CHAPTER 193: INVITATION

ERIS

The numbers were beautiful.

Not in the way sunsets were beautiful, or poetry, or whatever nonsense people waxed romantic about. No. This was the beauty of precision. Of meticulous planning. Of corruption so elegantly executed it bordered on artistry.

I sat at the desk in my designated study, surrounded by Aldric’s meticulously organized notes, and read through Marquess Theron Ashveil’s financial crimes with something approaching admiration.

Eight years.

Eight years of systematic embezzlement from the imperial treasury. Money siphoned through fake trade companies with names just believable enough to pass cursory inspection. Payments routed to nobles who consistently voted in Vetra’s favor during council sessions. Everything documented in ledgers that looked legitimate until you knew what patterns to search for.

And I knew exactly what to look for.

My fingers traced the connections I’d mapped across three sheets of parchment. Merchant Company A funneled funds to Duke So-and-So, who then voted to extend Vetra’s regency powers. Merchant Company B sent payments to Count This-or-That, who subsequently blocked legislation that would have limited her authority. On and on, a web so intricate it would have taken anyone without my particular background months to unravel.

I’d done it in three days.

Vetra had been building this network for nearly a decade. Careful. Patient. Brilliant, even. Theron was the lynchpin holding it all together. Take him down, the money stopped flowing. Without money, loyalty crumbled. Without loyalty, her faction collapsed.

Simple. Elegant. Perfect.

I was so absorbed in calculating exactly how to exploit this information that I didn’t immediately register the knock at my door.

The second knock, sharper, finally penetrated my focus.

Irritation flared instantly. I didn’t look up. Didn’t need to. I knew exactly who it was.

Near the fireplace, Bjorn lifted his massive head and barked once at the door. His tail began wagging before I could even acknowledge the sound.

"Yeah, I know," I muttered, still studying the ledgers. "He’s here."

Bjorn barked again, louder this time, scrambling to his feet with the enthusiasm of someone who’d completely forgotten where his loyalties were supposed to lie.

"I’m not entertaining another needy creature," I said to the wolf, who ignored me completely. "Not while I’m elbow-deep in Nevareth’s most beautiful financial crime."

The knock came a third time. Followed by a voice that managed to be both calm and utterly dominant.

"I won’t stop knocking until you let me in."

I didn’t look up. "Knock for all I care."

"You can’t be so cruel to me."

"Have you met me before?"

A pause. Then:

"I know. It turns me on."

Heat flooded my face instantly. My concentration shattered like glass. The carefully constructed web of connections I’d been tracing blurred as blood rushed to my cheeks, and suddenly I was intensely, furiously aware of him standing just beyond that door.

Damn him.

"Go attend to more important things," I snapped, finally looking up from the documents.

"That’s exactly what I’m doing."

"I meant about Nevareth."

"I’ve been working so hard since I got back." His voice carried through the wood with infuriating ease. "I want to be spoiled for a little while."

"You’re not a damned baby or a puppy."

"Well, you’re right." A pause that somehow conveyed a smile. "Which makes it even better."

I set down my quill with more force than necessary. "Stop disturbing me. I’m busy."

"You’ve been busy for three days." Now his tone shifted, something softer creeping in. "I’ve barely seen your face."

"It should remain that way."

Silence stretched for a moment. Then, quieter: "Stop being so mean to me."

"I’m not. You’re being mean to yourself."

"Do you wish for me to die?"

I blinked, confused by the sudden shift. "What?"

"Do you want to see my dead frozen body sprawled out on the floor in front of your door by the time you come out?"

"What are you even talking about?"

"Just like your power, my ice needs to be regulated." Bjorn barked in what sounded suspiciously like agreement. "I need warmth."

"Warm yourself up by the fire."

"It’s not enough."

"Then set yourself on fire."

"That’s what I’m trying to do. Metaphorically."

Despite everything, despite my irritation and my ruined concentration and the heat still burning in my cheeks, something in my chest loosened. Just slightly. Just enough.

"Leave me alone."

"I’m really dying."

I sighed. Looked at the documents spread across my desk. Looked at Bjorn, who was now actively whining at the door like I was personally murdering his favorite person.

Traitor.

"Fine," I said finally. "Come in for a second."

The door opened immediately.

Soren stepped through, and even knowing who it was, even expecting him, the sight still caught me off guard. He wore what I’d come to recognize as his version of casual, a loose white tunic with silver embroidery at the collar and cuffs, dark trousers tucked into boots, hair slightly disheveled like he’d been running his hands through it. The simple silver circlet that marked his rank sat askew, probably from whatever he’d been doing before deciding to bother me.

He looked... comfortable. Approachable. Which made him infinitely more dangerous than when he wore full imperial regalia.

"You have no shame," I said flatly.

"None whatsoever." He closed the door behind him with a soft click.

Bjorn immediately abandoned any pretense of loyalty to me. The massive wolf rushed to Soren, barking joyfully, tail wagging so hard his entire back half moved with it.

Soren crouched, producing treats from his pocket with the practiced ease of someone who’d done this many times before. "There’s a good boy." He scratched behind Bjorn’s ears, slipping him another treat. "Such a good boy."

More treats. More bribery. More corruption of what was supposed to be my silent study companion.

Soren leaned closer to the wolf, voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper that still carried perfectly to where I sat. "Give us privacy, will you? There’ll be more of these later."

Bjorn’s tail wagged harder. He took the final treat, gave Soren’s hand an affectionate lick, then trotted toward the door without even glancing my direction.

I watched this entire transaction with something between disbelief and betrayal.

The door closed behind the wolf.

Leaving me alone with Soren, who straightened and turned toward me with a smile that suggested he knew exactly what he’d just done.

"Did you dump your workload on Aldric to find time to bother me again?" I asked, not moving from my seat.

He crossed to my desk with that fluid grace that made simple movement look deliberate. Planted both palms on the surface, leaning forward slightly. Frost spread from his hands across the wood in delicate, branching patterns that caught the firelight and scattered it into rainbow fragments.

"I’m not so cruel as you paint me to be," he said.

"You’ve had your few seconds. Get out."

He didn’t move. Just stared at me. Silent. Those ice-blue eyes fixed on my face with an intensity that made me acutely, uncomfortably aware of him. Of the space between us. Of exactly how close he was, and how easy it would be for him to get closer.

Of everything we’d done in that forest, and how little actual distance there really was between us now.

Heat crept up my neck again. "What?"

"I missed you."

"You saw me this morning."

"It wasn’t enough." He pushed off the desk, began circling around to my side with slow, measured steps. "I didn’t get to stare at those perfect breasts of yours."

My face burned. "You bothered me because of that?"

He reached my side of the desk, leaned against the edge, arms crossed, head tilted. Something dangerous gleamed in his eyes. "It’s not just because of that."

His gaze dropped to the scrolls and parchment scattered across the surface. "You’re working too hard."

"It’s what I came here to do."

"It’s not a must."

"Would you have me leave then?"

He sighed, but his expression shifted to something satisfied. Almost pleased. "You’re too strict."

"Yeah."

"That’s exactly why I’m here." The satisfaction deepened into something that made my pulse quicken. "To teach you how to have fun."

I gave him a skeptical look that clearly conveyed what I thought of that statement.

"Don’t worry." His smile widened. "You’ll see."

I stood, gathering the documents with quick, efficient movements. "I’m fine for the night."

Started to move past him.

His hand caught my wrist.