Chapter 11

As per custom, Cleo stood with Urell to her left and Janan to her right as the three of them watched the Krahzaran envoy pack up their horses to leave. It had only been a few hours since their meeting in the council room where Kav gave the news about the Lady in White. Cleo was trying her best not to ask every question she had, especially when he revealed he thought Malik knew who she was.

"I'll do my best to wring it from him," he promised her right after he told them. "Especially when I have a feeling there might be another attempt on your life."

"What do you mean?" Cleo said through her teeth.

Kav gestured to those in the room, then to the ones she knew stood right outside the closed door. "My guardsmen are loyal to me and only me. They do not serve my mother or my brother. But there have been rumors spreading through the Krahzaran palace that my mother plans on sending someone here, to weed out any unrest within Arloerin."

"And there is no unrest," Urell growled at him, taking a protective stance beside Cleo.

"That I agree on," Kav nodded, not even shrinking back at Urell's exposed fangs. His attention was on Cleo and her alone. "Everyone loves you here, Cleo. You've done nothing but protect and love them in return, give them everything they could ever want and then some. From what I've seen, no one would go against you in that way."

"And you?" she found herself asking, twining her hands together behind her back to keep them from shaking, to keep him from seeing them. "Would you have ulterior motives in coming here, Prince Kaveh?"

By the flash of his light hazel eyes, she knew she'd hurt him by even asking the question. "Never. You know that. You know me, Cleo."

The two of them were met with silence as they stared at one another, though all eyes were on them.

I love you and would never do anything like that to hurt you, Kav told her down their mating bond.

I know, she replied. I just...I had to be sure. And I love you, too. More than anything.

As she watched him ready his horse, Cleo wanted nothing more than to beg Kav not to leave, not to go back to Krahzara. He had to, though. He'd promised to try and find out more himself and with his guardsmen's help. They would find out what was going on...and if the Lady in White planned to take part in the scheme.

Now, though, Cleo stepped up to Kav's side as he looked over every buckle of the saddle, made sure all of his things were secured in the saddlebags. "Do you have everything you need?" she asked him, very well knowing the eyes that were watching. She wanted to be close to him. As close as she could be since she'd have to go weeks without seeing him. And at this point...well, she really didn't care

"I do, thank you," he said with a small smile and a nod. "Are you really worried about me?"

"Why would I not be, especially after what you told me earlier?" she whispered for only them to hear. "If your mother knows you suspect something..."

"I'll see what I can find out," he told her, reaching for her hand before pulling his away. They had parts to play, parts she was starting to not like, too. "If not from what my mother's guardsmen, then I'll grill Malik on what he does. I won't be able to send it to you in a letter, not when it can be intercepted, so you'll see me as soon as I learn anything of importance."

Cleo stepped even closer, tilting her face up toward his. "Then I hope you find something soon, all right? Because I want you here, with me. I want you home."

One side of his mouth pulled up in a smirk. "You do, huh? Because as far as I know, you don't want anyone else to know what's going on between the two of us."

"And if I want to change that?" she whispered, stretching up on her toes and curling her fingers into his jacket to pull him forward.

Because she did. After her talk with Janan, after telling her second she would accept the next time Kav asked her to marry him, she wanted nothing more than to stop hiding everything from her family, from her kingdom. Kav was just as loved as everyone else who served her, if not more.

"Then I'm liking the sound of home even more so," Kav told Cleo, then looped one arm around her waist as the other threaded through her hair as he bent down to kiss her fully.

Maybe it was knowing this was their first public display of their relationship, but the warm jolt that sang down their mating bond spread through Cleo from head to toe, which made her give a little moan as Kav deepened the kiss. Obviously, he didn't care about decency as his hands gripped her firmly, but neither did she. Even her shadows appeared, wrapping tight around him, wanting to pull him closer. Of course, they were met with stunned silence, but Cleo could care less. All she wanted in that moment was Kav and she was getting him...and trying not to laugh against his lips at the murmurs of surprise around them.

"I told you," Urell grumbled to Janan from a little way away.

"And unlike you, I've known about this for years," she replied. Her smile could practically be heard in her voice.

"What the hell...years?"

A thump, undoubtedly from the back of her hand hitting his stomach. "They're mates, idiot. Why do you think Kav comes here so often, especially over these last four years?"

"What is everyone staring...oh."

It was Cleo's grandmother's surprise that had her pulling back from Kav, though she leaned her forehead against his. His eyes were still closed, a bright pink coloring his cheeks, and he looked as if he were more than ready to call off his trip back to Krahzara and move permanently to Arloerin. At some point, he would. And sooner rather than later now with this declaration.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Kav told her again, finally opening his eyes to look at her. He reached up, brushing her hair back from her face, kissing a line along her cheek to her ear as he pulled her against him. "Don't get into too much trouble until then."

"With what we just showed everyone? Of course, I'll get into trouble. You know me."

"Why did I even think you'd do otherwise?"

"What do you think I should do?" she asked him then in a whisper, face pressed against the side of his neck.

Kav tightened his arms around her. "Keep your Elite close and your city guardsmen alert to anything out of the ordinary. And as for yourself...have you thought of laying low?"

"How low?" she asked, pulling back to look at him.

"We'll you've been complaining about missing your family in Ayveri..."

She had. More often than not. She hadn't seen her cousin and that handsome mate of hers in months. Of course, she'd had Elys, Eamon, Archer, and their guardsmen staying with them in Arloerin those few months before, but she missed Lyv and Jai and the rest of her family. Maybe she could go visit.

"I'll have to talk it over with everyone, but maybe I should go. If not for just the visit, I'll be able to work with Elys and see if he can get anything from his visions. I'll leave right after you do," Cleo told Kav. "I'll be gone for a few weeks at most. That should give both of us enough time, right? Janan and Urell will hold the kingdom for me, keep everyone safe."

"A few weeks? You're giving me time limit now?"

"Like I've told you plenty of times before, there's only a certain amount of time I can go without seeing you."

"Nice to know I'm good for something."

Pulling away, Cleo kissed him quick once more, then stepped back while keeping hold of his hand. "I love you, prince," she smiled at him.

Kav lifted her fingers to his lips. "And I love you, my queen."

He didn't let go of her hand as he turned them toward their guardsmen, both her Elite and his Krahzaran. Though their surprise was still evident, the way they looked at the two of them, their queen and the future prince consort...Cleo hadn't seen them so proud to be serving under their command. It wasn't just them, but also Urell looking at Kav with newfound respect, Janan who was about to burst with contentment, and her grandmother Renna almost on the verge of tears at the sight of her granddaughter so utterly happy.

Kav met the eyes of each and every guardsman. "Do not think this is some ploy concocted by my mother, Queen Sophea. I am Cleo's and she is mine in every sense of the meaning. This kind of bond is not one that can be fabricated. It was one foretold by the Seer we all know and love years ago.

"Just like I will continue to do until my last breath, we serve Queen Cleo of Arloerin, we protect her at all costs just as she will do for us, and we keep this kingdom safe from any outside attempts to sow seeds of doubt into the people's minds. I will keep my Cleo and our kingdom..." Kav looked over at her, squeezing her hand. "...my home safe from anyone who tries to hurt them. I hope I can count on you to do the same."

Murmurs of total agreement. Of course, he could. The fierce determination in the eyes of all the guardsmen said so.

"Good," he nodded, then walked with her over to Janan, Urell, and her grandmother.

Just as protective as he'd always been of her, Urell looked Kav up and down, arms crossed over his broad chest, baring his fangs in a menacing smile. "You'd better not hurt my queen and closest friend because, of course, you know she'll take care of you much better than I could. I'd definitely enjoy watching, though."

Even Janan gave the prince a threatening glare...which was emphasized by Shamira, who had appeared at her side. "And you know what I'm capable of, too, Prince Kaveh."

And her grandmother...well, she was beaming too much to even intimidate him herself.

"I know," Kav grinned at the three of them.

"I'm going to Ayveri for a few weeks," Cleo told them. "Visit with Lyv, Jai, and the others."

"Do you really think that's a good idea with what we know Sophea's attempting to do?" Urell asked, raising a brow.

"Well, she's can't very well kill me when I'm not here, right?" Cleo said. "And only those who went through it know where the portal into the Wilds is. It's not like she can send someone to follow. Kav and Malik do, but..."

"But I haven't told her," Kav told them. "Neither has Malik, even after the Dark Wars where he fought alongside Cleo and the rest of you. She knows of it, of course, but not its location."

"I'm just going to take Ollyn with me," Cleo went on. "Odanth can stay here and help keep an eye out on everything. Plus, he's been a little down lately, so I think some time to himself is just what he needs. But while I'm in Ayveri, I'll see if Elys can look into what's happening. I know it's clearer for him when he's actually in Laria, but with him being home for the first time in five years, I hardly doubt he'll want to come back here."

Especially when he couldn't stop talking about it while they were there in Arloerin for months...and how he couldn't wait to get back to see Lyv, Jai, the rest of his family...and Dessa, of course. Cleo, Urell, and even Kav and Malik when they were there visiting teased him relentlessly about her. Even though he was close to twenty-seven now, she still imagined him at the cute little almost seven-year-old she'd met the first time.

"We'll make sure everything stays quiet here as to where you've gone," her grandmother told her, still smiling at Cleo and Kav. "And we'll all keep quiet about the two of you for now also...though I'm not sure if it won't get around Arloerin in the meantime."

She looked back behind them...and at all the people who had their faces pressed against the palace gates, completely stunned by the sight of their queen and her foreign prince mate.

"Oops," Kav grinned. "Can't say that's all on me, though, can we?"

Which made Cleo dig her fingers into his ribs, making him laugh and squirm just as it had earlier that morning.

The three of them left Cleo and Kav to say their final goodbyes as the rest of the Krahzaran guardsmen got up on their horses and moved into formation.

"Don't you have a question you want to ask before you want to go?" Cleo asked not so innocently.

Kav raised a brow, then immediately understood her question. He seemed as if he were ready to drop down on one knee and pull out her ring. She knew he kept it on him every minute of every day for when he finally got the answer he was wanting. "Will the answer you've been giving me for almost four years change?"

Smiling a little too sweetly, Cleo answered. "Quite possibly. Or am I going to have to ask Elys to tell me when you'll ask again?"

The mage prince had the nerve to wink. "The latter. I guess it's my turn to make you wait now, huh?"

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Bastard."

Kav threw his head back and laughed as he pulled himself up in the saddle. The way the sunlight hit him...it had her thanking every god and goddess he was hers. "Have I ever told you how much I love you and that mouth of yours?"

Cleo's answering grin was wicked. "All the time."

Kav was still laughing even as he and his guardsmen road through the palace gates, the road through Arloerin clearing for the Krahzaran envoy.

I love you, she told him once more through the bond before he was too far away to hear her.

I love you, too.