Page 22 of Kings
“Congratulations,” the receptionist said with a knowing smile.
“Oh,” Ella said, breathing a sigh of relief. “Thanks.”
She hurried out of the room before she could incriminate herself. That was close, or at least, it had felt close.
Once she was a safe distance down the hall, she paused to take out the folded piece of paper that had grown soft and leathery over the years. She wasn’t even surewhyshe’d taken it, but she couldn’t get the date discrepancy out of her head.
What reason would Emily have to lie aboutthat?
Chapter 14
Sterling
Willpower was something Sterling had always taken great pride in, but staying away from Ella had proved more torture than he’d ever anticipated. Especially now that she was marked by both younger males. The sight of any other male’s mark on her neck would have been enough to drive him mad, but knowing one was Bishop’s…
Sterling had once hoped his mentor’s youngest son might break away from the family’s darker aspects, but it seemed he was just like the rest of them, scheming and playing the political games that went on behind Felidae’s walls.
Usually work proved an adequate distraction, but that day, he couldn’t get his mind off Ella. He made a point of not running into her in the halls, which required tracking her movements even more. In those moments he allowed himself to watch her, when she didn’t know he was there at all, it was nothing short of torture knowing she was so close and so unreachable.
He told himself it was for her sake. That he didn’t have it in him to be selfish and cruel enough to pursue what his heart and his instincts told him was his birthright.
Each day was a new test of his will, and he began to wonder how tenable a lifetime of this torment truly was, but there was no other option. He had to be near her. The only thing worse than being close and unable to have her was being unable to protect her.
He refused to leave the task to Bishop and Axel, even if they had proven themselves more capable of coexisting than he had imagined.
He was still deep in thought when a knock came at the door outside his normal office hours. “Come in,” he called without looking up from the work that offered such a pitiful distraction.
The door opened, and he heard a pair of heels tap against the floor. “My, Professor, this is quite the cliche,” said a familiar woman’s voice.
Sterling looked up sharply to find Natalia standing in the doorway, clutching an elegant shawl around her shoulders as she studied his cramped office. There was a glimmer of amusement in her eyes as she walked toward him.
“Your Grace,” he said, bowing hastily to her. He looked around the room, cringing at the state it was in. Usually his office was well kept, but he’d borrowed just about every book the Felidae House and the school had on genetic mutations and feline shifter anatomy. “Forgive me. If I’d known you were coming, I would have made sure it was less…” He paused, glancing around the stacks of old books covering every spare surface.
“Bookish?” Natalia offered with a good-natured smile.
Sterling sighed, clearing a chair for her. He held it out and waited for her to sit before crossing the room to the liquor cabinet by his window. He rarely partook himself, but when the Dean was in a chatty mood, it proved useful. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“I wouldn’t mind a scotch, if you have it.”
Sterling couldn’t help but do a double-take, reaching for the bottle on the bottom shelf. “Of course.”
Natalia thanked him with a knowing smile as he offered her the glass. “Our little secret. Wouldn’t want to set a bad example.”
“Of course,” he chuckled, leaning back against his desk. “Tell me, to what do I owe the honor of this visit?”
“I’d say you don’t need to be so formal, but I know you can’t help it,” she said, stretching out in the chair with a weary sigh. “Your father was the same.”
There was no mistaking the fondness in her tone. Sterling rarely heard his father mentioned in the colony, despite the sixty some years he’d spent in its devoted service. He had always preferred to work behind the scenes. A kingmaker, he’d always called it. He was the one who’d instilled in Sterling the virtue that their family line existed to preserve and protect the traditions of Felidae, and most importantly, its decency. The rules and bounds of the faith that united them and gave their kind a purpose, so often lost sight of in the modern world.
It was a sovereign duty Sterling had been honored to take on after his father’s death, and until now, he had never wavered. He had never let personal wants and desires cloud his judgment or make him lose sight of the role he had to fulfill.
“Advice?” he asked doubtfully. “I’m sure you have better sources for that.”
“My husband would disagree,” she murmured thoughtfully, gazing out the window at a bird perched on the branch in the tree outside. Her fingers trailed absently along the shape of the curved armrest. He’d never seen her this way. Half in her own world, half in the one outside. “I seem to recall him leaning on you quite a bit in your father’s stead.”
Sterling gave her a guarded smile. “For a time,” he admitted. Despite the fact that there was no love lost between Sterling and his former mentor, he had a great deal of admiration for the Empress. As high as her station was, she was innocent of the things that tainted her mate’s darker nature. The things that had made Sterling want to put as much distance between them as possible, even if his duty required staying close enough to keep an eye on him, and now his sons.
“What happened between you two?” she asked, studying him intently. He wasn’t sure if the liquor had loosened her tongue, or if it was the result of her melancholy state, but he was surprised she was speaking so candidly of their feud. “You used to be so close when you were young.”
