The Lost Queen (Book 1 of The Lost Queen Series)

Chapter Thirty-Two

"You sure you want to be here for this?" Kai asked his guard.

They stood outside Kestrel's door in the early morning.

The two elves responsible for watching him today exchanged looks. They knew very well Kestrel was not a morning person after celebrations, and Kai was likely about to get his head ripped off.

"You can find me in half an hour," Kai told them.

Half an hour should be plenty of time to go over the plan for the council meeting.

He waited for the guards to leave before he rapped his knuckles on the door.

Inside, there was a thump followed by a curse, and then a disheveled Kestrel stuck her head out.

"What?"

"Are you alone?"

Kestrel scowled. "Of course I'm alone. Who else would be here?"

"Well, when I saw you last night—"

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Kestrel said, cutting him off. "Now, what do you want?"

"We need to talk."

Kestrel looked him up and down and then stepped aside. "Did something happen?" she asked as he entered her room.

"You tell me. Where did you go last night?"

Kestrel picked up a mug of tea and settled into one of the two overstuffed chairs, taking up a corner of her room.

Kai took a seat in the one across from her.

"Let's see. I believe I attended the boring court Eostre celebration where Seraiah met Gavaran, and then once that torture was over, we went to the real celebration on the beach."

"And you let her drink too much nectar."

Kestrel took a sip of her tea, eyeing him over the rim of her cup. "Eryx was there watching us. Did you know it was Seraiah's birthday? She told me while we were dancing, so of course we had to celebrate that, too."

He hadn't known because Seraiah hadn't said a word about it to him.

"Anyway, Eryx made sure we made it back, and then . . ." She trailed off, giving him a look again. "And then you showed up," she smirked, "and that's when something happened."

"Nothing happened," Kai said, "except the two of you had too much to drink."

"Liar. You wouldn't have come to speak to me at this ungodly hour if nothing happened."

He'd known Kestrel was going to be difficult, but he hadn't expected her to figure it out so fast. "We have the council meeting today," he said, attempting to steer her away from asking more questions. "We need to discuss what we are going to say."

"That's not why you're really here. This is about Seraiah. What happened? She made it to bed safely, didn't she?"

Kai stared at her, keeping his face as blank as possible.

Kestrel saw right through him. "I knew it," she crowed, nearly spilling her tea. "Now tell me what happened after I left."

"Nothing. I carried Seraiah upstairs to her room, since she couldn't walk on her own. Then she told me I'm not awful and kissed me," he mumbled.

Kestrel cackled. "Oh, this is too good. You should see your face right now." She leaned forward. "And then what happened?"

"Nothing. I got her to bed." He realized a second after the words were out how they sounded.