“He really is built like a brick shithouse,” was all Luke said, a throwback to Rhett’s description of the then don.

* * * *

I lay in bed tired but not exactly sleeping, my mind still processing the events of the night. A new job offer for House Dumont.Jay, I thought, feeling like I had been plunged into a cold ice bath. Lady Vitruvian had been at High Lord Dumont’s coronation. Although the official announcement wouldn’t be made until the Spring Ball the following day, news about Lady Vitruvian’s pregnancy had already spread around the High Court. I had always thought Elizabeth appeared cold, disinterested at best. But seeing her walk around with her hand perpetually resting on her belly that did not yet show the life of Jay’s baby, she had seemed content, maybe even happy. I had also seen Jay accept congratulations with an already blossoming fatherly pride.

A knock at my door rang out in the silence of the night. Startled, I jumped out of my large bed. It was the middle of the night, closer to dawn. By this time, even the latest party animals had gone to bed and would soon be replaced by the early risers embracing the next day.

Jay could be an early riser when he needed to be. But I wasn’t even sure Jay knew where I was. Well, he was the Lord of Whispers, so he probably did know exactly where I was. I was in an apartment in the Rein manor. I had decided to stay away from the Vitruvian manor for only the second time since I had arrived on Jay’s doorstep. With the lady around, I just didn’t feel like being there.

But, if I were being honest, the real reason I stayed away was that I just couldn’t handle the rollercoaster of emotions that was my relationship with Jay at the moment. Our near-constant fucking left me no time to think about the conflict within me. Sex and love had never been the issue with us. But I needed time to figure out how I felt about being consort and my overall role in House Vitruvian. It was like Jay knew this, so he didn’t give me a spare moment to get my thoughts in order.

I may have stayed with Luke, but with his father and other guests in town for the Spring Gala and staying at the Bellamy manor, I didn’t really feel like dealing with any prying eyes or questions. So, no questions asked, Rhett had offered up a place to me for the night, which I graciously accepted. It was nice. Really, really nice. I had my own private wing within the Rein manor.

It could be Rhett at my door, but he was more likely to be one of the ones who had just gone to bed a few hours ago instead of someone just waking up. So that left Luke. I opened my door, wondering what Luke was doing awake at such an hour.

“Lu— Cass!” I exclaimed, as I pulled the door open and saw Cass’s towering figure.

He no longer wore the suit that he wore earlier in the night. He wore a dark forest green, long-sleeved shirt that appeared to be stretched to its limits over his biceps. His tattoos peeked over the neck of his collar and up the sides of his thick, muscled neck. He had two longswords strapped to his back and wore a black belt strapped with so many weapons I couldn’t see the leather of the belt underneath.

“Hi,” he replied simply, a boyish grin on his face.

“How did you know where to find me?” I asked, still recovering from my surprise. “I thought you had to leave tonight?” I said.

“That guy, Luke, is he your boyfriend?” Cass asked, brushing past my questions.

I thought about his question. I remembered when Luke and I had broached the subject, I had called him my “best friend.” But even then, I didn’t believe that really captured the true nature of my relationship with Luke. But Luke wasn’t my boyfriend either.

“It’s kind of complicated, but no, he’s not my boyfriend,” I responded, perplexed that this question could not have waited for a more decent hour. “Why?”

“Good,” Cass said, and he grabbed my chin, tilting my face up to meet his mouth.

His kiss surprised me. We had never crossed over the threshold of our friendship. But as his tongue parted my lips, I allowed the boundary of our friendship to dissipate and was surprised to find a passion for my friend within me that had lain there dormant for years.

I returned the heat of his kiss, tangling my fingers in his green hair and pulling his mouth down to mine. He stepped past the threshold of my door, pushing my small body against the wall behind me as his enormous hands encircled my waist, picking me up and wrapping my legs around him.

He was so big and muscled that my legs barely fit around him. Heat gathered between my thighs, and I tried to tighten my legs around him and eliminate the space between our bodies. I broke away from our kiss.

“Come in for a minute?” I asked, breathily.

He looked down at me, likely contemplating Lord Dumont and his men waiting for him to leave town.

“I can’t,” he growled, reluctantly loosening his grip on my thighs and beginning to lower me to the floor.

A roguish smile broke across his face in response to the disappointment on mine. He leaned down and gave me a sweet kiss on the cheek.

“Gotta go, Mand. See you next time,” he promised and then turned away, somehow managing to silently and gracefully jog down the hallway despite his size.

I stood at my door, staring at Cass’s hulking mass disappearing down the hall, adding another item to the long list of things that were already keeping me up that night.

40

Alarie

Istayed away from the manor most of the next day, only going back to House Vitruvian when it was time to get ready for the Spring Ball. Jay wasn’t waiting for me in the foyer this time. The lord and lady had several cocktail hours to attend prior to the Ball, and I had waited until it was time for them to leave before making my appearance at the manor.

I walked into my room finding a beautiful blue gown with fine sequined detail lying on my bed, a gift from Jay that undoubtedly matched his tux for the evening. I had come a long way from the days of feeling uncomfortable about the gifts he showered me with, I realized, admitting to myself that I had expected Jay’s gift before I had even laid eyes on it. Jay had dressed us in coordinating outfits for every major event since I had arrived at the High Court.Swallowing the lump rising in my throat, I began to slip on the outfit he had laid out for me.

It was less than a year ago, yet it felt like I had lived a lifetime since the first ball I attended at the High Court, the Summer Ball. I remembered the pair of heels and blue dress bestowed upon me by Lord Vitruvian all those months ago as I now looked into my closet full of the finest clothes and jewels. I remembered how I had been paraded around the Summer Ball by Jay and the lady the previous year and how I’d had to fake my interactions with the others, offering false smiles and casual caresses to make up for the sharp edges I had been unable to hide my entire life, the edges that screamed where I came from and what I’d done to get here. But Jay had smoothed those edges in me over the last year, and things that once felt forced for me now came naturally, I realized.