by M. Dalto
“Somewhere quieter to read.” He turned from the table and headed towards the library’s door. “Good luck with your mother.”
“I will tell her, Jared.”
“Well, you better prepare yourself,” he informed her. “Today marks one week since you gave the ultimatum to Reylor.”
Sara did not see her mother that day but was more than aware she had not been told about her father’s existence as the suns sent on that final day.
As she lay in bed that night, with Jared sleeping peacefully beside her, she considered her options.
Crown Princess Sarayna stayed true to her word, even if the Lord Steward did not.
All she needed to do was figure out how she was going to break the news that would undoubtedly shatter the Empire.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Reylor had been fighting sleep for an hour before the touch of lips upon his had him opening his eyes to the most beautiful woman hovering above him.
“Ask me,” Alexstrayna murmured, a smile on her lips as she leaned back to look at him.
The Lord Steward couldn’t gather his thoughts for a snide comment, not when she seemed so eager to answer the unasked questions.
“Did you even sleep?” he asked as he ran a hand along her cheek.
“Barely,” she confessed as her head leaned into his palm.
He had stayed with her for the night, the entire night. There would be no more sneaking around after today, and he had made that decision when he came to her the night before. If they were taking this step forward, he was ready for the whole of the Empire to know it.
“Ask me,” she repeated.
Sitting up in bed, his chest bare to the chill morning air as the bed linens pooled around his waist, covering his nakedness beneath, he was uncertain this was the best way to propose to an Empress. She knelt there before him in her slip of a nightgown, with her auburn hair loose and disheveled from a night of lovemaking...she didn’t seem to mind.
He wanted to ask her if she was sure—if this was something she really wanted—but he stopped himself. For too long Reylor had been denied that which made him happy, and she was finally—finally—willing to be happy with him. He straightened his spine and steeled his nerve. He took her hand in his, interlacing their fingers together, and looked at her. He didn’t have a ring—but for now, he didn’t need one. What he would say wouldn’t be a recitation taken from tradition, but it would be said from the heart.
“Alex,” he started, clearing his throat. “You know…how I feel. How I’ve felt about you. We’ve both overcome so much, and I thank the gods, every day, that you have come into my life.”
He could see a tear forming at the corner of her eye and brought his other hand up to gently brush it away.
“I ask you now—are you ready to take the next step with me? Will you take me as your husband so that we can see what this has in store for us...together?”
She looked at him and hesitated for only a moment, but that moment was just long enough for Reylor to question everything he had said, everything he had done, every suggestive message he thought he had received from her. She had just asked him to ask her again—was it the wrong question?
All of those thoughts and doubts escaped his mind as she finally exclaimed, “yes!” while wrapping her arms around him, colliding into him, and falling to the bed. Her lips were soon on his, and his body was soon within hers, and it was a long, long while before they decided to leave that bed again.
Sarayna heard them before she saw them and stopped before she turned the corner.
Standing outside the door to the Council’s chambers, Alexstrayna had her back against the wall and her arms wrapped around Reylor’s neck, while one of his arms was wrapped around her waist, the other braced against the wall above her head.
And they were kissing.
Sarayna never felt such unending rage as she did right then, with their arms around each other, their smiles and whispered nothings. Her nails were digging into her palms before she even realized she had clenched her fists.
He didn’t tell her.
Or if he did, she didn’t care.
As she peered around the corner in their direction, they finally came up for air, murmuring to each other low enough that Sara could not decipher individual words, but there were smiles, and promises in their eyes.
Sarayna was going to be sick.
She watched as her mother gave the Lord Steward another lasting kiss on his lips, and he in turn nipped at her neck before they parted ways—Reylor back to the Council’s chambers, and Alexstrayna towards the opposite end of the palace.
Sarayna wasted no time and backtracked from the way she came.
She didn’t seek out Jared, or any other members of the council.
No, she knew what needed to be done, and who would help her do it.
Practically sprinting down the halls of the palace while her anger rose to its boiling point, Sarayna made her way to the guards’ quarters. She opened the door without knocking, and the few guards who were surrounding Jamison’s table gave her an inquiring look.
Jamison stood from his chair as Sarayna entered, a look of genuine concern across his face. “Sara, what’s wrong?”
She only looked around at the other guards. “We need to talk. Now.”
Jamison got the hint and dismissed his men. They trudged out of the room with curious glances in her direction.
She didn’t care, and it wasn’t until the door to the quarters slammed shut behind her that she approached the Captain.
“What’s wrong, Sara? Is your mother okay?”
Sarayna couldn’t help but scoff. “No. She isn’t.”
Jamison perked a brow, but Sara continued leaning her arms upon the table as she stared at the Captain. “I need your help.”
“Anything, of course. What do you need me to do?”
“I need your help bringing my father back.”
Jamison was completely silent by the time Sarayna was done weaving her tale.
She gave him time to process what she had told him, watching him where he stood behind the war table.
“You mean to tell me,” he started, but the hesitation in his tone had him silent for another before continuing. “You’re telling me Treyan is alive?”
“He is living in the Otherrealm, waiting for a way to get home.”
“And your mother doesn’t know.”
“I gave Reylor a week to tell her. He refused.”
Mention of the Lord Steward made Jamison’s hands clench into fists. “All this time...”
“They’ve been sleeping together behind your back—behind the Empire’s back.”
For a moment, Sara saw pain in his eyes, and she wondered if what Jamison felt towards her mother was more than just his sworn duty to his prince. It was gone a moment later, replaced by rage that matched Sara’s own.
“Reylor knew this entire time and still proceeded to seduce her.”
Sarayna nodded.
“All the while, Treyan has been truly alive?”
Sara nodded again. “When last we left him, he was going to do anything within his power to reach Saratanya and wait for my signal.”
“How would you be able to contact them?”
“I have certain ways…with dreams. My grandmother will be waiting to hear from me.”
Jamison looked like he wanted to ask more questions but didn’t know how to properly convey them into words. Finally, he said, “What can we do?”
“I am so glad you asked,” Sarayna purred as she leaned back in her chair, folding her arms as if she was about to hold court. “First, we need a book.”
“What kind of book?”
“One Reylor keeps locked up in his room inside the Council’s chambers.”
“And you expect me to retrieve this book?”
“Unless you want to be the one to distract him while I steal it?”
“No, the less I need to interact with the Lord Steward, the better...”
&
nbsp; “I knew you’d see it my way.”
Jamison sighed, and stood across from her at the table. “After we get the book, what’s next?”
“We will create a Key to bring my father and my grandmother back to the Empire, and finally begin to set things right.”
“I may not know the specifics, Princess, but I know Key construction is not easy, and it’s components are extremely hard to come by.”
“When the time comes, you will assist me in that as well.”
“What about Reylor?” the Captain growled. “He’ll notice the book missing eventually, that rare materials are being used.”
“We don’t need to worry about him for now. You and I both know Treyan will see to it that he will be properly punished the moment he arrives.” Sara gave that another thought, “but if he doesn’t, then I certainly will.”
“What about your mother, Sarayna?” Jamison’s gaze softened. “She’ll be beside herself—beyond herself—when she discovers Treyan is alive. Why don’t you just tell her?”
Sara merely shook her head. “She’ll find out when the time is right. It was on Reylor to right the wrongs he committed...and now he will face the consequences.”
She knew she sounded like a spoiled child, but she didn’t care. It served them right for disgracing her father’s memory as they had.
“As you wish, Princess,” Jamison conceded as he let loose a sigh. “When are we going to retrieve this book?”
“Tonight.”
The shock on his face was evident.
“After the council meeting. My mother has a meeting planned with Jared anyway, so if you’re worried about her finding out you’re helping—”
“I’m helping you for the best of the Empire.”
“I know you are, Jamison, but I’m also not a fool.” The voice of the Crown Princess resounded throughout the guards’ quarters, and she had to wonder when she had grown so authoritative. She was born for this position, she reminded herself.
Jamison knew it too.
“I know you feel for my mother. I was at that dinner. Didn’t you wonder why she didn’t give you an answer?”
The captain avoided her stare as she saw the flush form on his cheeks. “I assumed she was still thinking about it. Or she wasn’t ready for such a commitment.”
“Shame on you, then.”
His head whipped to her with murder in his eyes, but Sara held his stare.
“Good thing, too. Would you want Treyan to tear you apart for sleeping with his wife?”
“I—” Jamison stumbled for words.
“It’s agreed,” she confirmed as she finally stood from her chair. “After the meeting.”
He slowly nodded and Sara reached the door before he called out to her.
“I would have made her happy, Sara.”
“I know, Jamison,” she replied from the threshold, “but it’s not your place to do so.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
The rest of the day dragged, and Sarayna could barely keep still while sitting through the Council meeting. She knew she should have been paying better attention; they were discussing plans for Jared’s coronation, but even mention of their wedding couldn’t snap her out of the distracted haze she found herself in as the members droned on about tradition and frivolous details.
Instead of meeting the gaze of anyone else at the table, Sarayna focused on writing notes, but none of them pertained to the conversations around her. They were just doodles and nonsense to keep her mind preoccupied and her eyes from gazing at either her mother or Reylor.
She even avoided Jared, though he knew of the plan, and had promised to remove Alexstrayna from the meeting as fast as he could. His ploy would be to invite the Empress to dinner, where they would discuss matters of the Empire, perhaps even potential plans for the damned wedding—whatever he needed to do to keep her mother out of the way.
As for Jamison, he seemed as distracted as she was—it most likely went against every honorable bone in his body to commit an act of thievery against the Lord Steward, regardless of who he was and what it was for, but he would do it. He had given Sarayna his word, and that had to be worth something if her father had trusted him so.
She was thankful when the meeting ended, and that Jared and her mother left with hardly a backwards glance. She would need to repay Jared whole-heartedly for that favor. Jamison stood towards the end of the room with two other members of the Council, the third having already excused herself, which left Sara with a perfect direct line towards the Lord Steward.
He was too busy filing away paperwork into a nearby bounded volume to notice her approach, and she had to clear her throat to make her presence known.
Reylor merely glanced up at her from where he sat. “Can I help you with something, Princess?”
His tone was cold.
“I’d like to speak with you.”
“Then speak.” His eyes returned to his paperwork, as if already dismissing anything she had to say.
She tried not to be offended. “In private.”
She motioned towards the hallway outside the council’s chambers, which would give them privacy while Jamison excused himself from the other Council members and explored Reylor’s private quarters.
The Lord Steward watched her longer than usual, as if he suspected something.
“Please,” she ground out through clenched teeth, as if saying such a word to him was a fate worse than death.
Reylor may have sensed it too, for he let loose a sigh and shut his book again. “Fine, Princess.”
Sara dared a glance at Jamison, who had been watching her from the corner of his eye and nodded just slightly enough that she was able to see it. She left him to it as she walked from the council chambers, a little further down the hallway and around a corner before stopping, hoping Reylor took the bait and followed.
A moment later, the Lord Steward turned the corner, and Sara had to restrain the prideful smile she wanted to form on her lips.
“This better be important, Sarayna,” he said quietly by way of greeting.
“I want to extend a truce.”
He perked a skeptical brow.
“I’m not going anywhere, and if my mother has anything to say about it, you aren’t leaving either, so...”
“So?” he asked carefully, his arms folded across his chest.
“So... I’m trying to offer you a peace treaty.”
“At what cost?”
Sarayna feigned being offended, though she commended him on his caution.
“Did...did your mother speak to you recently?”
Sarayna also tried her best not to look surprised. Was there something her mother was supposed to talk to her about? Nonetheless, she shook her head. “No, I haven’t had the chance to talk with her today. It seems we’ve all been somewhat...preoccupied.”
“Indeed.” His red eyes were locked on her, as if trying to figure her out.
She wished Jamison would move quicker.
“Do we have an agreement then?”
“Allow me to make an amendment to this truce.”
It was Sara’s turn to feign surprise.
“I want you to leave the relationship between your mother and me alone. Regardless of where it goes, or what happens, it is between us—our decisions to make, and no one else’s. In turn, I will not interfere with your relationship, and perhaps I can even delay the wedding for the good of the upcoming war, if that sweetens the deal for you.”
It did indeed, though she didn’t want to admit it. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to marry Jared—she was more than ready to spend the rest of her life with him—but there was something tugging at the back of her head that made her want to put the brakes on the ceremony, if only for the moment. Until the whole mess with her parents and her brother and the Empire came to better terms.
“Deal,” she said, and tried not to sound too eager.
“Done.” Reylor nodded. “Now, is there anything else?”
Sarayna was ab
out to con up another excuse to keep him out in the hallway just as Jamison casually strolled by. She watched him as he passed, and Reylor followed her glance towards the Captain of the guard. Jamison gave a casual nod to the princess and his usual scowl to the Lord Steward. Thankfully, they had already discussed the drop point for the book, so he was not walking around with it in his arms, and there was no outward sign of thievery while the captain walked away from them.
Sarayna was relieved that the contempt in Reylor’s eyes ran deeper than suspecting Jamison had just stolen something from his personal quarters.
“Has he said anything else to your mother?” he muttered without looking at her.
Sara allowed a smirk to form on her lips. “Jealous?”
The red of his eyes lit aflame at her insinuation, and she swore he growled at her. “Are we done?”
“Of course.” She smiled sweetly, and he didn’t give her another glance as he turned and retreated down the hallway.
Giving him a few moments to lengthen the distance, Sara snuck into the empty sitting room on the other side of the hallway to retrieve the stolen book.
The Complete Manual of Key Construction.
“Did you live in New York for a long time?” Alex asked Jared as they ate their dinner.
He nodded as he finished chewing. “My entire life. Sara said you were from Boston?”
She smiled slightly. “I lived in Boston—I don’t know if I would say I was really from there, but I loved the city.”
“Agreed, there was something about the constant hustle.”
“And then we came here.” She sighed as she took a sip from her wine. “Quite the change, don’t you think?”
“That’s putting it mildly.” He chuckled as he drank from his own glass. “You...you truly had no idea what was expected of you when you were first brought here?”
“None. You can’t tell me you did?”
“No, I suppose not...but I knew there was something—special—about Sarayna the first time I saw her.”
