Bleeding Ink

Chapter 50

Chapter 50

If Cleo heard the name Addie Merlo one more time, she thought her dark magic would lash out and make her combust into a fiery ball of rage and fury. One week. That's how long she'd been home, how long she had to walk around her kingdom and hear that name on the lips of every one of her citizens. How beautiful she was, how nice she was, how she'd spent enough coin for the shop owners to have to wait to get their stocks back up to their usual levels.

But most of all, Cleo wanted nothing more than to come face to face with the female so she could devour her with her shadows for practically stealing Odanth.

Her dragon had yet to come back from Krahzara, which had her worry gnawing at her stomach and doubling with every passing day. She tried to find reason to jump on Ollyn and the two of them head east...and the main one being she couldn't without creating tension between Arloerin and Krahzara. Landing Ollyn in the middle of the eastern-most kingdom wouldn't have made the best impression.

Janan and Urell were the ones to hear her complaining the most, mostly because they refused to leave her side. They both claimed it was just to keep an eye on her since she was pissed about Odanth, but she had a sneaking suspicion they were watching out for her, too.

"What if we send two of the Elite east?" she tried to reason. "They'll use fake identities, infiltrate Krahzara, and try to find out what the hell is going on."

Janan, who was absentmindedly stroking Shamira's fuzzy head nestled in her lap, smiled grimly. "Kav still hasn't gotten back to you, huh?"

Cleo let out a growl that rivaled the leopard's own. She'd sent him a discreet message without signing her name on it, but there had been no reply. "You might have to stop me from killing him myself."

Urell was the one to snort, Janan smiling right along with him. "You know that won't happen," he told her. "You might slap him around a little, but we all know that would probably do the boy some good."

That made her laugh and the tension throughout began to ease. "Knock that cocky attitude down a few notches, too."

Janan absentmindedly twisted a dark curl around her finger. "I'm surprised he hasn't come back, even if he hadn't found anything out yet. Undoubtedly, word would have already reached Krahzara about you being back."

"And just a few days after Lady Addie left, too, right? Something just doesn't feel right about it. Not when she comes right after I leave and goes back right before I come home."

"We didn't find anything of suspicion when we searched where she was staying," Urell tried to tell her.

Even Janan attempted to ease her fury. "And when your grandmother and I ran into her that one afternoon, she was nothing but pleasant...though I will admit her actions were a little worrisome. Not that she was being deceiving, but rather she was..."

"Was what?"

"Shocked? I don't know. Shamira instantly loved her, she was the nicest to me." A grimace twisted on her lips. "But when she saw Renna...it was almost like she was seeing a ghost."

***

Cleo was up earlier than she normally was, her stomach twisting and nerves jumping. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, though she knew it was a combination of things. Not only Odanth's absence, but also how she still hadn't heard from Kav since she'd been back from Dalcaine. She didn't think anything had happened to him, would have been able to feel it through their mating bond.

She was so on edge she jumped when someone knocked on her door before cracking it open, dropping the pins she was securing in her hair. As she scrambled to pick them up, her grandmother peeked inside, then smiled as she came in.