and being dialed, he kept his piehole shut even though it killed him.
“I’ll see when Havers can get you in.”
Which was going to be at the drop of a hat, no doubt. Wrath and the race’s physician had had their differences, going way back to the Marissa days, but the male had always been front and center with the service when it was needed.
As Doc Jane started talking, Wrath cut in on her conversation. “Do not tell Havers what it’s for. And you and only you see the results. We clear?”
Last thing they needed was any speculation on his fitness to rule.
Beth spoke up. “Tell him it’s for me.”
Doc Jane nodded and smoothly lied, and as she arranged everything, Wrath pulled Beth up against his side.
Neither of them said anything, because what kind of conversation was there to be had? They were both scared shitless-his vision was crap, but he needed what little he had. Without it? What the hell was he going to do?
“I have to go to that council meeting at midnight,” he said softly. As Beth stiffened, he shook his head. “Politically speaking, I have to go. Things are too unstable right now for me to not show, or to try to move it to another night. I have to come from a position of strength.”
“And what if you lose your sight in the middle of it?” she hissed.
“Then I’m going to fake it until I can get out of there.”
“Wrath-”
Doc Jane clipped her phone shut. “He can see you right now.”
“How long will it take?”
“About an hour.”
“Good. I have somewhere I need to be at midnight.”
“Why don’t we see what the scan says-”
“I have to-”
Doc Jane cut him off with an authority that told him in this exchange he was a patient, not the king. “Have to is a relative term. We’ll see what’s doing in there and then you can decide just how much have to you’ve got.”
Ehlena could have stayed on the terrace with Rehvenge for twenty years, but he whispered in her ear that he’d made them something to eat, and sitting across from him in candlelight sounded equally as great.
After a final, lingering kiss, they went inside together, her tucked against him, his arm around her waist, her hand up on his back between his shoulder blades. The penthouse was hot, so she took her coat off and draped it over one of the low-slung black leather couches.
“I thought we’d eat in the kitchen,” he said.
So much for candlelight, but what did it matter? As long as she was with him, she glowed enough to light up the whole damn penthouse.
Rehvenge took her hand and drew her through the dining room and out the other side of a swinging butler’s door. The kitchen was black granite and stainless steel, very urban and sleek, and at one end of the countertop, where there was an overhang, two place settings were arranged in front of a pair of stools. A white candle was lit, the flame lazy on top of its diminishing wax pedestal.
“Oh, this smells fantastic.” She slid up onto one of the stools. “Italian. And you said you could only make one thing.”
“Yeah, I really slaved over this.” He turned toward the oven with a flourish and removed a flat pan with…
Ehlena burst out laughing. “French-bread pizza.”
“Only the best for you.”
“DiGiorno?”
“Of course. And I splurged on the supreme kind. I figured you could pick off what you don’t like.” He used a pair of sterling-silver tongs to transfer the pizzas onto the plates and then put the baking sheet back on the top of the stove. “I have red wine, too.”
As he came over with the bottle, all she could do was stare up at him and smile.
“You know,” he said as he poured some into her glass, “I like the way you’re looking at me.”
She put her hands over her face. “I can’t help it.”
“Don’t try. It makes me feel taller.”
“And you’re not small to begin with.” She tried to get a grip, but just felt like giggling as he filled his own glass, put the bottle down, and took a seat next to her.
“Shall we?” he said, picking up his knife and fork.
“Oh, my God, I’m glad you do that, too.”
“Do what?”
“Eat pizza with a knife and fork. The other nurses at work give me such a hard…” She let the sentence drift. “Well, anyway, I’m glad there’s someone like me.”
There was the sound of crispy bread splintering under knife blades as they both worked on their dinner.
Rehvenge waited until she took her first bite and then said, “Let me see you through your job search.”
He timed it perfectly, because she never talked with her mouth full, so he had plenty of airspace to continue. “Let me carry you and your father until you have another job that earns you as much as you made at the clinic.” She started to shake her head, but he held up his hand. “Wait, think about it. Without my being an ass, you wouldn’t have done what you did to get fired. So it’s only fair that I make amends, and if it helps, think about it from a legal point of view. Under the Old Law I owe you, and I am nothing if not law-abiding.”
She wiped her mouth. “It just feels…weird.”
“Because someone’s helping you for once instead of the other way around?”
Well, damn it, yes. “I don’t want to take advantage of you.”
“But I’ve offered, and believe me, I have the means.”
True enough, she thought, looking at his coat and the heavy silverware he was eating with and the porcelain plate and the-
“You have lovely table manners,” she murmured for no good reason.
He paused. “My mother’s doing.”
Ehlena put her hand on his huge shoulder. “Can I say I’m sorry again?”
He wiped his mouth with a napkin. “There’s something better you can do for me.”
“What?”
“Let me take care of you. So that your job search is more about finding something you want to do rather than a mad dash into any old thing just to pay the bills.” He lifted his eyes to the ceiling and clasped his chest as if he had a case of the vapors. “That would relieve my suffering so much. You and you alone have the power to save me.”
Ehlena laughed a little, but couldn’t keep any semblance of joviality up. Beneath the surface of him, she sensed he was hurting, and the pain came out in the shadows under his eyes and the grim set of his jaw. Clearly, he was making an effort to be normal for her benefit, and though she appreciated it, she didn’t know how she could get him to stop without putting pressure on him.
They really were strangers to each other still, weren’t they? In spite of all the time they had spent together in the last couple of days, how much did she really know about him? His bloodline? When she was around him or they were on the phone, she felt as though she knew all she needed to, but realistically speaking, what did they have together?
He frowned as he dropped his hands and cut into his pizza again. “Don’t go there.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Wherever you are in your head. It’s the wrong place for you and me.” He took a drink of his wine. “I’m not going to be rude and read your mind, but I can sense what you’re feeling, and it’s distance. That’s not what I’m after. Not when it comes to you.” His amethyst eyes shifted over and stared straight into her. “You can trust me to take care of you, Ehlena. Don’t ever doubt that.”
Looking at him, she believed him one hundred percent. Absolutely. Positively. “I do. I do trust you.”
Something flickered across his face, but he hid it. “Good. Now, finish your dinner and come to the realization that my helping you is the right thing.”
