George left Ana to her own devices after the meeting. He’d sent a message that informed her that her training session and their promised meeting after the formal sitting had to be postponed as something came up and he needed to address it. That was all he planned to tell her. She didn’t need to know more yet. George wouldn’t tell her about Mary’s death until he could get more details about it first. There wasn’t any point in telling Adriana about it until he could answer the questions, she was bound to pepper him with. He found it interesting to see how often Maximus lurked around the security office. Clearly, he was listening for information. George couldn’t be sure what information Maximus was fishing for as he struggled to befriend their security force. Maximus was not naturally what George would call a friendly person. The vampire was what he’d call a stereotype elitist and security staff, royal or otherwise,
George stalked through the wooded area beyond the gardens of the NARC facility. He’d just finished investigating where poor Mary was found. He’d only met her a handful of times in the last few days, but he was trying to decide whether she was involved in this or if she’d encountered a person or people involved in threatening Adriana. From the initial report, he would not go any further in speculating until he had more information about how she died. He couldn’t agree with the conclusion that she’d been killed onsite here. There wasn’t any evidence of her putting up a fight. Yes, her blood appeared to be missing, but vampires weren’t the only blood drinkers, and with this cast of suspects, their abilities could mimic a vampire attack as well. Whoever left her here did so with every intention of her being found after it was too late to save her or for her to say anything. That part told George the killer or killers were connected to the threat made ag
Ana sat alone in her apartment with Xavier her new dog and roommate, it seemed. The pup wouldn’t leave her side now for very long. She could get a guard to walk him, but Xavier kept finding his way back to her. She looked at her calendar for the few months. It wasn’t like it would change all that much. Ana wouldn’t be going back to the royal court any time soon. She saw her parents’ anniversary of their mating was almost her. As she was exiled, there’d be no way she could join the festivities, even if she’d want to.It reminded her about how everything there was going on without her. She’d set a report to the emperor but had yet to hear back any kind of response.Ana knew she shouldn’t have been surprised by this. She wasn’t in his favour. Of course, he wouldn’t respond. She’d be lucky if one of his many underlings wrote a quick set of instructions on what he expected from her position. There was no mention of George or anything th
“George, I just found out that when the council stops sitting and takes a break, we can’t stay here. That means we need a place that we can go.” Adriana and George walked through the gardens again. This time, there was no running or training. This was where they spoke of things without Maximus being close at hand. Maximus disliked any form of exercise or training. He was a nobleman, and he would have others to protect him. Then he didn’t see the point of wandering aimlessly about without a destination. “Lovely. I gather we’ll need to find a location to reside in sooner rather than later. How would you like to go about this then? Do you trust Maximus to find a safe location, after all, this should be his job to find options for you.” George listened to Adriana speak and mentally took notes on what she wanted this location to have. He already knew what security the location needed to have. That was something he knew well. What he also knew about her n
The emperor charged George to look after Adriana just three weeks ago. Already there’d been a couple of threats and a death involved with her. He was still investing all of those.Now he had to do Maximus’ job because Adriana didn’t feel safe with Maximus doing it without adding in an ulterior motive for someone else.The worst part of it all, even though he felt annoyed with this new job, he had to agree Maximus was not all on the up and up. Something was off about him. George just felt it even if he couldn’t place why he felt that way, at least not yet. So George now had more than enough business every evening to deal with. The incident investigations, Maximus, and now finding alternative accommodations. He wasn’t angry with Adriana, he just felt that his job was becoming compromised because of how Maximus was acting and using his position to push some unknown agenda. It felt so juvenile and petty. He could only put it down to the foolishness that
Franco sat in the throne’s anteroom as he waited for the court to empty of people. He’d spent hours hearing the senseless prattle of so many, including that of his mate. No one gave him the truth about anything. It was all one selfish spin after another. There wasn’t a day that went by that he didn’t regret his actions. Taking on everything back then sounded like such a grand idea. It fulled his thirst for living and gave him a purpose. Sadly, he’d lacked the insight he had now. Franco couldn’t trust anyone anymore. He couldn’t even allow his daughter, his true daughter, to reside in the palace and the court with him. There was no trusting anyone, and he knew others plotted against him. So he did what few would do. He found the most capable stranger to do what he couldn’t. Now as he sat there and read the latest report from Atwood. He definitely took his job seriously. Franco sincerely hoped so after he’d poured o
Ana’s evening was relaxing. She’d gone to visit Edith and company after the final sitting with George. The previous nights before this, they spent their time sorting out living arrangements for the new security staff. It took a night to settle the people and a couple of nights to settle all their belongings and gear. Now the entire delegate had some form of security and protection.She’d not expected the emperor to care one way or the other. Ana left, reporting the incidents to the emperor to George.Her only excuse why she didn’t inform him herself was she feared being turned away with no help forthcoming. After all, why would the emperor send protection to a person he’d exiled a few short weeks ago?So, she thought that was strange enough. Ana so far avoided opening the last of her correspondence from home. She’d expected one from Edger instructing her of the emperor’s wishes pertaining to how she did her job. The letter she resisted opening so far came from her mo
It was difficult getting away from her mother. But there were times when having your daughters around made entertaining oneself difficult. If you were entertaining yourself with a person, you should be with in an entertainment like this. Tatiana’s mother dropped her daughters like a hot potato when her love made it to court. Now was a perfect time for Tatiana to have her way with things. Her plans today were to contact her own lover and talk about their lovely plans for the near future. Lucia Hocks, leader of the Blood Traitor’s Network, was Tatiana’s lover and to Tatiana, they were fated mates. Perfect in every way. Even their goals in life lined up. Lucia made Tatiana feel like she was already the empress and Lucia was her consort. Tatiana slipped from the hidden door in the far garden and walked into town. It took her time to get to where she was going to meet Lucia. Because she needed to keep