A weight lifted off Nikhail’s chest at his friend’s words. He hadn’t realized how much he needed to talk to someone about this until now.
“Yeah, we are,” Nikhail confirmed. River was his now, and she completed him. “But we’re not telling people yet. It’s… complicated.”
Atlas glanced at Ryker, then back at Nikhail. “Yeah, I think your complication is going to be fucking pissed with you.”
That was an understatement.
Nikhail grimaced, scrubbing his hand over his face. “You’re right, but honestly, Atlas? She’s worth it.”
She was wortheverything. No cost was too great, no price too high.
“Your secret is safe with me, Nikhail.” Atlas waved down a server carrying a bottle of wine. “You clearly make her happy.”
Nikhail wanted to do more than make her happy. He wanted to make it so that she never felt the sting of pain again.
The server appeared on Atlas’s left, and Nikhail returned his attention to River. He hated that they were still having to hide what was between them. He wanted nothing more than to pick her up and kiss her properly, uncaring of who saw them. One day, she would be sitting byhisside, and he’d loudly proclaim that she was his.
But this wasn’t that day, and the night slowly wore on. He was served two more minuscule cuts of meat, followed by a tiny cheese course, and then a lemon panna cotta that wobbled on the plate.
The entire time, Tertia Waterborn chiseled away at her daughter’s confidence. By the time theservers cleared the last plate, River looked like she was holding back tears. When Ryker stood and pulled out a wrapped box from under the table, River drew in a shuddering breath, wrapping her arms around herself.
Nikhail barely heard the words his best friend said to his wife, barely registered the golden glimmer of a gilded chess set before he returned his attention to River. She was watching her brother and his wife with a watery smile. Others might not have been able to see her pain, but it might as well have been a knife to Nikhail’s heart.
Gods help him, he hated that River was so upset. He hated that her mother was so fucking awful. More than that, he hated that the Representative had the gods-damned audacity to look relaxed after she’d spent the entire evening tormenting her daughter.
Fuck her.
Just as Nikhail was about to rise from his seat and circle the table, everyone else be damned, his phone buzzed in his suit pocket. He frowned, scooting back his chair and pulling out the offending piece of technology.
A curse slipped from his lips as he saw who was calling. He could feel River’s eyes on him as he stood from his seat.
“Please excuse me.” He spoke to the entire table, but his words were meant for River alone. “I have to take this, but I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
And when he returned, he would rescue his water fae from her horrible mother’s company, one way or another. Accepting the call, Nikhail pressed his phone to his ear and left the formal dining room.
The call took far longerthan he had expected—the damned rebels were making moves again, and what was supposed to be a few days’ stay in Golden City might become far more than that—and by the time he returned to the ballroom, River’s seat was empty.
Nikhail’s heart twisted at the sight, and Atlas confirmed that she’d taken her leave fifteen minutes ago. Disappointment churned in his stomach, and he left soon after that, passing on his well-wishes to Ryker and Brynleigh before striding out of the formal dining room.
He paused at the staircase, his gaze lingering on the second floor of the house, down the hallway, where he knew the bedrooms were.
Which one belonged to River? If he knew, he’d be there in a heartbeat.
Nikhail contemplated sneaking upstairs and trying to find her room, but the thought of being caught by the Representative was enough to scare him off for now.
He called a taxi to pick him up, since he’d had a few drinks. They arrived shortly, and he slipped inside, giving them directions to his hotel.
Leaning against the car door, he pulled open his messages.
How are you doing, River?
I’m… okay.
He could almost hear her sigh through the phone, and he leveled one of his own. He should be there with her, running his hands through her hair and telling her that her atrocious mother was wrong. She was amazing, and it didn’t matter what one person thought of her.
But he wasn’t there because their relationship was still asecret. Despising the barriers keeping them apart now more than ever before, he racked his brain for a way to pick up River’s spirits.
What do you call a bear who got caught in the rain?