Chapter 11

Caitlyn

My God. Kal had just kissed me in front of the entire peanut gallery. Were his people that casual about flings, or was he giving them a message, trying to paint a bigger target on my back to draw out the traitor, maybe? I didn't want to think that, because what was happening between us felt much more special than that. It wasn't just some tool he was using to locate who was after his throne. He was ruthless, but not that ruthless. I hoped.

My legs still felt a little shaky after that kiss, but it was the nerves that made me feel a little nauseous. I didn't want to be some plaything in a royal court. I was no good at politics, or at speaking tactfully. And now we were on our way to see Kal's sick niece, and those promising preliminary tests I'd just done didn't seem good enough. What if my cure ended up killing her instead? What if it didn't work? Or what if she was already too weak for it to reverse the damage? So much responsibility. Most of all, it would be so devastating to fail a good male like Kal, to have to see him go through the grief of losing her.

We were almost out of the lab when Kal suddenly halted, pulling me to a stop at his side with his arm. He seemed unwilling to stop touching me, his wing kept possessively cupped around my back and his tail brushed my leg. It even curled around it now that we were standing still. I wasn't sure if he was doing that to protect me, or just because he wanted me that close. My hopeful, already halfway in love heart wanted to believe that it was mostly the later, I just couldn't be sure unless I asked him. I found I was too much of a coward for that.

"Amaza, Somar, not content with the view from back there?" Kal drawled, jerking me from my spinning thoughts and back to focus on what was happening around me. The door to the lab had just slid open, but Kal must have sensed them before then. Two Tarkan females glided into the room with the swish of long, silky robes but silent wings. One was older, the same female I'd briefly seen when we'd arrived early this morning. The other was young and probably beautiful by Tarkan standards.

I felt wholly inadequate and tawdry next to that woman. She was tall, with gold swirls painted along her gray wings, but a natural blue hue tinted the edges. Her expression was the perfect blend of haughty and arrogant, and her deep gray eyes held a deep contempt for me as she met my gaze. She made me feel tiny, and I hated that. She looked like the kind of woman that Kal was going to have to marry at some point, a Tarkan female who looked exactly the way a future queen should look.

Maybe Kal sensed my spinning thoughts, or maybe it was just a coincidence, but his arm tightened around my middle in a comforting squeeze. It even looked like he was giving the pretty female a glare, because she fluttered her wings and then settled them snugly behind her back. It diminished her presence, and now she suddenly did not look so tall and imposing, she looked petulant.

A smile rose on my face before I could stop it. Yeah, that's right. He wasn't with her right now; he was holding me to his side. It was me he'd kissed in front of all those important people, and me he'd taken to his private rooms. He thought he'd been clever by telling his servants to stay silent, but I'd noticed the male clothes in the wardrobe; they could only be his. Too much purple for it to be anyone else.

"No, sir." The older woman spoke, and I flicked my eyes to hers. My smile instantly faltered; that was one cold expression, a look that could kill. The royal advisor or something Kal had called her, but he'd said it in a way that made me think he didn't really want one of those.

There'd been a hint of fondness when he later told me she'd been like his aunt when he grew up, so there was some kind of conflict in his mind about who she was. I didn't have that. If anyone was the traitor, it was her. My mind was made up on the spot; I had no evidence, and usually I lived for that kind of thing, but not about this. She was bad news.

"But I believe Sera and her guard returned. You must be eager to see her." My flesh broke out in goosebumps. How had she known that? Kal's fingers twitched against my hip, and I knew he was concerned too. Iru had just called, but this woman should not have been able to overhear, so who had told her?

"I am aware. We were on our way now," Kal responded, and he swept us past the two females with a quick stride. I had to take two steps for his one, but I did not complain as we rushed away from the two women. Then he swept me in his arms and threw himself through an arched doorway; a scream ripped from me before I could censor it when we were suddenly free-falling. That was no door, but it was an entryway to a fucking chasm through the center of the palace spire.

Kal's wings snapped out, and we were soaring, and then dipping towards one of the many, many entrances to this vertical passage. I should have known that winged beings would do something like this instead of, you know, elevators. I was still in shock from that fall when he approached a doorway flanked by at least ten guards.

They snapped to attention and saluted by crossing their fists over their chests, that was followed by a quick bow, but none of them ever stopped gazing at the hallway as they did so. They were in the highest state of alertness, and fully ready for battle in their battle-forms. Kal ignored them completely as he flung himself through the doorway before it was even fully open. And then we were in a palatial bedroom and I was finally face to face with my patient.

It was my turn to rush. I did not even care that I was met by the shocked expressions of at least two physicians and a final guard. My focus was entirely on the small gray-skinned girl in the bed. She had her eyes closed in slumber, her body thin from the sickness that had held her in its grip for weeks. Despite that, she was beautiful and sweet, with glossy black hair like her uncle. I vowed then and there that I would stop at nothing to see her open her eyes so she could smile at Kal again.