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Cracking a grin, I forced myself to meet his gaze. “Thank you for coming to say something. If you hadn’t, I probably would’ve done some damage.” I swallowed a sigh and sca
“I don’t know if that’s necessary.”
“It is.” I inhaled deeply, squaring my shoulders. “He was trying to tell me why he couldn’t train with me, but I wasn’t listening. I should have.”
Saion didn’t respond. I glanced at him and found him watching me as if I’d sprouted a third hand from the center of my forehead. “What?” I asked.
“Nothing.” He blinked and looked away. A moment passed. “You know what? It’s not nothing. I was thinking that you’ve changed. You’re not so irrational.”
My brows shot up. “Wow.”
A sheepish look crossed his features. “But then I realized you weren’t always irrational. Just prone to moments of irrationality.”
“If this is supposed to be a compliment, you’re failing,” I stated.
“You’ve always been thoughtful, though.” His stare came back to mine. “Considerate of others. I don’t think we always saw that. Except for Ector.”
Feeling my heart squeeze, it was my turn to look away. “If I were truly considerate, you wouldn’t have had to intervene.”
“I don’t agree with that.” A moment passed. “Your Majesty.”
I shot him an arch look.
“I don’t think being considerate means always doing the right thing. If that were the case, none of us would be,” Saion said, scratching his chin. “I think it sometimes means acknowledging when you should’ve been more considerate and then doing it. You—” A shout from across the courtyard drew our attention. “What the…?”
Jadis was hopping on her hind legs, clutching that strip of blue material in one hand as she spat short bursts of silver flames toward Bele. The Primal stood with her arms crossed, her features pinched in a way that said she was utterly done with whatever was happening while Pax gri
“Jade, baby,” Aios called out to the youngling. “Don’t scare Bele.”
Bele scowled, but Jadis stopped, screeching happily as she threw herself onto the several-inch-tall grass. Two thin legs stuck straight up as she waved the slip of blue material like a victory flag.
Pax gri
Behind Bele, Rhahar looked like he wanted to run face-first into the shadowstone wall.
“Man,” I murmured, shaking my head. “Children—draken or not—are absolutely terrifying.”
Saion chuckled. “That, they are.” He glanced over at me. “By the way, I did have another reason for coming out here. Rhain is looking for you.”
My stomach dipped. “What for?”
“Not sure,” Saion said, “but he said it was important.”
“Seraphena.”
I opened my eyes. “What?”
“Have you been listening to me at all?” Rhain demanded.
“Of course.” Tilting my head from where it rested on the arm of the chair, I slid a quick look at Reaver.
He gri
I smiled.
“I find that hard to believe when you appear half-asleep,” Rhain stated. “And rather uncomfortably.”
“I’m not half-asleep, and it’s perfectly comfortable,” I grumbled, pushing up with an obnoxiously loud sigh. I then sat like an adult in the chair. “Happy?”
“Thrilled,” he deadpa
My eyes narrowed on the god. We had vastly different ideas about what was important.
When Saion said that Rhain wanted to see me, my mind immediately went to the worst-case scenario: that he wanted to talk about how I had convinced Kolis to free him, even though that seemed unlikely. As it turned out, he’d wanted to go over the day-to-day functions of the palace.
Adjusting the bound parchment in his lap, Rhain leaned back. “Since you weren’t half-asleep, you should be able to tell me what I’ve said.”
“You were talking about…” What had he been talking about? “You were saying something about…cleaning.”
One eyebrow rose.
“Is that wrong?”
“Technically? No.”
I smirked.
“But you’re only in the general vicinity of what I was talking about,” he said, tapping the slender quill against the parchment. “I know you weren’t listening. I called your name three times before you heard me.”
I clamped my mouth shut, only grazing the inside of my lips with my fangs this time.
“I was speaking about how there really hasn’t been any household management.”
I nodded. I had heard him say something like that.
“No actual schedule for any of the staff, be it for cooking or cleaning,” he continued. “In other Courts, it typically falls to the Chosen to organize such things.” He stopped and frowned. “Or it used to. But it has been Aios and…was Ector,” he said, and my heart twisted sharply, “who handled it in the past.”
“I haven’t seen any staff here besides Pax and Baines,” I said, referencing the stable hand. “And I think I’ve only ever seen one of the cooks once. Valrie.”
“Exactly,” he replied. “That’s my point. Nyktos has never really focused on those areas.”
It wasn’t for lack of caring. Instead, it was due to the exact opposite. Ash hadn’t wanted staff in his house at all since Kolis could target them.
“I think it’s time we establish household management.”
My brows lifted. “And you thought I’d be the person to talk to about it?”
“I know a Queen doesn’t oversee such—”
“It has nothing to do with being a Queen and everything to do with me having no household experience,” I said. “I wasn’t exactly raised to be a lady of the house.”
Rhain pinched the bridge of his nose. “I wasn’t suggesting that you personally oversee such things. And if you had been listening, you would know that.”
“Oh,” I murmured, starting to sink into my chair as Reaver’s grin went up a notch.
“I said we’d hire someone to do it,” he said. “And since you don’t know the people here, and we will likely be busy in the coming weeks, I was also going to suggest we ask Aios to assist with that.”
“You think she’ll want to do that?”
“I wouldn’t have suggested her if I didn’t,” he replied.
“Then it’s fine with me.”
Rhain wrote something down. “Whoever Aios determines is fit to run the household should live on-site, and the option to do so should be offered to any of the staff.”
“Do you think it’s wise for us to start bringing in staff now? All things considered?”
Rhain got what I was referencing without me having to say it. “I think it’s time to start living free of Kolis’s shadow.”
I agreed with that sentiment, but we weren’t free. We were far from it.
“I think we should bring in staff, as long as Nyktos is okay with it. But things,” I said, nodding at Reaver’s bowed head, “will need to be settled first before we allow anyone to live here.”
“Agreed.”
As Rhain reviewed how the staff would be paid, I watched Reaver scribbling away. We were making plans, which felt both amazing and terrifying. Even a bit risky. Like we might jinx ourselves.
“You’re not listening again.” Rhain sighed. “Look, I know you probably have a lot of stuff on your mind, and this feels like the last thing you need to be considering right now—”
“I wouldn’t say it’s the last thing.” I tapped my fingers on the arms of the chair. “But yes, I do have a lot on my mind.”
A moment passed, and then he asked, “Do you want to talk through those things?”
I huffed out a dry laugh.
“It’s a genuine offer,” Rhain insisted. “And not an entirely altruistic one.”
“Really?” I drawled.
“Yes. Maybe you can focus if you get out whatever is on your mind.” He paused. “Though I feel focusing isn’t one of your strong suits.”
I snorted.
With another heavy sigh, the tapping of his quill increased. Glancing over at him, our eyes met. We both quickly looked away. I rose from the chair. “That neat talent of yours? The telepathy? Do you always need to have an item belonging to the person to do it?”
His brows squished together. “What made you even think of that?”
“I don’t know,” I said, lifting a shoulder. “It just popped into my head.”
He blinked slowly. “To answer your question, yes. I need a token or to be in contact with them.”
I thought that over as my gaze swept along the bare shelves. “So, what token of Nyktos’s do you have that allows you to communicate with him?”
“What makes you think I have something of his?”
I shot him a knowing look.
Two pink splotches appeared in the center of his cheeks. “I carry a medallion.”
Interest sparked. “Can I see it?”
One more heavy, ground-shaking sigh left him as he reached into the breast pocket of his tunic. Opening his fingers, he held a small silver disc. A wolf’s head had been carved into the metal. The detail was intricate, down to the tufts of fur.
“It’s beautiful. Who made…?” I trailed off, lifting my gaze to his. The skin beneath my ear tingled. “You did.”
Rhain’s eyes widened.
I straightened. “You…you also made the box Ash keeps on his bedside table.”
“How did you know that?” he demanded, then cursed.
“Foresight,” Reaver said what Rhain had likely surmised.
“Yeah,” Rhain said, clearing his throat. “I forgot.”
Reaver nodded and then returned to his drawings.
“Do me a favor,” Rhain stated. “Don’t use that on me.”
I arched a brow as I started walking. “Wasn’t pla
“You just did.”
“It was accidental. Sometimes, things just pop into my head,” I told him, reaching the pillared doors again. “I’m still trying to get a handle on it, but I will do my best not to use it.”
And I meant that. Even though I was really curious why he was so worried I would seek to know more about him. Then again, he could just simply value his privacy.
“Thank you,” he said. “What else were you thinking about?”
“Oh, you know. Everything.” Crossing my arms, I faced him.
Rhain eyed me for several moments, clearly waiting for me to elaborate. When I didn’t, he glanced down at the bound parchment. “I’m sure you’re nervous about meeting with the Primals.”
“Obviously.”