It was hard not to. And when Gera pulled her hand back and he saw Zarya’s engagement ring, he felt like someone had kicked his stones straight into his throat.
Don’t jump to any conclusions.
“She must have forgotten to put it back on after her bath this morning.”
Yeah, that must be it. Zarya didn’t forget her ring often. Just every now and again. It did happen. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Just a forgetful one.
“Perhaps… but still I’m worried about her, Majesty. Given all the madness that’s going on… you don’t think someone’s kidnapped her, do you?”
Okay, the panic beast was no longer stalking. It now had him on the ground and was stabbing him hard. Where was she? “Let me check with my sister. Maybe Lise—”
“I already called her, my lord. She said that she hadn’t talked to Lady Starska since day before yesterday. The same was said by both Lord Drake and your friends Hauk and Fain.”
And he hadn’t seen her since early that morning…
His heart racing, Darling rose to check it out himself, but before he could take a single step, his office door flew open.
It was Giran.
Nothing could have shocked or appalled him more than to see that noxious bastard in his home. “What?” Darling asked drily as he tried to keep the contempt he felt from showing on his face. “Did hell freeze over?”
It must have for the gerent to be here alone.
Now armed with a guard to attack and dethrone him—that would have made sense. But for the gerent to be here as he was…
Yeah, this could not be good.
Giran grimaced as he stepped into the room and ignored Gera completely. “This isn’t funny,” he said to Darling with a note of hysteria in his voice. “We have a bad situation here.”
No, shit. Most of it caused by him.
What? Did the genius just wake up and realize that calling in the League was a blunder of epic proportions? It ranked up there with inviting a pack of mountain lions in to kill the mouse in your basement.
Not that it mattered to him right now. Giran was the last person Darling wanted to deal with. The bastard was lucky he was still upright and not gutted.
Disgusted by the gerent, Darling started past him. “I’m a little busy with something else.”
Giran stopped him. “Your Majesty, please…”
Those words and the sincere pleading beneath them stunned him into complete shock.
Hell really had frozen over.
“What’s happened?” Darling asked, dreading the answer. It had to be extremely bad for Giran to address him with respect.
Giran’s eyes teared up. “The League… they’ve declared martial law on us. As a result, they’ve moved a large number of their troops into Taranyse.”
Great. He needed that like another body part that spasmed out of his control. He ground his teeth. “Are you happy now?”
An actual tear fell down the man’s face. “Majesty… the League overran Resistance headquarters and then went for the council building where they’ve set up their own people to rule us.”
No surprise there since that was League SOP. Darling had tried to warn them that this would happen.
Their response? They’d laughed in his face and publicly insulted him through the media. With this particular asshole being their ringleader.
He’d started to remind Giran of that, when Giran spoke again. “Every gerent who was inside the CDS building on Taranyse was arrested and taken into custody…” His voice cracked from emotion. He locked gazes with Darling. “They have my son, my lord. And my younger brother.”
Even though Giran’s brother had been one of Darling’s worst critics, he winced at what was most likely being done to both of them while Giran was here. A Caronese noble in League custody ranked right up there with Darling Cruel being held by the Resistance.
“Did you contact the League?” he asked Giran.
“I tried. But the agent I spoke to said that they were all considered radicals who are being held to secure the peace, and that so long as the League was here, they would remain in custody. She also intimated that if I persisted or protested, I’d be viewed as such and seized, too.”
Darling gave him a droll stare. “Did you not know this?”
Giran sniffed back his tears as he ignored Darling’s question. “My son was only there so that he could go home with my brother after the meeting and visit with his cousins. He’s barely fifteen, my lord. Just a baby.”
Darling ground his teeth. A kid that age wouldn’t do well in a League prison. Especially not with an uncle who most likely had never been in so much as a fistfight to protect himself…
Gods have mercy on that kid.
“I don’t understand why they did this. The League was supposed to help us.”
Darling wanted to ask him what form of hallucinogen he’d consumed. Please tell me you’re on something. The thought that he’d be sober and do this…