Page 116 of Of Bargains & Betrayal

The footman stared at me, lips pursed, before he repeated, “His Majesty requests your presence back at⁠—”

“Okay, okay,” I grumbled as I pushed off the ground. I swept a scattering of grass and debris off my skirt, a poor attempt at subtly righting it from its rumpled state.

Kieran cast a single glance at me, and a coy smile graced his infuriatingly handsome face before he passed me my bag. “Don’t forget this, Nor.”

I snatched the canvas satchel as if it was responsible for putting a screeching halt to the unfolding night of my dreams and stalked after my father’s footman. When I glanced back, just before rounding the corner into the pathways, Kieran was sprawled on his back in the grass, his arm tossed over his eyes.

26

VEILED THREATS AND OLIVE BRANCHES

MAKSYM

“Oh, it’s not good, Max. It’s not good again.”

Eilir was going to go bald at this rate.

They materialized in the war room just seconds earlier, startling the ever-loving hell out of Gallan and me, and immediately dropped two of their head leaves onto the table.

That was three in a damn week.

I pulled a loose sheet of paper over the map we had just been mulling over and fixed Eilir with a pointed look. “What is it?”

The sprite let out a noise, as if it were deflating, and flopped onto the table with a dramatic thud. “Nora and Jasper. They were going at it again, bickering back-and-forth, back-and-forth. And she was mad at him, and he upset her real, real bad. Then… And then—” Eilir sucked in a breath. “He showed her his…his…”

The sprite pointed at its stomach, and I knew immediately that Jasper had fucked up in a way I didn’t think anyone was equipped to deal with. Gallan walked away with a tsk as I braced my hands on the table, hanging my head. “He didn’t.”

“Oh, he did,” Eilir sighed. “She’s so upset. So, so upset. Stormed right out of the archives. She’s in that gigantic bed all by herself now, crying her poor eyes out.”

When Jasper made me agree to let him determine when Enora found out the truth about his departure from Odessa, I’d desperately hoped he would handle it with tact, wait until it made sense to deliver the information to Enora, and deliver it delicately.

Clearly, that hadn’t happened.

From beside me, Gallan let out a whistle and dropped into a chair. “I’m sure that wining and dining is going to go swell tonight, my liege,” he chuckled. “Godspeed with that.”

Fuck. There went that entire well-intended gesture.

With the assumption Enora and Jasper’s time in the archives wouldn’t go terribly, but also maybe not well, I’d thought it wouldn’t hurt to have dinner alone with Enora, perhaps as a do-over from the last awful time I tried to host her, when my nerves were fried, and I was drained from filling the wards. We were, after all, going to be married one day soon. There was no better time to build that bridge than now.

I hadn’t thought their studying would go that badly, though.

“Oh no.” The sprite shook its head at me. “Whatever you were planning on, you cannot seduce her like this. I think she’ll take your head, especially after your last dinner.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. “Thank you, Eilir. I was not planning on seducing her.”

“You could always take her to Embervale,” Gallan piped up with a shrug. “She seems like the type to lose herself and her woes happily in the Wench.”

“No—I mean, yes, she seems like the type. But no, I won’t be taking her to a fucking tavern.”

Gallan held up his hands in defense. “Look, I’m just trying to help you out with these early marital struggles.”

“Yes, help,” I scoffed. “That’s definitely what you’re trying to do.”

Fuck, I just need a minute to think.

Wining and dining in the traditional sense was no longer a viable option. But neither was leaving Enora stewing alone in her room after Mina only knew what Jasper had said to her when he showed her his exile brand.

The Agōn Ferr was happening so soon.