I wondered if Isay was really mine. None of the people knew of the nature of our relationship, nor that our bond wasn’t intentionally formed. I still didn’t know if she felt the same way about me. Little did I know I was about to find out when a knock on the door brought us all on high alert.

It was late. It was indeed incredibly late, and any normal visitors would have long gone to bed. No sensible person would be out knocking on people’s doors at his hour. However, had the intruder been truly insane, they wouldn’t have bothered with the gesture at all.

I followed Drek to the door with my hand hovering over my belt. I’d lost my second sword somewhere in the warehouse but still wore a knife strapped to it and that would do just fine should I need it.

“I’m looking for—” the messenger began until he saw me lingering behind the homeowner. “Karmuth, the princess has been asking for you.”

“Right now?” I asked, suddenly abashed. She should be sleeping, like the rest of the normal people in this court. My heart thrummed in my chest with exhilaration and concern. Why would she send for me right now?

Part of my brain went to the previous night we’d shared in her chambers, and more than just my heart perked up. Part of my brain worried she’d been hurt somehow, but that gave her no reason to ask for me; I wasn’t a doctor. Perhaps she needed to talk to me as much as I needed to talk to her and did not consent to waiting until morning.

“Several hours ago, sir. You are a hard man to find.”

I nodded to the fae in acknowledgement and sent him to bed. If Isay had sent for me hours ago, would she still be up waiting for me? Would she think I’d rejected the request?

I dragged my hand through my hair with a grimace. It was still flaked with enemy blood.

“May I use your shower, please?” I was going to go to her, but not looking like this. If she was asleep, at least I’d given myself a proper wash. If she was waiting for me, I’d look less like a monster and more like a man.

A man she might want to be comforted by. But that was wishful thinking. That was all just wishful thinking.

“Of course, Kar. I’ll go find you a clean pair of clothes to wear.” Ronya disappeared to the back room only to come out a moment later. A towel and an old pair of Drek’s clothes dangled from her hands. Anything was better than what I was wearing right now.

“Thank you,” I said. “For everything.”

She smiled. “You’re family. I know you might think you have none, but you’re always welcome here, Kar.”

A mother figure. Ronya was indeed like a mother figure to me. I hadn’t noticed before. The way she’d taken care of me even after Drek hadn’t been approved for royal guard and I was. She held no bitterness, only support. Always support.

They’d find out soon enough, so I figured there was no harm in telling them. “Actually, it turns out King Grath is my father.”

Chapter 47

ISAY

WAS I DISAPPOINTED? AS IF DISAPPOINTED EVEN BEGAN TO DESCRIBE what I felt. I’d sat on every surface in the room, the coffee table included. Unable to still my over-wired heart, I kept fidgeting with the loose hanging belt of my bathrobe, stood up again only to sit down in a different position.

He wasn’t coming. Karmuth wasn’t coming, but I was way past being able to sleep and steered right into the land of insomniac nutcase. One who wasn’t past stalking said warrior should I be let out of my cage of a room.

I wasn’t sure what Karmuth could do for me if he was here. All I could focus on was the intense necessity to have him close. I hadn’t had a peachy day, but neither had he. We needed each other to look past this, so why wasn’t he here?

Minutes ticked by, hours even, and I kept shifting around the room like a big cat in confinement. I’d gone over my mother’s history lesson more times than I could count. King Ilario. Prince Nefari. I was a princess three times over. I hated the title and everything that came with it.

I wished to be back in Elverstone at our cottage by the waterfall. Things had been easier then. Brighter. If I could go back I would, but only if Karmuth could come with me. He’d changed everything.

A murmuring behind my door prompted me to stand up again and shamble closer.

“I was beginning to think you weren’t coming.” Sinister’s muffled voice was only barely audible through the thick wood. He paused. “Are you wearing cologne?”

“Shut up, Sin.” It sounded as if Karmuth swatted at the other man. “Do you think she’s still awake?”

“Only one way to find out, ain’t there?”

A short shuffle later a knock reverberated through the wood. I squeaked and jumped away from the door, then reprimanded myself.

Wiping my hands on the bathrobe, then swiping at the bathrobe once more to make sure it covered me, not that Karmuth hadn’t already seen me naked, I bought more time to compose myself. As if the seconds I won did anything to calm my racing heart.

My hand shook as I placed it on the handle and pulled the door open. With my teeth biting into my lower lip, I wasn’t able to say a thing as our eyes met and he lowered his hand that was raised to knock once more.

“Isay,” he breathed in a sigh. “I swear I would’ve come sooner had I not heard you were looking for me just a few minutes ago.”

I nodded. My throat was too dry to reply, and even if it wasn’t, I was stunned into silence.

Karmuth looked comfortable in a pair of faded dark jeans and a simple t-shirt. His hair was wet as if he’d just come from the shower, and he looked flushed in the way cool air always brought colour to the skin.

With his bright blue eyes roaming over my body hungrily, I had to check if the bathrobe hadn’t unintentionally fallen open. It was still perfectly tight around me.

“Beautiful, are you all right?” he murmured.

I nodded again. “I am now. Would you… would you like to come in?”

Karmuth glanced back at Sinister, who gave him a slanted grin. “Just keep it down, would you? I’m not in the mood to stand here with a hard-on for the rest of the night,” the man remarked.

“That’s not—ah…” Blushing, I took a step back as Karmuth entered my room. He shut the door in Sinister’s smirking face, then leaned his back against it. His intense gaze made my knees weak.

“Are you… all right?” I asked. My heart in my throat made my voice hitch.

“I am now,” Karmuth replied with a small smile.

I worried at my lip harder, stepping back to the space I’d occupied before he’d entered. He smelled incredible, like exotic spices and the drink I’d had on my mother’s wedding day, before I’d realised the tang of it didn’t do its scent any justice.

Karmuth’s arms came around me immediately when I stepped into him to press my nose against his collar. He did wear a cologne, an incredibly intoxicating one at that.

“Isay.” He groaned this time, pulling me tighter into his embrace.

My shield sent shivers through my skin as one of his hands travelled up my back and into my hair, cradling my head into the crook of his neck where I succumbed to the sweetness of his perfume.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, not finding any words.

Would he feel how sorry I was? I hadn’t gotten even a hint of a feeling from him after I’d left him standing before the king. His father?

“King Grath? Is he…?”

“I don’t want to talk about that now,” he murmured against my hair. “I want to talk about us and what you mean to me.”

I closed my eyes. “Kar…”

“Please hear me out, beautiful.”