Chapter 71: Chapter 71

KILLIAN

Once again, the thought of losing Lenore made my chest tighten and I swallowed, quickly lifting my phone up to call her.

When the first few seconds passed without a response, I absent-mindedly tapped my foot, furrowing my brows. A moment later, I decided to call Calley, but before I could pull the phone away from my ear, the dial tone cut off, giving way to her cheery, “Hey Killian.”

My shoulders sagged, a small smile spreading across my face, while she added, “Oh, that’s loud.”

Oh. I glanced at the overhead pendant speakers and ended the call, deciding to text her since she'd barely be able to hear me anyway. A message came in from her first.

Lenore: I couldn’t hear you

Lenore: Is something wrong?

Me: Just wanted to know where you were

She replied after a couple of seconds, but instead of a text, she’d sent a picture of her and her brother—the background revealed they were in my study—and in it, her eyes were comically wide while her brother’s face was blank. My smile widened before I realized this was the first picture I had of her.

Me: Send me one without him

She sent another, but when I opened it to find just her brother in the picture, my smile faltered. Then I snorted.

Lenore: Buy me something sweet on your way back

Me: Whatever you wish

Before putting my phone away, I texted Calley, telling her she wasn’t to leave Lenore’s side for any reason, and she responded with a “don’t be mean to my brother”. Said brother was currently staring at me with a guilt-ridden expression and that only served to fuel my anger because there was nothing he could have done in the situation I’d left them in.

Aurel came back then, placing glasses in front of me and Fabien. “Here we go,” he said, sounding pretty proud of himself, while I studied my glass with a frown.

“This doesn’t look like a kamikaze.”

“The absence of blue suggests this is, in fact, not a Blue Arrow,” Fabien said and I glanced at his red drink.

“I know. I stole them,” Aurel said, sliding into the space across from us, and I raised a brow. “I don’t have the same effect on people as you do. The bartender ignored me.”

I blinked at him. When he only shrugged, I grabbed his glass and dumped its contents into mine without breaking eye contact.

“...I want to cuss you out,” he said as I drank from my glass.

Wow, that’s awful. The drink, not his words. I kept my expression neutral though.

“But I won’t,” he added and a moment later, his gaze bounced between me and Fabien before something between a sigh and a groan escaped him. “Lenore’s fine, Killian. He didn’t leave her alone with your father—”

“Don’t,” I cut him off, scowling.

Lenore was my mate, but he didn’t know that—I hadn’t told him after all. To him, whatever was between us was only an attraction that might or might not become something lasting. Fabien knew better. And he’d still—Fucking hell.

Aurel also frowned, but he didn’t say anything else. Then he rolled his eyes and averted his gaze before I shifted my attention to Fabien.

“You could have told me before we left.” I wouldn’t have left her again if I’d known.

“You basically told him to shush when he wanted to,” Aurel muttered and I shot him glare but he was still inspecting the overhead speakers.

“Anything else I need to know?” I asked and Fabien’s lips curled.

“After—”

A woman stopped in front of the booth, drawing our attention. She was neither a vampire nor a werewolf, and the way she unenthusiastically dragged her gaze over our faces told me what I needed to know. “I agreed to meeting just one person,” she sighed while I sat straighter.

“We’re a package deal.”

She gave me a blank stare. “I don’t like surprises.”

“You don’t seem surprised.”

The corner of her mouth turned up at that. “Does the King know this meeting is happening?” she asked and I furrowed my brows. She had no business asking that.

“Does your coven know you’re consorting with vampires?”

She looked even more amused now. “...I didn’t know the prince was nosy.”

“That’s quite the double standard,” Fabien said and her gaze drifted to him, then to Aurel.

Clicking her tongue, she said, “Scoot over.”

“Uh…” Aurel glanced at Fabien and me, looking like he was just realizing the only empty spot was next to him. “Can’t you stand?” He didn’t want to sit next to the witch.

“My, my. I thought Eyrosan vampires were chivalrous,” she said and when he only offered an awkward smile, she narrowed her eyes then plopped down in his lap.

His hands shot up. “Ma’am! I do not know you.”

“Do I look like a ma’am?!” she snapped. She actually looked like she was in her twenties and taking that into account kind of explained her easily agreeing to do a job for me. Older witches tended to be more wary when it came to us.

Still, I glanced around to see if there was anyone in the vicinity who was waiting for her to give a signal or something, and found Fabien doing the same.

“Let’s get down to business then,” the witch said and reached across the table to grab Fabien’s drink, taking a sip from it, while Aurel groaned.

I nodded at Fabien and he pulled Lenore’s invitation out of his pocket before sliding it across the table, and she raised a brow at it. “Can you break the spell on that?” I asked after she picked it up and turned it over in her hand.

She scrunched her nose. “Are you trying to insult me?”

“It’s a simple question.”

“Is the sky blue?”

I shrugged. “Depends on the time and weather.” Can we move this along? I needed to get back to Lenore.

A smile swept across her face and she tipped her head to the side. “I like you, night prince. Why have you stayed away from us all this while? Shouldn’t you be closer to your mother’s roots?”