Page 176 of Unrivaled
Age of the Locways, Year 272
La’Angi Keep
Iwoke to Elnyta shifting beneath me and tugged them back.Their laughter unsettled a little more my drowsiness.I looked up to find them picking a dried flower out of my face.“Go back to sleep,” they told me, their smile content.
Buttheyweren’t asleep.I blinked sleep from my eyes, focusing on their features.
Worry.
“What’s wrong?”I lifted myself off them and fell onto the cushion beside them.A few flowers were left behind, crushed.
The rug was much more comfortable with Elnyta.
They shook their head, yanking up the blankets I’d fetched for us last night.“Nothing.Go to sleep.”
There was a definite note ofsomethingin their words.“You weren’t supposed to come back until after my father…”
The smile vanished from Elnyta’s face.“I know.”
This had nothing to do with the wonderful cock they’d found for us.“You need to leave.In the morning.”
They made an annoyed noise and attempted to yank the blankets up again.It had little impact on the bedclothes.“We’ll talk in the morning.”
I glanced at the window.Morning wasn’t far off.Elnyta had been up most of the night.The kick of my heart against my ribs and the rush of battle energy left me with no doubt that I wasn’t getting back to sleep.I sat up.“What’s happening?”
They groaned, falling back.“Can I justoncelook after you?Just once.”
“You looked after me more than six times last night.Now,what’s going on?”
“Your father will be here in less than three days.”
The words rushed at me like arrows.My mind ticked through all the options, same as it ever did.Three days was ample time to get the lion’s share of people out of the city, to close the deals, to see Elnyta safe onto the seas.
“Audrey?”
I glanced down at them.“Did you tell Isolde?”
“No.It’s your information, not mine.”
I added it to the list of things I needed to do, but none of it was urgent.If he’d been arrivingtoday…“Are you sure it’s three days?”
“Might be four,” they said, sitting up.“I’m going off what the inn keep told me.”
I nodded.I wouldn’t expect him today, but I’d plan for less time, not more.It was safest.“You didn’t need to come back to tell me.”
They rested their head on my shoulder.“Is it worth it, Princess?All of this?”
“No.”The answer came without hesitation, but it was the wrong answer.“Not the balls and the parties.Not the money.But the people.”
They let out a frustrated noise.“Fuck the people.”
“He does.Whether they like it or not.”I kicked my way out of the blankets, my stomach clenching.Focus on the tithes.Think about the families of those who’ve disagreed with him.Easier to remember those than the truth of my words.“I’m sorry, Elnyta.”I found a shirt and pulled it on.“You need to go.”
“Audrey—”
“No.”I lifted my hair out from the collar of my shirt with one hand.“I asked you not to come back.”
“I had the opportunity,” they said, quietly.“I took it.Empires come and go, Princess, but my love, it’s forever.”
