesome his dragon was.
Okay, so maybe he wasn’t a massive, powerful, fearsome beast, likeAleksei’s.
But he was still beautiful.
And fearsome.
I then said nothing as he came to me, his face a mask of fury, and immediately grabbed my arm.
I didn’t have to pull it away.Heyanked his hand from me while shaking it.
“He’s keeping you marked, which is good, but you need to get your ass inside,”Timotheedecreed.
“Why?”Iasked.
“They’re after you, in case you hadn’t noticed,” he returned.
I looked stupidly to the sky. “Isn’tthis airspace protected?”
“Yes,” he clipped. “Doyou want to see if they can penetrate that?”
Considering an all-out affront on theCelestialPalacewould be an open act of war,Ithought he was being a mite overprotective.
And thenIhad to give a thought to the fact that he,Timothee, was being overprotective…of me.
WhenIdidn’t move, he threatened, “Ican text comm my brother and tell him you’re in the gardens, meandering about under the open skies.”
I didn’t want to giveAlekseianything more to be angry at me about, soIheaded toward the doorI’dcome out of.
Timothee followed me.
Once we were inside,Idecided to make an effort.
