Solstice (Midsummer #3)

11. Lex

11

Lex

X was right. My princess seemed off .

I couldn’t put my finger on what about her was different. She had the same glint to her eyes, the same springtime flowery scent, the same timeless smile. But my internal bullshit meter went sky high the second she walked into our house.

She was hiding something, and the more she lied about the fact she was fine, the more the sour taste of her dishonesty boiled in my gut.

It was in the way she quickly shifted her gaze anytime I got too close. When I wrapped my arms around her and nibbled on her ear, she curled toward herself and moved anywhere else. That made even more suspicious. Miri only shut me out when she was upset with me, and I hadn’t fought with Ivy in weeks (that Miri knew about) so what the fuck?

I could demand she tell me, maybe use my magic to force it out of her, but we’d promised not to use our gifts on each other without permission. So, I sat at one end of the couch, typing on my laptop, occasionally catching her attention as she flitted around the kitchen with an apron attached to her neck. The house smelled like cookies and chocolate. She’d been craving sweets all day, so she went to work baking as soon as she arrived.

Ever since Kit had found Smythe, we’d been watching him. If he knew one of the royals had gotten out of Faerie, I’d expect more of a rush to leave town. As it was, he seemed…content. Normal. We didn’t know what Smythe was planning, if anything at all. We could show up on his doorstep only to be handcuffed and gagged and sold to the king in exchange for his pardon. But nothing about the walking-talking midlife crisis in the photos screamed “preparing for war.”

Hell, he wore New Balances, for Christ’s sake.

After Ivy gave her congressional speech, we planned to hit the road and go after Smythe. This was the whole reason Miri had come into town. She’d been there the last time we had to interrogate him. It only made sense she’d come along again. I would have preferred the four of us go together, but Carter was in Romania filming season five. We’d only have the luck we’d been born with, and I prayed that was enough.

But none of that mattered if Miri hid her own secrets. We didn’t keep things from each other anymore. We’d learned our lesson about that. So…why did she seem so guarded?

This rolled around in my mind until a plan started to form. Miri leaned over the kitchen island, licking brownie batter off one rubber spatula and peanut butter off another, her eyes rolling back in her head while she alternated between them. I paused for a moment, wondering if I’d ever licked brownie batter off her before, and then I considered what it would taste like combined with the decadence of her skin.

I zeroed in on the way her tongue curled around the end, imagining the thousands of times she’d done that to various parts of my anatomy. Fucking hell, that got my dick’s attention; it jerked at the mere insinuation of being inside her.

“What?” she said when she caught me staring, wiping a bit of brownie off her lip.

“You always were my favorite show.”

She smiled sheepishly and held it out. “Want some?”

“Hmm.” I stood, sensing an opportunity, and walked closer, stopping next to her so I could crowd her with my height. If she wouldn’t tell us what was bothering her, then maybe I could seduce her into a confession. She’d always been willing to say anything when I had my tongue between her legs.

She held up the spatula, expecting me to taste it from there. Instead, I swiped a finger across it, gathering a big dollop before smearing it across her cheek and over her mouth.

Miri gasped and balked. “Alexei. How dare you?”

The use of my full name urged me on, making me laugh as I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her close, taking a long, languid lick across her lips.

“God, you taste good.” I did it again, sucking back chocolate and Miri, capturing her soft giggles on my tongue.

“Learn anything interesting?” She gave me a sexy smile and stepped back, running both spatulas under the water in the sink.

I ignored the forced distance between us, filing it away for later as I lit a cigarette and refocused on what I’d dug up today. “There’s at least three or four other fairies living with Smythe. It could be a trap.”

She smirked. “If they wanted to trap us, darling, they could have found us by now. We live public lives.”

I narrowed my eyes on her. “Are you saying we should go?”

She sighed and shook her head, brushing hair away from her face before pressing down on a ball of bread dough. “Why not? The king’s going to come for us anyway.”

“We don’t know that.”

“Don’t we?” She raised her eyebrows up her forehead, and that concerned me most of all. Miri was my springtime sunshine, the burst of a warm sun on a frigid winter’s day. She saw the best in everything, in everyone, and now she lacked that same optimistic spark. Something had changed her.

“We don’t know he got through.”

“You saw the queen at Solstice.” She cleared her throat and leaned on the dough, kneading it across the counter. “I felt it. We both know it was her. We need answers. We need to stop him.”

“We need to be smart.” I shook my head. “We need to be safe.”

“How can we do that if we don’t know what we’re up against?”

I pressed my hips against the counter, pleased my plan was working. I just had to keep her talking long enough to get to the root of her issue.

“We can’t just sit around—” She stopped and looked up at me, blowing a piece of curly brown hair out of her face. “Never mind. You’re right. We need to play this safe.”

I crossed my arms and assessed her, purposely dragging my gaze down her body and back up again. Her clothes hung off her body and her hair had been blown out but not styled. She wore two different sets of earrings, though they were close enough that I only noticed because I was looking. Everything about her seemed the smallest bit out of place, as if she’d almost put in the same effort this morning.

“What?” She froze and stared at me, jaw tightening, eyes wide, like she was nervous I might already know whatever it was that bothered her. She thought she’d been so good about keeping it a secret, and here I was, a man who could compel the truth out of anyone and hadn’t used it against her. Yet.

“What?” I shrugged, pretending nonchalance.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Looking at you like what?”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t give me that argumentative lawyer nonsense you give Ivy. I’m not your X.”

“Fair enough.” I took a few steps closer to her, circling around behind her, putting my hands on her hips. I bit her ear and dragged, knowing that would send a chill down her spine, and I reveled in the shiver that followed. The fact I could get to her the same way I’d always been able to turned me on, and I wanted to bend her over this counter and give Miri a reason to spill her guts. “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on with you rather than me fighting it out of you?”

“Nothing, darling.” She shook her head and turned away from me. “I’m just tired from the flight.”

The lie hit me in the gut, churning like rancid compost. I nearly wilted from my reaction to it. Instead, I took a deep breath and remained calm. I could press the issue, perhaps force it out of her. A younger version of me might have, but I didn’t. I carried on with my plan.

“You’re lying,” I whispered, running my lips down the side of her neck in gentle kisses.

She gasped, pretending to be offended. “Are you calling the virtue of royalty into question?”

I chuckled softly, refusing to be distracted by her charm. “Even if I couldn’t sense the truth, I know you better than that, Miriam Stuart.”

“I’m not lying, my prince.” She kissed me and turned back to her ball of dough. “Nothing’s wrong.”

I intended to argue, every lawyer spidey-sense I possessed picking up on the way she’d phrased it. Nothing’s wrong , but that didn’t mean nothing was bothering her. Ivy walked through the door and found us that way, her heels clacking across the hardwood as she strolled down the hallway into the kitchen.

“Hello, darling,” Miri said, giving her a kiss when she came close enough.

“Hello.” Ivy turned to me, pressing a greeting peck against my lips as well. “Anything?”

“Nope.”

Ivy returned her gaze to our wife. “What are you making? It smells delicious.”

“Roast chicken and peanut butter brownies.” Miri smiled that fake grin and left my arms, going to the oven so she could check the state of our dinner. But I met Ivy’s gaze, and we both thought the same thing.

Our princess was hiding something, and she really didn’t want us to know what it was.