Chapter 189

Grace

My eyes stung, and that unsettled, unstable feeling started to grow in me. The continent was divided in a way that I had never seen. The shape of the Werewolf States was right, but it wasn’t the scale I was used to. I had never known we were mostly a peninsula, and the bit of territory I knew to be the Lycan Clan territory, or the neutral zone between us, was completely different.

It was all Clan territory or human territory. The continent was huge; the largest portion of it was the human territory, but just behind that in size were the Lycan Clans and the Witch territories. I looked at where Northfall actually was and shook my head.

Northfall was an island in the gulf I had always thought was the ocean, in neutral territory. It was a relatively large island that housed a small elven community, apparently, based on the color coding.

Had Eason ever met an elf?

“Grace?”

“I wondered once…why Eason always… Always seemed to get a tan.”

He rubbed my shoulder. “Should I send it to you?”

“I want a copy… to put up in place of the map I have.” My jaw trembled. “I want… I want every map in the territory to be accurate, not that States nonsense that—”

I broke off, setting my jaw, and anger bubbled up. Frustration. A deep sense of betrayal that I could barely breathe around, let alone understand. I wasn’t a curious person about anything that I wasn’t already curious about, but this felt like whatever curiosity I might have developed had been cut short because there was nothing to be curious about.

“He was right…”

“George?”

“I am stupid.”

“Grace—”

“Not because I didn’t know,” I said. “But because I… Because I didn’t even ask. I didn’t want to know.”

Charles said nothing for a moment. “It’s a long journey from being indoctrinated to free-thinking, Grace.”

Maybe, but how much longer would I have to be walking it before it felt like I was going anywhere?

“Changing your habits, the way your mind works, the way you handle things takes time, practice, mistakes, and so much else.”

I nodded. He kissed me gently. “Why don’t you get cleaned up, and meet me in that fancy office you’ve given me?”

I scoffed. “Fancy? Something tells me that it’s not anywhere near as fancy as your usual official office.”

He smiled. “Maybe, but I’m only in there when I absolutely have to be. The office here is a pleasure to be in.”

I frowned. “Why?”

“Why is it not a pleasure to be in my usual office or—”

“Yes.” I frowned.

His lips twitched, and he turned. “It still smells of my parents.”

My heart lurched. Stupid. Of course, how had I not—wasn’t that the same reason that I couldn’t use my father’s office?

“I shouldn’t have asked that.”

“You can ask whatever you want,” he said. “It’s not nearly as difficult of a question as your face makes it out to be.”

I hesitated as he turned. I reached out to stop him. “How did… How did it get to be less painful for you?”

He frowned as our gazes met. “How did you… How did you get to the point where you could work in that office and not…”

Be sunk under the grief? The guilt? The fear?

“At first,” he started. “It was necessity… The palace was damaged in the attack. There were appearances to keep. There was nowhere else to go… Then, it was force…Eventually, it became a habit, but I think the answer you’re really looking for, Grace, is time.”

My heart clenched.

“There’s no magic spell or thing to do that will make it easier. Nothing but waiting it out until the wound heals, but you have to stop ripping them open at every chance.”

He cupped my face. “Finish eating if you haven’t. Get cleaned up and come up, okay?”

I nodded shakily. I took a deep breath and headed upstairs, feeling as if I was drifting in and out of my body. It felt surreal. The shower felt like a distant warmth around me. I wanted to say that it was because I was reeling, but that didn’t feel right.

After the shower, I slipped into a robe and shuffled down the hallway toward Charles' office. The door was cracked, and I could see inside. The room was bathed in the golden glow of afternoon. The desk was so organized that I could be fooled into thinking he hardly did any work, but I knew better.

His laptop was open, and there was only one file on his desk. His gaze was on the screen. I could see that he was probably actually buried in work. I knew from watching him that if he had any paper around him, it meant his to-do list had grown almost unruly. I should have left him alone, but he invited me here, and right now, all I craved was his presence, the reassuring warmth of his smile, and the unwavering strength of his arms for a bit.

I’d ask more questions later.

I’d deal with my shit and my drama later.

Pushing open the door, he looked up with a grin. “I’m glad you decided to come in anyway.”

He eyed my robe. “Tell me… that you are not naked under there.”

My eyes widened. My face heated, my whole body warmed, and I closed the door behind me. I bit my lip and decided not to say anything.

He groaned. “Minx.”

“It wasn’t on purpose,” I said, meaning it. “I just…”

I frowned. “I’m not sure. I just didn’t want to wear anything else.”

He cocked an eyebrow. I could see a question in his eyes, but he didn’t ask it.

"I’m not going to complain about a gift." He sat back and crooked his finger at me, beckoning forward with a sultry tilt to his mouth. “Come here, little minx. You smell delicious.”

I crossed the room slowly and let him draw me into his lap. He smiled up at me.

“Should I reserve some time for you to share the news?”

I frowned. “News?”

He nodded. “The reason you apparently went on an hour run this morning?”

I blinked, blinked, and blinked again before I grinned. The memory hit me. The vicious glee and hope rushed through me. He smiled back at me. His fingers twined in the tie of my robe.

“Do tell?”

I leaned in, brushing our lips together. He let out a low, contented growl and saw back. I shifted, turned, and straddled his lap.

“Grace,” he breathed, his voice low and husky. “It’s not nice to distract me in the middle of a business debrief.”

“I’ll take minutes,” I said, kissing him firmly, deeply. He groaned, opening his mouth and tightening his grip on my hips, pulling me down firmly until I could feel the hard ridge of his cock pressing against me. I shivered a bit. Maybe the news would have to wait. He pulled back.

“A good business leader can multitask,” he breathed, dragging his teeth down my neck. I shivered at the scrape of his teeth.

“Y-Yeah?”

“Absolutely,” he said. “And a leader never wastes time.”

“Waste?”

He hummed. “So tell me, what’s put that grin on your face… and let me put a grin on mine.”

He nipped a little harder at my shoulder. The spike of pain went straight to my gut. Heat pooled. I was going to soak through his pants at this rate. I bit my lip. Letting my eyes flutter closed at the thought of sinking onto his cock. The way he’d grip my hips, lift and pull me down, filling me so completely, the way he’d devour me.

“What do I get out of completing the lesson?”

He chuckled. “I’ll put you on my desk and make you see stars.”

I laughed. I bit my lip, realizing that I didn’t have any qualms. Once, the thought of having sex in this office, of even being in this office for long, would have struck me cold and hollow, but I could see myself splayed out beneath him. He shuffled my phone out of my pocket and tossed it on the desk. My robe whispered open as he lowered his head and sucked a nipple between his teeth. I groaned, clenching my hand in his hair and shuddering.

“Th-That’s---” He took my other breast in hand, rolling my nipple between his teeth and fingers at separate paces. My head was spinning. I rocked against him, hoping to inspire him to do a bit more.

He pulled back. “The news, Grace.”

I pouted. “Can’t it wait?”

I rolled my hips against his. His eyes darkened and flickered with light. I could see the hunger in his eyes. I rolled my hips a little harder, taking a firm grip on his shoulders for leverage, grinding down on him.

"It can wait, can't it?"