Midnight Soul (12 page)

“I know,” Noc stated, and I focused again on
him for I had no idea why he said this. “Wish you’d been there,
sweetheart. Valentine magicked out your dad’s tongue at one point
so he’d shut the fuck up. If I wasn’t so pissed, I would have bust
a gut laughing.”

I couldn’t fight my eyes going wide.

“She magicked out his tongue?”

“You shoulda seen his face, Frannie. It was
creepy as all get out, but still, I’ll never forget it…in a good
way.”

I thought of the other punishments that my
father had given me, hundreds of them, perhaps thousands, none of
which involved a whip. But they did involve the verbal lashings of
his tongue.

Yes, I too wish I’d been there.

“She gave it back but only ’cause Frey made
her,” Noc shared.

In speaking, he regained my attention and I
made an immediate decision.

Kristian well. My parents neutralized.

Onward.

“You need to leave,” I declared.

His brows drew together a moment before his
expression showed clearly that comprehension had dawned.

Sadly, comprehension might have dawned but he
didn’t leave.

He crouched by the bed and offered in a soft
voice, “You need me to carry you to the other room so you can have
a bit of privacy?”

Dear goddess.

He thought I needed a chamber pot.

But…

What was happening to my face?

Dear goddess!

The heat I felt in my cheeks could be nothing
other than me blushing.

I didn’t
blush
. I’d
never
blushed. Not even when I’d set about seducing my first lover at age
sixteen.

I needed to be quit of this man as soon as
possible.

“No…I…do…
not
,” I bit out.

“Sure?” he asked kindly.

“I need you to leave, Noctorno,” I used his
full name in an effort to irritate, something that worked if the
flare in his eyes was any indication, “so Josette can prepare me.
We’re away to Kristian’s this morning.”

Another drawing of his brows before he asked,
“What?”

“After my toilette, Josette and I are to my
sleigh so we can begin our journey to my brother’s home.”

His eyes got bigger as his mouth inquired
peculiarly, “Are you high?”

“No,” I answered his ridiculous question
unnecessarily, “Indeed, I’m low. As you can see since I’m lying
abed.”

For a second he just stared at me.

Then he threw his head back and burst into
loud, deep, beautiful laughter.

I wanted to throw something at him.

Unfortunately, in my current position, this
was not an option open to me.

“I fail to see what’s amusing,” I noted.

He controlled his mirth only to mutter, “I’ll
explain it later.” He went on more distinctly, “Frannie, you’re not
goin’ to your brother’s today. Or tomorrow. Or until you’re fit.
Then, maybe Valentine will spirit you there, or whatever the fuck
that’s called. But for the foreseeable future, your ass is in that
bed and you’re resting so you can heal.”

Well!

Who did he think he was, telling me what I
would or would not do?

“As you’ve determined,” I began, “this is not
the first time I’ve been in this condition so I do believe that
I
know best what I’m capable of and…”

I stopped speaking because he came slightly
out of his crouch so he could put his face into my face and he was
no longer looking mirthful.

He was looking angry.

Very
angry.

“That was when you had no one lookin’ out for
you but that’s not the case anymore. So this is how it’s gonna be,”
he announced.

He then, to my shock, irritation and outrage,
announced how it was going to be
.

Like he had the right to tell
me
how
it was
going to be
!

“First, like I said, you’re gonna hang tight,
rest and heal. Second, once you start feelin’ better,
then
we’ll discuss what’s gonna happen after that. And the last is the
most important, baby, so listen up. You’re gonna take care not to
remind me your mom and dad are such motherfucking assholes because
I got a few solid shots to his face last night but I let Frey’s
boys pull me off before I did the damage I intended to do. You keep
remindin’ me, I’m gonna find those two monsters and do somethin’
that’ll mean my time here won’t be about discovering a parallel
universe but memorizing every inch of a jail cell.”

There were a large number of things to
discuss regarding his announcement. So many, on the fly, I couldn’t
decide a priority so I said the first that came to mind.

“You struck my father?” I asked.

“Repeatedly,” Noc answered. “But not
repeatedly enough.”

Oh my.

Warmth was filling my belly.

I decided to focus on the second thing that
needed to be discussed and not on that feeling.

“I think it’s important to note that I barely
know you, thus you’re nothing to me. Although I appreciate your
efforts last night, you have no say in what I do or where I go. And
even if I were to wish to stay in the Winter Palace for a day or
two in an effort to be in better condition to make the journey I
fully
intend to make, that will be
my
decision and
what happens after that will
not
be discussed with
you
.”

“Think that, babe,” he said, moving out of my
face and back into his crouch by the bed, “but we’ll see, and I’ll
just say what we’ll be seein’ is your ass is not leaving that
bed.”

“I can’t believe I need to remind you that
I’m hardly welcome to remain at the palace,” I pointed out.

“Figure that’s changed, Frannie.”

I ignored him calling me that dreadful name
and said in a scoffing voice, “You would think wrong.”

“Babe, had to have a chat with Frey last
night, he was kickin’ his own ass, thinkin’ shit about you that
wasn’t the way it was. But more, the man is so far
not
about
what went down with you last night, what you and your brother been
dealin’ with for years, probably thought if he read it right, he
coulda done something about it.”

“That’s preposterous,” I retorted.

“That’s the thinking of a good guy who’s
loyal to his men, loves his wife beyond measure and feels the same
about the kid they made.” Noc smiled a gentle smile. “Know you’re
not used to that kinda shit, but stick with me, sugarlips, you’ll
learn.”

I felt a skip in my heart at this offer. At
his smile. At his words and knowing they likely not only described
Frey Drakkar, but also Noctorno Hawthorne of the other world (when
he had a woman to love that was).

I decided to end this conversation at
once.

“I’ve no desire to discuss this further with
you, Noctorno—”

He interrupted me with, “Noc.”

I disregarded his interruption and carried
on, “But I’ve asked you to leave. Please do so that I can go about
my business.”

“Frannie, baby, you are not gettin’ this,” he
stated, leaning into me, but thankfully not so close his face was
in mine this time. “I’m not goin’ anywhere. If I gotta go
somewhere, someone else will be here to make sure
you
don’t
go anywhere. You are resting. You are healing. And that’s just the
way it’s gonna be.”

“Perhaps I’ll pull the cord, ask a servant to
request that Queen Aurora attend me and we’ll see what she has to
say about your plans for me.”

He directly straightened and reached to the
cord, tugging it.

I stared at his actions and continued staring
when he cast his gaze down at me.

“Yeah, good call. We’ll request Aurora shows
and see what she has to say,” he agreed.

Hmm.

He seemed more certain than I about the
outcome of said engagement.

Truthfully, without Josette’s help (or his) I
actually
could
go nowhere and do nothing. Not simply because
I was in pain, and movement without assistance I knew would be
agony (even with assistance, it would be agony), but also because I
was naked.

Not that I had any qualms with that, just
that it was
me
who made the decision about who saw me and
he’d seen enough without my making that decision already.

In other words, I was stuck.

And this was maddening.

Therefore I did the only thing I could.

I glared at him again.

He grinned at me again.

The gall!

“Now we got that straight, you sure you don’t
want me to carry you to the other room?” he asked.

In truth, at that juncture I could have used
the chamber pot.

Of course, this was not what I shared.

I said, “Absolutely not.”

“Gonna be right here, you need me,” he
stated.

“To my everlasting distress,” I murmured,
right then doing the only other thing I could do, pathetic as it
was.

I turned my head away from him.

He did not let that happen unnoted.

Oh no.

He chuckled.

Insufferably
rude
.

I ignored that and stared at heavy curtains
that hid the dull wood that covered the blasted-out windows.

The good news was, my parents incarcerated,
my mother’s magic stripped so she couldn’t use it to foil any
efforts of castigation or to rain further misfortune on my brother
and me, Lunwyn was safe for me again.

And Kristian.

The bad news was, my back was a mess, my
secret had been revealed (both of them!), and I seemed to be at the
mercy of a dictatorial member of an other-world city guard, of all
outlandishness.

I could not allow this to concern me.

I would ignore him in the short term and deal
with whatever befell me in the long term.

Because I had no choice.

And such was my life.

Drat.

* * * * *

“You can hardly hold me at the Palace
against my will,” I asserted.

“I can’t?” Queen Aurora asked with a raised
brow.

It was undignified in the extreme that I was
lying abed, staring up at my queen, having any conversation, much
less this one.

Even so, one could say there was a single
answer to her question.

She could.

“This is not to be born,” I groused.

Yes!

Me!

Franka Drakkar reduced to
grousing
.

The mortification of it all!

She glanced to my back and I could not merit
(but there it was, right in her expression) the slight softening of
her features before she looked again at me.

“A week, I think,” she murmured pensively.
“And then we’ll see what the physician says.”

“With respect, your grace, I’m aware of what
I’m capable of in this condition or any,” I stated, avoiding Noc’s
eyes.

A Noc, I will note, who was leaning
negligently against the wall beyond the nightstand, arms crossed on
his chest, foot crossed at the ankle, regarding this like it was an
enthralling melodrama.

“I can imagine even you, Franka, would admit
that a physician is far more capable of making that judgment than
you,” Queen Aurora replied.

I could not argue that.

Therefore, I didn’t.

“You’ve consumed your willow tea?” she asked,
like a strict but concerned nanny.

Yes.

The queen speaking to me like a strict but
concerned
nanny
.

Me!

“I have, my queen,” I muttered.

“Excellent. I believe I’ll give you the day.
Tomorrow is the wedding, the perfect time for you to rest and mend
uninterrupted. The eve after that, I’ll dine with you. Myself and
Finnie, and, of course, The Drakkar.”

I wanted to dine with the queen, her
other-world daughter and her son-in-law, a cousin who hated me,
like I wanted someone to stick knitting needles in my eyes.

But did one refuse a queen?

No.

One did not.

“It would be my most fervent wish, your
grace,” I replied, my voice betraying it was what it was,
absolutely the opposite.

“And Noc as well, I’m sure,” Queen Aurora
went on.

I ground my teeth and glanced to Noc.

He was again grinning.

“I’ll be there,” he assured.

“Lovely, I’ll check in on you later. Rest,
Franka,” the queen ordered.

“As you wish, my queen.” I had no choice but
to agree.

With a short nod, she turned, and with no
further ado, swept out of the room.

I frowned at the door.

Noc pushed away from the wall and moved to
fill the space the queen had been occupying by my bed.

“I’m thinkin’ that’s that,” he noted, his
lips still curled up.

“As I’ve been ordered to rest by our
sovereign, perhaps you’ll leave me so I can do just that,” I
suggested tetchily.

He shrugged. “Sure.”

“My gratitude,” I bit out.

“Be back to have lunch with you, though.”

Really.

I might have lived a life of malice and
intrigue, but surely all I’d done hadn’t earned me
this
.

“I can’t wait,” I gritted.

“Bet you can’t,” he murmured, his voice
shaking with mirth.

I lifted my brows. “You were leaving?”

“Right,” he replied, but did not move.

“The sooner you do that, the sooner I can
rest and mend,” I prompted.

“Fuck, don’t know if you’re more cute than
you are funny or the other way around.”

“Just so you’re aware, I take neither as a
compliment,” I shared.

He burst out laughing, the sound filling the
room and warming it better than the biggest, most blazing fire
could achieve.

I decided my best course of action from that
point was silence.

When his hilarity calmed, he decreed, “Right
now, funnier than you are cute. But just barely.”

I simply stared up at him blankly.

His expression changed to serious. “You’re in
pain, you say. Josette or someone will be close. We’ll get you more
of that tea.”