“Sweet talker,” I said. He just grinned and kissed me.
“Jaik thinks I’m so jealous of his crown and his throne, but the truth is I’m glad I get to know you as you are. We have to figure out a way to break the spell so that you can reveal yourself to the guys and I’ll be with you every step of the way. But I’m not going to lie. I’m happy that I get to see your every side while no one else does. I’m happy I get to be with you for this adventure.”
“This adventure that’s probably going to get us both killed,” I said. “As we piss off both the old and the young royals.”
“Absolutely,” he said and then he kissed me again.
Chapter
Fifty-One
Honor
Jaik of course wanted me to go to bed in his room.
I once again insisted on sleeping with Caldren. “I barely get to see him.”
He looked hurt. “Can’t you at least divide your time between our beds?” Even though he’d just suggested it, the edge in his voice suggested he was offended at the very idea.
“Are you telling me you’re willing to share?”
He scoffed. “Willing to share with Caldren? No. I’m willing to share you with Talisyn. And with Arren and Branok and Lynx.”
“You’re willing to share me with the men that don’t want me? Wow. Generous. Not at all insulting for me, either.”
Jaik looked as if he had something he wanted to say in response to that, but he just shrugged. “They are my brothers. My real brothers. It would make sense for all of us to share one woman but it doesn’t make sense to share you with my enemy. For you and Caldren to be bonded together makes me wonder if you have secrets with him that I don’t know or if you tell him our secrets.”
I stared up at his handsome, tense face in exasperation. “You are a crazy person.”
“I’ve never tried to hide that.”
“Jaik, if you want a relationship with me, then you have to figure things out with Caldren. I like him too. I’m not going to hate him just because you hate him.”
Jaik scoffed. “I’m not asking you to hate him.” Then he added consideringly, “Although it would be nice.”
I sighed. “Jaik. I’ll spend tomorrow night with you.”
I wasn’t sure if that was a lie or not. I wasn’t sure if Jaik could see right through it. After all, if something went wrong, tomorrow I might be on the run with Lucien and Alina. But I couldn’t leave Lucien penned up in that dungeon forever. And I couldn’t leave Alina trapped in her cage either. My fate had been inexplicably bound with Lucien’s the day I assumed his identity. Finding his happy ending was as important to me now as finding my own.
When I finally convinced Jaik to leave me alone, we still had to wait for the Olds to disperse. They spent a tense evening with their sons. They were not a chatty group.
Finally Joachim retired to his room. Even the servants weren’t allowed in there to make it ready for him but it wasn’t as if he needed more than a moment to have a roaring fire in the fireplace anyway.
When he called for Talith, Caldren went to intercept her. My chest tightened with anxiety that Talith would walk in right after I did, and I’d be caught.
But despite that, I walked into Joachim’s office and smiled. “Yes, my lord?”
“Would you get me my usual drink?”
I nodded and melted back out of the room. Luckily, I paid close attention to what Joachim’s drink of choice was and Caldren had been happy to fill me in as well. I fixed the drink and carried it into Joachim’s chambers.
I set it on the table by his elbow. “May I get you anything else?”
“No, that will be all,” he said.
My gaze slipped around the room when I walked behind him, trying to think of where he would keep the key, if he’d taken it off his body for the night. He seemed like a suspicious sort of person, the sort who enjoyed hiding his treasure.
“I’ve been thinking,” he said, and I froze. He was still facing away from me watching the flames, which gave me more of a chance to study the room. “You’ve been stuck here for a while. How is your family doing? How is your mother and Tenni and the twins? Have you heard from them regularly?”
Joachim knew anything about the servants? I was shocked. “Yes, my lord. They’re all doing well.”
I’d tried to have a few conversations with Talith, learning what I could about her, but she hadn’t been very interested in talking to me, which was understandable.
“You’ll be able to see them soon,” he promised. “I’ve opened the doors. Tomorrow, I’ll bring Alina home, and you and the others can clean and close the house, then return home yourself.”
“Thank you for your concern, my lord.” I thought I managed to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. “I’m looking forward to seeing them again.”
I moved quietly forward toward his desk, trying to act as if I were just fidgeting, although I wasn’t sure if well trained servants were allowed to fidget. My men were right. I had been a terrible housekeeper.
I eased the desk drawer open, and there were several keys, glittering up at me. Which was the one that would unlock Lucien’s enchanted chains?
“Thank you for taking such good care of my Alina,” he said.
For a second, I was struck speechless. This was a surreal conversation to have with Lord Joachim. I am going to take good care of Alina… and get her out of your clutches. But it also seemed as if he cared, and that made me stumble. “It’s been my pleasure. She’s a good girl. She hasn’t deserved to be trapped here.”
“Has she?” he mused. “Pend’s regrets have made me think about my own.”
I wondered if he had regrets about how he treated Branok and Lynx and Alina. I slipped the key into my pocket.
I was left feeling a little bit unsettled by my conversation with Joachim. From a distance it was easy to see all of the Olds as villains, even though the common people saw them as heroes because they stood between them and the Scourge. The truth was that the Olds believed that the ends justified the means and some of the means they used were pretty damned dark and yet, up close they were still humans. They longed for connection—even if it was on their own cursed terms—and questioned their decisions.
It was harder to hate people when you knew them but the closer you were, the easier it was to steal from them.
I promised Lord Joachim once again that it was okay that I had been trapped away from my family, sealed up here when he trapped Alina in this gilded cage.
And then I fled the room. His key felt heavy in my pocket.
Chapter
Fifty-Two
Honor
I changed quickly from my stolen maid’s outfit into my Lucien-wear, which was also my usual Honor-wear. Then I ran to meet Caldren at the doors, praying they really would open now.
Alina intercepted us. “I think I know what you’re up to, Honor. You have to take me with you. I need to see him free.” She chewed her lower lip. “I need to see him.”