Page 31 of Stone Lover
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Malin knewsomething was bothering his doctor. Surah wasn’t necessarily a chatty woman, but she generally wasn’t this quiet, or broody. Darkness lurked in the back of her eyes when she glanced at Malin over the dinner table. They’d taken to eating on the balcony outside their bedroom suite, overlooking gardens in the back of the house rather than in the dining room or study. From this vantage, the view of the setting sun was beautiful. The Prince couldn’t take it any longer and set aside hisfork.
“Surah, what's wrong?” He cut off the start of her denial. “Don't lie to me. I know something is wrong. Tellme.”
Surah fixed him with a glare, eyes dark under tousled bangs–not quite the true brown of a full-blooded gargoyle, but close. A slight curl further proclaimed her half-humanheritage.
“Our brother is up to mischief, is what’s wrong,” Surahreplied.
Malin relaxed. Was that it? Geza was always a problem. From the time he could walk he'd driven his two older siblings mad with his scheming and pouting—and occasional flashes of protective temper or genius. Enough that Malin, even now, had some hope the young man wasn't a total waste. But Geza might be running out oftime.
“What did he do this time?” Malin's eyes narrowed, instincts perking, as she gave him a long, measuring look. “Surah?”
“He wants me to convince you to take a secondwife.”
Malin stared at her. “That makes no sense.” Especially since he hadn’t yet technically married his first. He’d been wanting to broach the subject of wedding plans with her, but always held back, wanting to wait for one of the few times–other than during sex–when she wasn’t tense and worried abouthim.He was tired of her worrying about him. He was a warrior, and had decades on her in age. She shouldn’t be worrying about him, it should be the other wayaround.
Surah stabbed a spear of asparagus with her fork. Malin's chef had learned to become creative with vegetables in a hurry–Surah, though not quite vegetarian, displayed a marked lack of enthusiasm for meat. Malin didn’t recall her always being like that, but then, one ate what was presented at the Prince's table without complaint–or one didn't eat. Maybe for more than one meal, if Ciodaru was soinclined.
“It makes perfect sense,” she said, then set the asparagus aside, eyeing his steak. “He gets to test your loyalty and rid himself of an unwanted bride at the sametime.”
Malin frowned, cut a small piece of his meat and put it on her plate, watching as she snatched it up. “Geza knows I wouldn't wed. Since when do you eatmeat?”
She sniffed, chewing. “This was just an opening salvo. A way to test the waters to see how vehement a reaction he's going to get. Geza is undisciplined and selfish–he isn't stupid. And I just have a taste for it tonight. I should do a blood workup–I might be missing some Bvitamins.”
“No, he isn't stupid. So he must think he has some way to encourage compliance. Take a multivitamin, Surah.” His voice deepened. “Maybe I should let you resttonight.”
Surah blushed, avoiding his eyes, and stood. “I need adrink.”
Malin rose, tossing aside his napkin, rounding the small table to take her shoulders in his hands.“Then we'll have a drink, a shower, and we'll retire for theevening.”
“You're a gargoyle; you don't want to go to bed in the middle of thenight.”
“No, but like you, I've learned to keep a human sleep cycle. You've been working hard, resttonight.”
Surah tugged her hair. “I should really spend a few more hours goingthrough—”
“Please.”
She sighed. “All right. Rest.Tonight.”
* * *
Surah was goneby the time Malin awoke the next morning. Well, by the time Malin came back from his study. He'd spent the majority of the evening holding his sleeping mate before leaving in the early hours of morning to continue his own work. The pills he took to control his seizures, along with the serum to delay the degeneration of his body and control pain, combined to make for some sleepless nights. One of the many side effects that disturbed Surah–so Malin didn’t talk about it. He knew the doctor had enough on hermind.
Malin dressed, taking his mug of black coffee on the balcony where they'd eaten the previous night. He glanced up as a shadow of wings flew into the path of the sun. A rush of wind and Nikolau coasted to the ground in front of the house, lifting a hand to greet Malin. Malin nodded, moving back inside to finish dressing so by the time his servant knocked on his door, Malin was already openingit.
“I know. He's in the lower levelparlor?”
“Yes,sir.”
“Thankyou.”
The lower level parlor was reserved for unexpected guests, empty but for minimal furniture and a few books on a shelf for entertainment. When Malin entered, the drapes were pulled and more coffee set out on the table in front of Nikolau, who sprawled on the low-backed couch designed for wings, sipping from a daintymug.
His friend rose when Malin entered, the Prince waving him back to hisseat.
“Nikolau. It'slate.”
