Shit.
Malachi’s disappointment echoed in his exhale. “Don’t think I’ll forget about this, princess,” he purred before pulling away, leaving me paralyzed on Malachi’s bed.
MALACHI
I cracked the door open just enough to see Adeline’s face in the hallway.
And enough to see her eyes darting between me and Jade, who was still lying on the bed.
“What?” I asked. It came out harsher than I meant it to, and it showed on her face.
“Father wants to see you,” she said, her eyes darting to Jade and back one more time. “Alone.”
I ignored the dread that immediately flooded my stomach.
“Did he say why?” I asked. There was no way he knew we had left. I was careful. Serefin was careful. He had no idea.
“No,” she responded. “But he didn’t look happy. I would hurry if I were you.”
I glanced down the hallway, to where Serefin was usually on guard. “Where’s Ser?” I asked.
“He asked to see Serefin, too. He’s already there.”
Adeline was terrible at hiding her expressions. She always was. I could see the subtle fear all over her face.
“I’ll stay with Jade,” she added, as if she knew exactly what I was thinking. “We’ll be right here the entire time, I swear it.”
I took one deep breath, letting go of all the fear that was threatening to take over.
“Fine,” I said, stepping back to allow her into the room. “But I don’t like this. Not at all.”
She shot me a glare that said she didn’t, either.
“Adeline?” Jade asked from across the room. “What are you doing here?”
“Don’t let her leave your sight,” I whispered in my sister’s ear before slipping out the door and storming off to find my father.
JADE
“What was that?” I asked, sitting up in the bed. Malachi had left the room as fast as he could, leaving Adeline and I alone.
She waved her hand toward the door and said, “Just politics, I’m sure. He’ll be back in just a few minutes.”
I shook my head, not entirely convinced.
“Don’t think I can’t tell what you two were just up to,” she said, mischief filling every word. She pranced over and jumped on the bed, lying on her side next to me.
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
But I knew what she was talking about. I was certain she could hear my heart racing, even now. I was also sure she could see my ruffled hair, my swollen lips.
Traces of Malachi were all over me.
Adeline just laughed, throwing her head back.
“You humans aren’t very good liars,” she said. “Did you know that?”
“Oh, shut up!” I joked. “He’s my husband, after all. I could think of worse things.”
“So I guess you’ve changed your mind about him then?”
“Not entirely.”
“Mmmmhm,” she said. “I can see that. Why don’t you just go ahead and admit that he wasn’t as terrible as you had expected?”
“Adeline, he—" I stopped myself before I told her that he had nearly killed my father, and he had certainly terrified my sister enough to never talk to me again. “He still has a temper,” I said finally. “And a past. And motives I don’t understand.”
“We all have ugly pasts, Jade. We’ve all done ugly things to survive. Even the humans.”
Her crystal blue eyes blared into mine like she knew something more than she was saying.
“That doesn’t mean your brother can’t be a complete asshole,” I added.
“Please,” she said. “I would be a complete idiot if I tried to argue that he wasn’t an asshole.”
I smiled. “Good, because I really wouldn’t believe you if you did.”
She moved her body closer to mine and lowered her voice to a whisper, “This might be a bad idea, but do you want to go eavesdrop?” She asked.
“On Malachi?”
Adeline nodded in excitement. “Growing up, there was never too much entertainment here in the castle. But Malachi getting his ass handed to him by our father was one of the more common forms of it.”
“You can’t be serious,” I said, but my smile just grew.
“Come on!” She said, jumping to her feet. “We have to have at least some fun here, right? And from the look on my father’s face, he’s really pissed about something.”
I had to admit, I was curious as to what had Malachi running out of here so quickly.