Too bad he was about to break up their party.
Axel sauntered over to join them, sinking onto the bench next to Stefan. "Morning. Hope you both slept well." He smiled at Mali and gave Stefan a mock hard look.
"Always." As usual, Stefan's face was expressionless. His voice dropped. "Need I ask about you?" The word Lynx hung heavy and unspoken in the air.
"Just what do you take me for?" Axel demanded, going for a lighthearted answer.
"Pff!" Malika snorted. "We watched you dancing with her. I swear, I felt the sparks flying off you both from across the room. Even the fire-eaters looked jealous."
For once in his life, Axel was speechless.
It was time to move this conversation into gear. He leaned in close and whispered to Stefan, knowing that Malika would hear. It didn't matter; he trusted Mali explicitly. "My father knows I went to her room last night."
Stefan's throat actually bobbed, as if he was having trouble swallowing his fried potato.
"Nothing like that happened," Axel said grumpily. "But I did tell you that I was going to warn her about . . . stuff."
Malika's eyes threatened to explode straight out of her head. "You didn't! Father will kill you!" She bit her lip and then sighed with relief. "No, he won't. Like everything, you'll get away with it. But Ax! How could you take such a risk?"
"He's in love with her," Stefan said dryly, as if that explained everything.
Axel brushed the comment away. "Fact is, he heard more than just a chat about stuff." Axel flashed a self-deprecating smile. "I might have mentioned the reason behind the stuff."
Now both Malika and Stefan looked at him as if he had . . . had turned into a Norin.
He understood their concern. Still, it irritated him. He knew exactly what they both felt about the monitoring and the ice crystals. Because of their friendship, Stefan was one of very few high-born who knew what his "emerald" was. He and Stefan had spent years trying to figure ways of getting Stefan's ice crystal off the grid so he could live a more private life. A nonfatal solution had never presented itself.
Axel's and Malika's biggest arguments had not been about the high-borns' ice crystals but rather about his commitment to a military that used mind-manipulated soldiers to control the rest of the population.
He suppressed his irritation. "Whatever my motives, it's done." He fixed Stefan with a penetrating stare. "I wouldn't ask, but she needs protection. The kind only you can rustle up."
Stefan held his gaze and then nodded. "Axel Avanov, you will be the death of me."
"I'll make a speech at your funeral." Axel grinned, largely to cover up that he didn't feel good about embroiling Stefan and his men in this disaster of his making.
Stefan grunted. "Leave it to me." He glanced up at Malika and said to Axel, "You've earned this one."
Axel squeezed his shoulder, letting Stefan know how much he appreciated the offer. And then he strolled out of the hall, keeping calm for the cameras as he made his way to Lynx's room to warn her.
Chapter 32
As soon as Lynx awoke, she dressed and went to Kestrel's door. It was time to tell her sister everything. She cracked it open and peered into the room. "Kestrel? We need to speak."
There was no reply.
She pushed the door open and stepped into the room. "Kestrel? Are you here?"
Silence.
Lynx bit her lip and then noticed the sun streaming into the room. Kestrel was probably down at breakfast. She considered joining her and decided against it. No conversation would be possible in the great hall. Troubled, she returned to her room.
She sought the offending candle sconce, covered with a blanket. When her father had asked her to discover what she could about the gemstones, neither of them could have imagined that technology like cameras and voice recorders existed.
It was time to tell him what she had learned.
She called to the bland-faced guardsman manning the entrance to the apartment. He was new, not one of her regular watchdogs, and she wondered when he'd arrived at her door. "Corporal, can I trouble you with request?"
He bowed. "Of course, Highness. How can I assist?"
"I won't be attending breakfast. Please, can you arrange for food to be sent to me?"
He bowed. "It is done."
Her father had said she was not to write to him, but it was apparent the Chenayans had no intention of giving her time alone with Uncle Bear. She briefly contemplated slipping out of the palace to call on him at his home but rejected the idea as fast as it formed. With their spy technology, they would catch her before she even reached the wolf enclosure.
The possible consequences made her shiver.
As it was, she anticipated punishment from Mott for thumping Lukan. Her bruised fist itched at the thought. Those consequences made it even more imperative that she communicate with her father, before she vanished into one of Mott's dungeons.
She pulled out her writing parchment and quills to write a letter to her father. By the time her breakfast arrived, the paragraphs telling him how much she loved and missed him and her family were complete. Now, all that remained was to tell him about ice crystals and informas.
She pushed her dirty breakfast plate away and sighed at the almost impossible task. Even if she managed to explain this incomprehensible technology, she still needed to get the letter past Felix's censorship. For that, she needed allies. People who didn't support the Chenayan Dragon, people who would be willing to see it safely to Norin.
But where to find those like-minded souls was the big challenge.
Axel seemed an obvious choice, but any help from him came with strings attached. Tempting ones that made it unspeakably hard to fulfill her oath to marry Lukan. Best to avoid Axel.
Stefan Zarot had impressed her, but she didn't know him well enough to trust him with something like this.
That left Tao. Was it possible Mott's youngest son could be the man sought?
A knock sounded on the door. It had to be the summons from Mott about her and Lukan's fight.
Fear, visceral and unexpected, chilled her to her core. Regardless of her best efforts to control herself, she trembled as she stood to meet her fate. Lynx opened her mouth to command the person to enter when the door flew open.
Axel stood on the threshold.
Despite rejecting him, her heart skipped a beat, both with relief at her reprieve and at the sight of him enticingly dressed in a casual faded blue shirt and black trousers. She cleared her throat. "What do you want? I told you last night that we're done."
He made no move to enter the room. "We've got to talk. Breakfast is as good a place as any." His eyes focused meaningfully on the candle sconce.
She guessed her blanket didn't stop the hateful thing recording their voices. The idea sent a shiver down her spine.
"I have a prior engagement." She pointed to the parchment and quill, and her dirty breakfast plate on her dressing table. "My family will be anxious to know how Kestrel and I are doing."
Axel frowned but still didn't step into her room. "Your letter writing can wait. This is more important."
Struck by the gravitas of his tone, Lynx frowned back, wondering what had affected his usual banter. She longed to ask, but she had already taken too many risks with Axel. As much as it hurt, it was time to sever her ties with him.
"Thanks, but no. If you don't mind, close the door after you." Lynx sat down, picked up her quill, dipped it into her ink pot, and made a show of writing on her parchment.
Axel swore. Loudly. She risked peeking at him from behind a curtain of hair.
He tapped the doorjamb with his fist, opened his mouth, seemed to change his mind, and then blurted out, "Suit yourself. But I think you'll regret not coming with me."
She raised her head to face him. "You are one arrogant bastard, Axel."
He shook his head, then pointed to the sconce. "Remember, Princess, there are always plenty more where those came from. If you change your mind, you know where to find me." Without waiting for a reply, he strode away.
She flung down her quill and strode to her balcony. The memory of Mott's threats to mount her parents' heads on pikes in the courtyard below didn't make for pleasant or peaceful viewing. She paced back to her letter and was about to continue writing when yet another knock sounded. Trying to calm herself, she stood up and stomped to the door.
"It's like a marketplace here today." Lynx wrenched the door open and snapped, "Yes, I'm here. Not gone anywhere. Can't go anywhere. Even if I wanted to."