Page 260 of Night's Fall
“Thank you for watching.Seeyou at theMusée.”
I kept smiling, not too much, not too little, at the cam.
“Annnnnd…we’re out,” the cam operator called.
Germaine hurried forward.
“That was a good one.We’llgo with that one.Perfect,” she gushed.
Standing in the sublevel of theCatalogues, in front ofQueenMathilde’sgown,Ihoped it was perfect, since that was the eighth take, my feet were hurting, andIwanted nothing but to get out of there, get in the hover-cart, be whisked to thePalaceand get into my retreat whereIhoped they’d stocked the fridge and snack cabinet asI’drequested.
It was only early afternoon.
I still had every intention of kicking off my shoes, mixing myself a drink and getting the next item on my day’s agenda done and behind me.
For that one,I’dneed a drink.
I’d had my tour of thePalace.Ithad lasted three hours.Itwas fascinating.Andthere was so much of it,Iwas sureI’dneed a refresher in a week.
After that, a quick lunch withAleece, who seemed even more distracted than her father had the night before.Andthere was a melancholy to her that was not a small amount of alarming.
I didn’t press her on it.Wewere all feeling it in one way or another, especially with theMasquefast approaching, when we’d all have to be on, no matter what was happening.ButIalso didn’t know her very well, soIdidn’t know ifIshould.
Seemed to be the case all around with theKnightstarclan.
And the quickness of our lunch was due toAleece’sdistraction, because, no other way to put it, after she ate a few bites with disinterest, she barely looked at me while mumbling words of farewell and wandered out.
Commence an hour-long meeting withNatato go over invitations and correspondenceI’dreceived and our pitch to theMdVabout me being chair of the fundraising ball committee.
At that time,Igave her a task soIcould finalize the last item on my day’s agenda before we headed to theCatalogues.Andnow that item was up next.
I’d heard nothing all day from my mate, thoughI’dtext commed him that morning to shareIwas starting my tour.
Aleksei did not reply.
I didn’t try again.
Space.
Now, one last thing to do, somethingIabsolutely, one hundred percent didn’t want to do, but the idea came to me, andIcouldn’t get it out of my head.Itmight be a huge mistake, butIwas doing it.
BecauseIalso might get some answers.
And then, maybeI’dget drunk.Ididn’t know,Ihadn’t planned that far.ButIsuspected getting drunk was going to be etched onto my agenda afterIgot my next line item over and done with.
“We’ll release this on social tapes after theMasque,”Germainedecreed. “It’llbe the perfect follow-up.Everyoneis always in thrall about what beings wear to the ball.We’llgive theMasquea couple of days to run its course, so this announcement doesn’t compete with it, and then we’ll release.I’llletNataknow when it’s scheduled.”
“Add another day or two.”
“It really would work better on the heels of theMasque,”Germainedisagreed.
“And it would also seem likeIdon’t give a dang about the fact my bodyguard was streamed down in broad daylight, andI’mskipping joyfully onward in planning a ball just days after she died protecting me,”Iretorted.
I noted immediatelyGermainesaw my point.
“You’re right.Aweek?” she asked.
I nodded, but said, “Let’skeep in touch, play it by feel.”
