Page 67 of Somber Prince

Alzali’s orange eyes darted around the room, taking in everything. I was sure she didn’t miss the dishes scattered on the floor, or my chest armor tossed aside, or me sitting on the floor like a lowly commoner with a Joy Vessel in my lap.

“Did I not say I would take my midnight meal alone?” I didn’t try to keep the displeasure out of my voice.

Dawn stiffened in my arms. Unease and mortification oozed through my tendrils from her. She had no reason to be ashamed, but I had no time to explain it to her. Alzali had come here for a reason. Stubborn like a mule, she wouldn’t leave until she got my undivided attention.

My cousin primly folded her hands in front of her.

“It looks like you’re done with your meal, Your Highness. Unless you wish to pick the food off the floor?” She arched an eyebrow with a glance at the mess around the table.

“I should go.” Dawn scrambled off my lap, leaving me no choice but to disconnect and retract my tendrils.

“You should, Sweet One,” Alzali murmured, smoothly stepping aside and keeping the door open for Dawn to leave.

“Wait.” I rose from the floor slowly, demonstrating I was not in a hurry to accommodate anyone who barged in on my private time with my Joy Vessel. “Dawn, please meet Princess Alzali.”

“Princess?” Dawn nodded jerkily, looking confused and possibly frightened.

I could’ve strangled Alzali for her lack of manners.

“She’s my cousin, the queen’s niece.”

“Nice to meet you.” Dawn stretched her open hand toward my cousin.

Alzali kept her hands where they were, folded neatly in front of her. Realizing her greeting wouldn’t be returned, Dawn dropped her hand to her side and repeated, “I should go. I’ll find my way back to the sarai.”

“No, you’ll stay in my rooms.” I flicked my fingers at the guards waiting outside the door. “Take the Joy Vessel downstairs to the golden sitting room.”

The bizarre death of the desert dweller at the gate to Teneris remained unexplained. I’d personally questioned the caravan’s owner and everyone else who’d arrived with her, and still had no clear answer why the man did what he did.

Maybe Oskura was right and there was no reason to worry. But when it came to Dawn, reason deserted me. I could barely wait for the Joy Vessels to return from the market. Racked by worry, I’d even moved my meeting with Alzali to the sarai, waiting for my Sweet One.

She looked at me with a silent question in her bi-colored eyes.

“You’re staying here, Dawn. With me.”

“But—”

“It’s safer this way,” I cut her off firmly. It wouldn’t do for my Joy Vessel to contradict me in front of Alzali.

Thankfully, Dawn didn’t argue further. Tossing only a glare my way, she followed the guards through the door and down the stairs.

Alzali followed Dawn with her gaze. “Did you find yourself a favorite? Already? You’re much faster than your mother. The queen has twenty-four Joy Vessels but favors no one.”

“Mother never favored anyone other than Father. Now that he’s gone, I fear she'll never have another favorite ever again.”

Alzali kept staring at the door behind which Dawn had gone.

“Her eyes don’t match.” Her shoulders moved with a shudder of repulsion. “Was that the best you could do, Your Highness? Is she sick? Or did she lose an eye, and it’s been replaced by a hag with no skills?”

Irritation stirred in me. I didn’t plan to choose Dawn. Like everything with her, it’d just happened without strategy or logic. Now that she was mine, however, any insult toward her applied to me, too.

“What do you want, Alzali?” I snapped.

She jerked her head, looking appalled by my gruff tone. Personally, Alzali delivered her insults in the gentlest of voices, which only made them sharper. She flicked back her long hair that was gathered into a high ponytail, held by a wide golden clip between her ears. Each ear was decorated with several earrings along the outer edge, interconnected by dangling loops of thin, golden chains.

“I came to Teneris with a royal order,” she said, looking deeply offended. “But I was brushed aside in favor of a Joy Vessel. Could that not have waited?”

Spending time with a Joy Vessel certainly should’ve waited until the royal business was complete. But I simply couldn’t stay away from Dawn for long.