by Riley Storm
Kirell guided her up to the front door and waited, bouncing back and forth from one foot to the other impatiently as she got her keys out.
“What is going on with you? If you’re trying to seduce me, this is far from your best effort.”
Her husband—he was really her husband now, time to think of him as such—just laughed. “You’re safe from my touch for now.”
“Whatever you say.” She pushed open the door.
“CONGRATULATIONS!”
The sudden noise from inside caused her to shout out in surprise and fling her backward—right into Kirell’s waiting arms.
Loren ran forward and grabbed Natalia, pulling her into the house, where a handful of other guests waited for them as well.
“What is this?” she gasped.
Their mutual friend Michelle was there too. Standing slightly apart from them, then, were Klaue, Kellas, and Kaelyn.
“Congratulations,” the Queen of House Ursa said, sweeping forward and pulling Natalia into a hug. “I’m so very happy for the two of you.”
“T-thank you,” she said, stunned at the Queen’s presence. “You didn’t have to come though.”
“I know.” The woman leaned forward with a wicked smile. “Do you have any idea how little I get to go out? Ugh, what I wouldn’t give for a night of wine and stories of boys like from the old days.”
Natalia grinned. “Feel free to accompany us next time if you’d like. Loren has stories from last week, let alone years ago.”
Kaelyn smiled. “You know, I think I just might take you up on that.”
The women tried to drag Natalia inside, to enjoy the drinks and food that were spread out on her table, but she paused. “How the hell did all this happen without me knowing about any of it?” she asked, turning slowly.
Kirell was just standing there with a goofy grin on his face. “I love you, Mrs. Ursa.”
She bit her lip in surprise happiness and flung her arms around him. “I love you too. This is the best day ever! Thank you.”
He hugged her back, then pushed her off to go join her friends who were eagerly awaiting her arrival, wanting to ask her how it felt to be a Mrs and all sorts of other ridiculous questions. It felt no different than an hour ago.
Did it?
She looked down at the ring on her finger, then stole a glance at Kirell.
Okay, maybe it feels a bit better.
Epilogue
“My Queen,” he said formally, bowing slightly at the waist.
They were meeting in private, but he still felt it appropriate to treat her as his Queen and not Kaelyn, given what they were to discuss.
“Any clues?” she asked, dispensing with the preamble.
“None,” he said bitterly, angry at admitting his own failing.
“Do not beat yourself up over it,” she said, walking over to him and patting his shoulder. “Whoever is behind this all has kept an extremely low profile, if they even exist.”
“They exist,” he said fiercely. “Captain Kven was very clearly waiting for orders from someone before he attacked the Throne Room. But whoever it was, they were operating more secretly than I can track.” He threw up his hands in frustration. “I’m positive it’s one of us, and I’d likely even put money on it being one of the remaining Title Holders, but I couldn’t tell you who. All I know is that we haven’t caught the leader. Yet.”
But I will find you. And you will pay for what you’ve done to our House.
The Queen nodded. “I understand. We’ll have to keep our defenses up and be wary of who we trust for the time being.”
“I will find out who it is. I promise.”
“Kirell, I never doubted that from you. Not in the slightest. Whoever this is manipulating our people against us, they are a formidable enemy.” Kaelyn shivered.
“What? What is it?” he asked, moving to stand at her side.
“Bring the guards up to strength as fast as you can pull people in from our outposts,” she said, staring straight ahead. “We’re going to need them ready. In fact, I hereby authorize you to double the size. Train new recruits, find volunteers. Whatever it takes.”
“Double the size, my Queen? No House has had that many men-at-arms in centuries. We’re at peace now.”
“Double it, Kirell. I suspect in time we may be tripling it.” She gazed at him. “Something is coming, and I fear a traitor in our ranks isn’t the worst of our worries.”
“How long do we have?”
“I don’t know, Captain. All I feel is change in the winds, a swirling of shadows. It may be that I’m seeing things that aren’t there. I hope it is so.”
Kirell doubted it. His Queen was right. He could feel it in his bones. The times were changing.
THE END
Thank you so much for reading my debut novel, Bearing Secrets!
If you liked it, I would be very grateful if you left a review, so that others might enjoy the story as well.
The story continues in: Furever Loyal (High House Ursa #2)
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Other Books by Riley Storm
High House Ursa
Bearing Secrets
Furever Loyal – Jan 10th 2019
Mated to the Enemy – Jan 24th 2019
Book 4 – Feb 2019
Book 5 – March 2019
About the Author
Riley is one of those early-morning people you love to hate, because she swears she doesn’t need caffeine, even though the coffee-maker is connected to her smartphone. She lives in a three-story townhouse by the good graces of a tabby-cat who rules the house, the couch, the table, well, basically everywhere. When she’s not groveling for forgiveness for neglecting to pet her kitty enough, Riley is strapped in to her writing chair coming up with crazy worlds where she can make her own decisions of when feeding time is and how much coffee can be drank without her friends—of which she has three—holding yet another intervention that they threaten to post on the internet.