Page 69 of Enchanted Crown
“Whoever it is,” she said as she stretched, “I am going to kill them.”
Archer stuck his head in from where he and Miles were waiting for us. “Please do not! I don’t even have enough meat on me to be a decent sized snack.”
I snorted a laugh and realized he was up entirely too late. Now that Esta and I were both awake, I gestured him in. “What is it, Archer?”
He moved in the room a step or two. “I already had Miles grab Emric and John.” I noted the way he was standing. Like he was about to begin pacing or bolt for the door.
I sighed. “It is that important? To wake us all in the dead of night.”
He began speaking so fast it was hard to keep up. “Yes, and I know Emric will want every detail, and then John will have dozens of questions.” Even as my personal attendant, he had spent more time with the two of them than he had me.
Esta threw on a silk robe that I immediately wanted to remove from her body, but considering the company, I supposed I could not.
“Keir,” she snapped.
“What?”
“Now is not the time,” she suggested. “Focus.”
We have been terribly busy lately,I reminded her.Even now, the exhaustion she felt from our bonding had been resulting in her falling asleep rather quickly. She was either in queen mode or asleep.
Unfortunately, John and Emric arrived at that exact moment.
I gestured for Archer to come in farther and sit down, his antsy body language making me nervous for whatever blow he wasabout to deliver. It should speak volumes about the state of Dra Skor that I wasn’t even surprised we were about to be hit with something else, merely waiting for it.
“The servants have been talking,” Archer began without delay.
“Of course they have,” Emric said, voice groggy.
“I have two things to report on, really,” Archer clarified. “The first of which is in regard to the royal family being detained, and no, we aren’t supposed to know that happened, but we all do anyway.” He looked to Esta with a wince.
Esta gave a shrug like she wasn’t terribly surprised.
“The whispers are that there was a shadow in the cells tonight. Lurking. A presence of some sort, though no one ever saw anyone.”
“A presence?” The word “shadow” had me thinking along the lines of our Agrian spy, but he was long since gone.
“Nothing ever happened. Reyald said he felt he was being watched and alerted the others, including some guards. Whatever it was left immediately. As soon as he began making noise and calling for help.”
I felt a chill sweep down my body. Someone had gone looking for something. And not found it.
Esta’s eyes shot to mine as I stated the obvious. “Jagen.”
“Why wasn’t I told?” she snapped.
“I was in the kitchen when the guards were discussing it among themselves. They were on their way to fetch you, but I knew you’d be here and not your room. I came right away.”
Esta was moving for the open balcony without another word. I knew she needed to check on Jagen and Charlotte. If this shadow was looking for Jagen, though not many people knew of their location within the castle, if the servants knew this much, it couldn’t be that hard to figure out.
I opened the doors for her with my magic, and she shot directly into the sky.
Anger and annoyance hit me while I felt that pinching and ache between my shoulder blades just before my wings shifted outward, as if sensing their need. Everything in me was wanting to go with her. Fly beside her. Yet here I stood. In a room full of men who knew the truth anyway. Logically I knew there were too many eyes at the castle for me to fly, even at night.
Still, I was left standing there. Torn between my need to protect her and my respect for who she was as a queen.
Get Malachi,I ordered Esta, none too nicely.And whatever shifters are running patrols right now.
She of course, did not respond. She still hadn’t used the bond to communicate to me. Which did not help my feeling slighted one bit.
