“What is with this mi-lady crap, Kait?”
He laughed as he held his hands up. “How should I know? Why do you always blame me?”
Travis was grinning. “My dad apparently told them all to make sure my fiancé wasn’t hurt. He even passed around a picture of you.”
“Fiancé? What the hell?” Oddly enough, I wasn’t exactly angry. I hid a smile behind my hand. I couldn’t let him know that though. Kait chuckled.
I turned back to the soldier, who was now watching me warily. “Did they take out my clone?”
“Yes, mi-, uh. Yes, we did.” I covered up a laugh at his awkwardness, as he continued, “It sure freaked some of the guys out, because we thought at first that it was you, but one of the generals said it was a clone. They are cleaning out the ones who were shot now, making sure we got everybody we were supposed to, and making sure they really are dead.”
I flinched a little at his bluntness, but he was a soldier, so I didn’t comment.
Kait gave him a hard look, so he saluted quickly and turned on his heel before walking away.
“You don’t have to be hard on them, you know. I was just surprised at his choice of words.”
Kait rubbed my back. “I know, Princess. You need get used to them, but at the same time, part of their training is how to interact with royalty. He knows better. He let his nerves get the better of him. Let’s go home and let them finish cleaning up.”
I nodded, and let him led me out. Our carriage, and Pearl, were waiting by the front door for us. The night, overall, went as planned, and I was happy there was minimal bloodshed, but I was worried about David. I patted Pearl on the nose before climbing into the carriage.
We were quiet the whole way home. I curled up on the seat, with my head on Kait’s lap, and my feet on Travis. Travis took my shoes off and Kait healed my bruises before Travis massaged my feet.
When we arrived home, Kait gathered me into his arms, and carried me inside. I started to protest, but then decided that I was comfortable where I was at, so instead I just snuggled in. Kait’s chuckle rumbled through his chest and into me. There was a screech from the forest. I tensed. Cassy came bounding out of the trees, and head butted Kait. She almost knocked me out of his arms. I giggled and reached out to her. Kait set me on the ground, and Cassy leaned her head into me. After a few moments of scratching, Kait put an end to it.
“Cassy! Guard!” She gave him a look that clearly said she was not happy with the order, and slowly walked back into the tree line, while stopping and glancing over her shoulder every few steps. “What did you do to my Griffin?”
In a small voice, while looking as innocent as possible, I said, “Nothing.”
Kait snorted. “I don’t believe you. You have obviously spoiled her.”
I held up my hands. “I honestly did nothing but pet her.” Travis nodded.
“She’s been acting weird since she first met Evalia. Within five minutes, Cassy had rolled over on her back and was playing with Evalia like she was a cat. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Whatever, let’s get in the house.” Kait was shaking his head in a forlorn way, like I had ruined something good. I went to him to put my arms around him.
“I’m sorry, Kait.”
He laughed, and said, “It’s fine, Princess. I’ve just never seen her act that way before. She was my best guard animal. I guess she’s yours now, though.”
We filed into the house, which was dark and quiet. David hadn’t come back here. Kait lead the way back to the living room, where he called a family conference. Travis and I sat on the couch, while Kait stood in front of us. He put his hands behind his back and started pacing.
“I’d like to hear back from my generals before discussing how the operation went tonight. They should be done processing the prisoners and the dead shortly, so for now, we are going to focus on David. What happened?”
I briefly explained the confrontation to Kait, while struggling to maintain my composure. I had a sinking feeling something was very wrong with David. He had been acting weird ever since the abduction.
Kait listened with an impassive face, although the pacing gave away his true feelings. I could also feel both Travis and Kait’s worry nibbling on the outside of my mind. I sighed.
“We need to figure out where he went, and what the hell is happening to him, Kait!” I lost it, tears streaming down my face. Travis pulled me to him.
Kait just nodded, still pacing. His phone rang. He answered with a brief, “Kaitsja.” Then listened for what felt like a good twenty minutes. What little he said told me nothing. By the time he got off the phone, I was ready to scream. He put the phone back in his pocket and sighed.
“That was my highest general. Tonight’s operation was a success. We managed to capture or eliminate almost everyone we had intended too. There were only two people on the list that are missing. One is Alarr. Apparently, he wasn’t killed, and he managed to escape. The second is a low-level lackey, who we aren’t worried about.” Scrubbing a hand down his face, he continued, “As for David, I don’t know what to do. Obviously, we must find him. I think I know what’s wrong.”
He knelt in front of me to look into my eyes. “Princess, I have to be honest with
