Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 144433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Not that I think Remrrrtel should have acted as he did. Not that my hand should have been forced.
But if he hadn't, I don't think I'd have met Maeve. And I find myself wondering over some of Rem's words. Wesskth needed killing.
Despite my brother's icy aloofness, I haven't gotten a sense of danger from him. I haven't felt like assassins are around every corner, and I'm starting to believe him when he says that he has no intention of killing me.
But Wesskth needed killing.
That one comment is going to bother me for a while. I ponder it even as I pull one of Maeve's jeweled slippers off her foot and undo the yards of tinkling charms made to travel up her calves. "What is a 'stonewall'? And who walled you?"
Maeve wriggles on the bed, trying to slink out of one layer of garments. She's wearing several layers as befits a praxiian mate, but instead of seeming elegant, they just make her look like an overbundled cub. "Stonewall is a human expression. It means I got nowhere with Leah. She totally shut me down. She doesn't want to marry your brother, but she's insisting. He's got something over her, I think. You need to ask him about it."
I bite back a sigh, glancing over at the guards by the door. There are more now, as insisted upon by several dignitaries. I must remain alive until the throne is passed over, because it will be very messy otherwise, and so everyone is sending over additional “help.” I've never had so many damned people under my tail. "Maeve, my wife, let this one go. It is clear that whatever is going on between them, it means a lot to Rem and he will not stand for any interference. If she wishes to marry him, let them marry."
"That's just it," she says as I pull her other slipper off and toss it to the floor in a tinkle of charms. Immediately, a servant races in, crouched low, to pick it up. "She wants to marry him but she doesn't want want to marry him. Understand?"
I do, but we have enough going on that I cannot focus on a human woman that insists upon marrying my brother. I am far more concerned about untangling myself and my bride. "Let them marry. At this point it would be far more scandalous if they didn't."
"Ugh." I know Maeve well enough to know that a single syllable means that she has not yet accepted defeat.
"You cannot save everyone," I tease her, helping her to her feet as she wriggles out of another layer of clothing. "Especially not if they do not want to be saved."
"She should, though," Maeve complains. "Help me out of this garment?"
"Of course." I put my hands on her waist. Then, to the guards, I say, "Turn around."
Maeve turns.
The guards do, as well.
I turn Maeve back to facing me and lean in. "Not you. The guards. I don't want them looking at my naked wife."
"Right, fine." She gives me a silly little grin and scratches at her skin when the last, tight layer of shaping clothing is removed. "God, that feels good to have it off. Your people like a lot of clothing."
"A smooth, sleek look is important in court." And garments with fur flattening aspects are expected.
Maeve scratches at her newly bared skin again and then grabs my tunic from the bed and tosses it over her head. "No one's made me sleepwear so I'm stealing this."
I don't point out that many praxiians sleep in their fur and their fur alone. I rather like the sight of Maeve in my tunic, her small form swallowed by it. "It looks good." I reach out and cup her chin in my hand. "Swear to me you'll leave Leah alone? No schemes?"
She looks unhappy, but nods. "I swear. I can't help her if she won't let me, after all."
"Precisely. Shall we go to bed, then?"
Maeve slides her arms around my waist and buries her face against my bare chest. "Today was exhausting and we barely spent time together. Please tell me tomorrow will be easier."
"It will not be easier," I tell her, holding her tight. Tomorrow is the wedding and my abdication ceremony. We will be forced to act and smile, act and smile. "But it must be done."
"I'm ready for us to just be Maeve and Zhur again," she says in a soft voice.
I am, too. More than anything. I hated Risda when I first arrived, but now I can't stop thinking about how pleasant it was to just...be. To have nothing more pressing on my schedule than a walk into town and lunch with Maeve.
I am more than ready to leave all of this behind to my brother and his machinations.
CHAPTER
ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-EIGHT
ZHUR
"Your mane is atrocious," Ubagrrresh frets as he fastens the last button on the high collar of my finest dress tunic. "Why did you butcher it so?"