Page 97 of Phoenix Falling
I made to turn around, but he gripped my arm.
“Let her go. She belongs to you; the information she overheard is safe. But remember, she was ahead of all of you when it came to Maddox. Perhaps she has information that could help you.” He straightened. “If you’re brave enough to go after it.”
“Brave enough?”
He began backing slowly away, toward the garden. “Females have so many tender targets when they decide to stab us, don’t they? Be sure she doesn’t hit anything vital.”
“Stab— What—”
But he was gone. Just like that. Somehow I knew it would be futile to follow. Not that I would forget. The male had intel we needed—if we could get it out of him. In the meantime, I had a mate to track down.
ChapterThirty-Six
RISK
Icouldn’t sleep. And it wasn’t about Raine; it was about Sun. I couldn’t stop thinking about the things that Imogen had told me. Not the mate things, although they circled the periphery of my mind, but the things about Sun. She meant well, I knew she did, but being his mate wasn’t an excuse for doing the things he’d done. If he got so emotional that he lost control, that wasn’t good for either of us, but especially me.
Like especially the blood-dripping-from-the-eyes me.
Which was why I was lying here arguing with her in my head. Arguing with Demetri and Grim and even Lyris. I couldn’t argue with Sun because he never made the you’re-my-mate case toward me, just declared it as if it was law. Others accepted it as such; I didn’t.
But everyone else seemed to be forgetting that he’d torn into my mind without permission, then thrown me in a jail cell. Being his mate didn’t make up for that. If anything, I would expect more understanding than less, more tenderness, not less. There’d been no understanding or tenderness since I’d gotten here, and everyone, including Sun, seemed to think that was perfectly fine because I. Was. His. Mate.
Fuck. That.
Raine was still sleeping soundly, and Imogen didn’t stir when I rose from the bed. I tucked Raine in carefully, checked her breathing, then marched toward the front of the dorm room. Lyris sat at a table there, reading by a small lamp, her shaggy blonde head bent over the book in a way that somehow reminded me of Demetri despite the fact that I’d never seen him reading. The tilt of her head, maybe? But it reminded me that this female was a warrior; she wasn’t soft, despite what she might look like, and I needed her to cooperate with me if I was going to get what I wanted.
My say.
“Lyris.”
She looked up. “Hey. Can’t sleep?”
“No. I need to see Sun.”
Her eyes widened, then narrowed. “Right now?”
“Right now.” I hadn’t realized it walking over, but I was fisting my hands at my sides. My body felt like I would shake out of my skin, but not with fear. With anger.
Lyris was shaking her head. “I can’t leave everyone here unguarded.”
“There’s no secondary guard?”
She dog-eared the page she’d been reading, then closed her book. “Not inside, no.”
“Then just point me in the right direction. I’ll find him myself.”
She was watching me, her gaze taking in my agitation. Finally she sighed. “I can’t leave you running through the halls with no idea where anything is. I’ll get Jacob to come in from the hall, and I’ll escort you over to Sun’s quarters real quick. He can bring you back.”
Relief softened my shoulders. “Thank you.”
I understood what she meant as she walked me over. Though I’d been through some of the halls and already knew the lair was massive, going into the personal quarters was literally a warren I might never find my way out of. And when we arrived at what she said was Sun’s suite, he wasn’t there.
When the third knock received no response, she blew out her breath. “Maybe the throne room? He often spends long hours in his father’s study.” She shook her head. “None of us have managed to call it Sun’s study yet. Guess it hasn’t been long enough since Solomon left us.”
Remembering that night with Sun, I had to agree with her.
More halls, more shadowy offshoots and confusing twists finally found us at one end of a long passageway. Probably a good thing, because it gave me time to calm down. Couldn’t let my anger reign supreme or I’d just find myself back with Baer and Beckan. The other end of the hall, slightly uphill and capped by a set of massive, elaborate double doors, was apparently our destination. Lyris gestured in that direction. “He should be in there. I’ve got to get back.” We’d been gone a good fifteen minutes, and though the shifter she’d left in her stead had seemed congenial enough, it was apparent Lyris wasn’t comfortable with anyone but herself watching over her sleeping charges. “Go through those doors and turn right. The office is on that side of the throne room.”
