Page 26 of Courting the Tiger King

“So soon?” Darwinia sighed and for a second the tiredness from before seemed to sink in a little deeper. “I’ll be with you in spirit, my darlings.”

Jamison pressed a kiss to her cheek and then looked at Neah from across the table. “Before you go, I have information for you. Or, rather, information I want you to get.”

Pushing her doubts aside, Neah nodded. “Where and when?”

“Valena, I’ve heard whispers of a benefactor looking for help.” He kept the details vague, but she knew what he was telling her. The same person who’d tried to place the hit on the king before was ready to try again, this time closer to the palace. They were getting bolder. “Three night’s time, at the Crow’s Nest.”

Neah nodded and stood, pushing back her rickety chair easily and guiding Zennon to standing at her side. “I’ll let you know if I see or hear anything interesting.”

“Good.” He hesitated and then walked forward quickly, wrapping the both of them into a quick, one-armed hug. “Be safe.”

“You too,” Zennon whispered and Neah nodded before hurrying around the table to hug her mother.

They left as quickly as they’d arrived and the palace was quiet. The candles in the sconces had started to burn low and she knew that if they were to come back in a few nights time they would have been replaced with soleil magic—most places throughout the kingdom were in the midst of swapping over to the cleaner, longer lasting energy source. Well, those that couldafford the witch-fee to have the orbs of light installed. Other places, like the palace, were using up what they had left of traditional light sources and phasing a little at a time.

Zennon was quiet at her side as they walked, but when Neah glanced over there was a peacefulness on her sister’s face that put her at ease. Family time was rare, but maybe it was time that changed—it was clearly weighing heavily on them all.

She understood her father’s concern, but fear couldn’t rule them forever. Not at the expense of their lives, they’d spent far too much of it apart.

“I meant it, you know,” Zen said quietly as they walked the halls back to Neah’s room. “I knew before that the king was not meant for me, but seeing the two of you together… It’s obvious, Neah.” She snorted and Zennon frowned. “Why are you resistant?”

“I’m not resistant.”

“Could have fooled me.”

Neah continued on in silence, trying not to let Zennon’s words burrow into her mind. It was true that she was nervous about having Wren for a mate, not only because of his position and her… defects, but because she wasn’t sure she could trust the Goddess to make this decision when it felt like Selene had botched so many others in Neah’s life.

Neah had lost some of her faith in Selene over the years and now, she had to just trust that Wren was the person best suited for her, the other half of her soul that she’d be stronger with than without. It seemed unfathomable. The Goddess hadn’t cared before, Neah still couldn’t shift, and now she had to justtrustthis deity to know what was best for her?

Fuck. Zennon had got in her head.

The walk back to her rooms felt shorter than before, maybe she was hurrying, trying to outrun her thoughts. It was no use though, when she wasn’t ruminating on the goddess she wasthinking about Wren. Like she’d given her brain permission to consider him in a way she hadn’t been allowing before, but now she couldn’t hold back, her imagination running wild as she considered the ways that things could have been different the night of the feast, when he’d found her half-naked and then danced with her. Or even out in the field, with her hand around his throat?—

“Night,” Zennon chirped from the other side of the bed and Neah’s voice was hoarse when she replied.

“Goodnight.” Now she just had to convince her subconscious to behave. The last thing she needed was Wren in her dreams as well as on her mind.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

WREN

Getting Lady Zennon alone felt like an impossible task. Wherever she went, Neah followed. It offered him no opportunities to pry for information, not when Wren had seen how effortlessly Neah had charmed and eluded the ladies of the court. She would see right through him in an instant.

But he could be patient, waiting and watching for the right time to strike. His chance came late in the afternoon, the day after he had spied on the girls inside the palace, while they attended an afternoon gathering. The rain had been annoyingly persistent, though he knew he’d be glad for this rainfall early next week when the lunar hunt was due to take place in, hopefully, drier conditions.

Neah had walked away from her sister in order to talk to a young nobleman across the way and Wren had seized the opportunity while she was distracted.

“Lady Zennon! It looks as if the rain has eased. Would you care to take a turn with me around the gardens?”

Zennon smiled and nodded, relief sharp on her face as she left the clutches of three Ladies who were likely intent on prying information out of her. Not that Wren was any better.

“Thank you,” she said a few moments later as he led them out of the room and toward a hidden exit that opened straight into the gardens. “The offer of fresh air couldn’t have been better timed.”

“You’re not enjoying your time at court?”

Pink stained her cheeks and her fingers tightened on the inside of his arm as they walked at a sedate pace. The wet grass dampened the hem of her dress from blue to indigo, but Zennon showed no sign of caring. “I like court very much, Your Majesty. But, as you might have guessed, I don’t have much experience with the intricacies of court machinations.”

He chuckled, unable to help himself. “If by that you mean that the court is full of incorrigible gossips, then I agree.” A cool breeze drifted over them, lifting the ends of Wren’s hair. “They have their uses though.”

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