Page 45 of The Nymph King

“I’ve been told.”

Imani almost smiled despite her annoyance at the man. “And now?”

Ellisar dipped his head to look down at her. “Now everyone else knows what I suspected.”

She pondered his response, keeping pace with him effortlessly, and he seemed in no hurry to lose his place next to her either.

He stayed a breath away, his steady presence pressing against her side. The silence between them was taut, vibrating like a drawn bowstring.

The journey back consumed the remainder of the afternoon, and the returning column carried the story inland. Soldiers moved at different speeds—mounted officers, supply wagons, wounded men sent ahead—and every group that reached another checkpoint or patrol repeated what had happened on the sea.

When Vathis appeared ahead of them, daylight had faded completely and lanterns burned along the walls. The gates opened for the returning column, and by the time Imani passed beneath them, word of the battle had already reached the streets.

People stepped aside sooner, as well. They bowed a fraction lower, their gazes lingering to measure her before dropping away. Awe mingled with unease, but beneath both ran the same calculating current: How could she be used? How could she be won?

She walked beside the twelve-mark High Sentinel with careful ease, keenly aware of the undeniable truth beneath the pageantry.

They entered the High Sentinel’s manor silently, and the room promptly responded to her arrival. Conversations halted or quieted, and individuals moved aside before she even took a step. No introduction was necessary as everyone acknowledged her instantly.

And Ellisar? He had given her space because he wanted everyone else to see a queen capable of standing without him.

Imani understood the gesture. She simply had no intention of ruling alone if she could convince someone as capable as Ellisar to stand beside her.

If he would not step closer on his own, she would find a reason to make him.

* * *

Imani did not speak to Ellisar again before they reached the estate. Intentionally.

The final stretch through Vathis had required enough restraint without giving him another opportunity to explain why, in his opinion, every ambitious male within twenty feet of her needed to be managed. She had walked beside him because she refused to trail behind, not because she had enjoyed the position.

At least, that was what she told herself.

The High Sentinel’s estate rose above the surrounding streets in pale stone, its tall windows glowing warmly against the deepening evening. When they crossed the front terrace, most of the returning soldiers had peeled away toward barracks, infirmaries, or whatever celebration Ellisar had promised them, leaving the entrance crowded instead with officers, servants, and messengers carrying reports from the coast.

The doors opened before them. Ellisar was intercepted almost immediately by two officers holding folded dispatches, one speaking before he had even crossed the threshold. He listened, asked a short question, then disappeared toward the western corridor without looking back.

Imani continued upstairs alone. Three turns into the residential wing, where the noise from the entrance had faded into the softer sounds of servants moving through adjoining rooms, she realized she was still matching the pace he had set.

She slowed as fresh annoyance flared in her chest.

Ridiculous.

She had spent half the afternoon pushing back whenever his protectiveness crossed into deciding for her, only to discover that somewhere between the cliffside and the city gates, her body had simply adjusted to moving beside him.

“Interesting,” a female voice murmured behind her.

Imani stopped and swiveled around to find her friend leaning against the archway ahead, arms folded, blue hair loose around her shoulders. Her wings rested close to her back, their edges catching the lamplight from the wall sconces.

She folded her arms across her chest. “What?”

“Nothing.”

“You said interesting in that irritating little pixie voice.”

“I did.”

“Then say whatever unbearable thing you’re clearly dying to say.” Imani resumed walking, nearly stomping her way to her room.