Page 208 of A Warrior's Fate

Isla shivered, not for the resurfacing of the challenge, and not for the chilled air that greeted them when they stepped out into the courtyard. She took a moment to let it settle in, find the beauty in the lights in the trees, the flow of the statues, the fountain, the flowers, the stars winking at them from above. But the moon was…hidden.

Kai was tense at her side, and she knew he saw what she’d felt earlier. The chaos, the pain.

She leaned into him, curling her other hand over his upper arm reassuringly. A soft smile bloomed on his mouth, and they wordlessly turned away, heading for the House.

Kai slipped his other hand into his pocket and said after a few steps, “You changed.”

Isla gazed down at her clothes. “Yes, after lunch with your mother.”

“You had lunch with my mother?”

“I did,” Isla said coolly, enjoying the slight tinge of fear and maybe embarrassment on his face. What hadn’t he wanted her to know? “She’s very kind.”

He recovered and grinned. “She is.” Unspoken words, more questions, flickered in his eyes, but he moved on. A few seconds later, he noted, his stare drawing over her again, “Kept the red, I see.”

Isla snickered.

Unintentionally.

But with the playfulness, the innuendos, a reminder had festered that he may not have wanted. A reason that she’d been peeved with him.

Isla bit her lip, lowering her voice to croon, “You like it?”

“I mean, you look great in everything,” he said, smirking. “And nothing.”

Isla gave a small laugh. “Well, too bad you won’t be getting me in nothing for a while.” She let her features fall into a pointed glare when Kai gazed at her, confused. “You should’ve told me that my dad might be coming, asshole.”

Kai grimaced. “Right.” He lifted his hand from his pocket to present, “In all fairness, it wasn’t confirmed to me until before the address.”

“You could’ve mentioned the possibility,” she said.

He sighed. “I’m sorry.” His hand slid back into his pocket, and he cast his eyes to the ground. “Are you going to be okay?”

What a question.

“Because my father might be here? The fact Alpha Cassius will definitely be here? Or because I’ll have to watch the man I love fight to the death in front of thousands upon thousands of people?”

Kai lifted his head, brows drawn. “How many do you think can fit in that arena?”

She gave him a deadpan look to which he chuckled. He maneuvered his arm so it was thrown around her shoulders, while hers crossed her front, their fingers still twined. “It’s going to be fine.” He tugged her closer and kissed her hair. “Now, what do you want to cook for dinner?”

Despite wanting to maintain her stand, Isla pressed into him.

She wasn’t sure how it worked in a place such as this. When one was a prince, or an alpha now. Late-night eating back in her apartment was typically a bowl of chips or whatever she had on hand.

“Are we really making the chefs cook this late?”

Kai looked at her like she was crazy. “No.”

Isla raised a brow, judging the look on his face. “You’re going to cook?”

“Don’t act surprised. I do pretty well.”

She laughed. “I’ll be the judge, I suppose.”

They encroached the doors of the House, already having been pulled open after having seen Kai approaching. The guards and doormen—different from earlier—greeted him with a deep bow and greeted her with quick nods, smiles, and looks away. Turning a blind eye—as if they’d been instructed to whenever their alpha passed a woman through their door. She narrowed her eyes, though a smile played on her lips.

They breezed straight through the grand foyer and a hallway she and Zahra hadn’t ventured down. “Food, then bed, then think in the morning,” Kai drawled.

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