Chapter Twelve
Audiv
Audiv slammed both her hands on Indulf’s desk, not caring about the startled looks both he and Antonio gave her. Hard? Indulf called that hard? Pulling a forty-eight-hour research sprint was hard. Cleaning up after the elementary kids’ field trips was hard. Keeping it in her pants when she wanted to rip off her clothes and go at it with Antonio was hard.
Marching into the FBI and poking around when there was someone in there that would be more than willing to hand him over to Angstrom—or perhaps even worse, kill him on the spot—was not a hard thing. That was a deathtrap.
“You’re going to send him in there by himself, with no help if something goes wrong? If they’re not talking to him now, what makes you think they’ll start talking to him later?”
“Audiv.”
She glared at Indulf, not wanting to respect the stern way he was frowning at her. So he was the king. Big deal! She’d known him since she was a little girl—although he had already been an adult at that point—and she knew his weak points. She didn’t end up with her position as head of the palace mages because she shrank away from telling him what she wanted to say. What he needed to hear.
“You can’t send him off alone,” she insisted. “You think that just because he’s a US citizen that the US government won’t see it connecting back to Byrelmore? They’ll know you sent him in, and they’ll take action accordingly.”
Indulf laced his fingers and shook his head. “Antonio will not be alone.”
Audiv brushed that off. So he was going to send some other Earth-born Dragon, who would end up in the same boat. A rush of fury filled her, and she found herself hissing between her teeth as she glared at Indulf. Ever since she had her magic stolen, he’d been treating her like glass. Sure, she still taught her class, but he’d assigned two other mages to help her out. And she had noticed Katrina hanging around a lot more as well. He hadn’t even asked her for the tracking potion when he sent the twins after Angstrom.
He hadn’t been letting her do anything besides research and she was sick of it. Mage or not, she still was the best in the business and her potion-making game was no slouch. She could handle herself just as well without magic as she could with it!
“I said that he’s not going alone,” Indulf said, a smile tugging at his lips.
“I know that I’m still adjusting to everything,” Audiv steamrolled on, oblivious to the laughter in her king’s eyes. “I know that I don’t have quite the same strengths as I used to. But the fact is, I’m not any weaker. I don’t have my magic anymore, but I’m still as strong as hell and I will not be pushed aside. You got that? I still know more about magic than anybody else. The only difference is that I have to use different tricks now.”
Indulf glanced at Antonio, and what he was saying finally registered in her mind. Her eyes widened as Antonio tugged on her sleeve, pulling her back down to sit beside him. She went heavily, staring at Indulf. Was she right in what she thought?
“You’re sending me with him?”
“I was going to ask you to join him, yes.” Indulf’s smile widened. “I am glad to see that you’re as fiery as ever, though. You’ve been so reserved these last few weeks, I was concerned. But if you feel confident enough in your strengths to go with him, then I would be glad for you to join him. I stand by what I said, though.” Here his smile turned into a stern frown. “If you get into trouble, I can’t bail you out. This has to be an independent investigation. Which means no contact with Byrelmore.”
Audiv nodded. Now that that was taken care of, she found herself slightly stunned. Surely, she should have seen that coming? Indulf wasn’t the sort of person to let a dragon take this sort of risk all by himself.
Her shoulders started to sag as she considered what else he had said. That he was concerned about her being reserved. All this time, she had been thinking that Indulf didn’t see her as the same person as she was before. That he was pushing her to the back because she was weak now. But that wasn’t the truth at all. He was going easy on her so that she could find her strength again; so she would regain her confidence in herself.
It wasn’t him who had been doubting her.
A blush rose in her cheeks as she bent her head. How was she supposed to apologize for such an assumption? She cleared her throat and glanced up at him, but Indulf held up a hand, stopping her. “There is no need. I’m just glad to have you back.”
Audiv smiled, relief washing over her. She inclined her head, letting out a deep breath. “Alright. So, Antonio and I are going to pursue the FBI angle. I have a plan.”
“I do as well.” Antonio took her hand and winked at her. “But I don’t think that the king will appreciate us revealing said plans—that way if they go wrong, he can deny having knowledge of them.”
Indulf nodded. “That is correct. Now both of you go. If you are questioned as to what this meeting was about... it’s because I was concerned that your blossoming relationship was distracting you from your duties here at the palace. And to tell you,” he nodded at Antonio, “that unless you voluntarily shift and soon, I will have no choice but to send you to another location, where they are better equipped for the destructions caused by your involuntary shifts.”
Antonio looked grim as he nodded, and Audiv knew that wasn’t just a cover story—Indulf was dead serious. Her stomach twisted as she thought about Antonio leaving the palace, of them not being able to see each other every day. They hadn’t talked about him voluntarily shifting again since their last talk. She hadn’t wanted to bring it up…
Should she now?
***
“So that’s the plan.” She leaned back on the couch, rubbing her eyes. They’d been talking over the possibilities for hours and had settled on a plan the both of them were comfortable with. It had a chance at being successful, at least. “Now… I have to whip up a potion to show magical hotspots. Angstrom might have raw power, but I have decades of smarts, and it’ll help the Hunters narrow in on where Angstrom is and what rumors of his location are red herrings.”
Antonio nodded. “Make a little extra for me, will you? If I’m going to be bait, I want to know when he’s on his way.”
Audiv nodded.
“And in the meantime, I need to find Katrina.” Antonio stood and grabbed the blazer he’d thrown over the back of the couch. “I can’t risk shifting in the middle of the J. Edgar Hoover Building.”
Relief washed over Audiv. She smiled at him. “So you’re going to work on shifting voluntarily, then? I wish I could come and cheer you on… this potion is going to take quite a bit of work, though.”
Antonio chuckled. “It’s probably for the best. After all, I’ll end up naked. And we can’t have you losing your self-control. We’re not even engaged yet.”
“Hey!” Audiv’s face flared beet red. “I have plenty of self-control.”
“Suuuuuure,” he drew out the word to several syllables and leaned in, his nostrils flaring. “And that’s why I can smell that you’re ramped up right now. We’ve been talking about invading the FBI and you’ve still been having dirty thoughts about me.”
Her face went even redder, if that was possible, but Audiv still managed a grin at the same time. It was impossible not to have dirty thoughts, when he was sitting so close to her… smelling so good, wearing that white shirt that hugged him in all the right places. She winked at him and pointed at the evidence that he had also been having dirty thoughts.
“You might want to take care of that, otherwise Thonis will think you’re having dirty thoughts about his mate. And I’d hate to see any part of you damaged.”
Antonio grunted as he looked down. “I think I can handle it.”
Heat swirled in her core. “I could help you—”
“No.” Antonio backed up a few steps and shook his head. His eyes were dark with lust, but he grinned at her and continued to shake his head. “You are a naughty little virgin, aren’t you? Always tempting me… I should be the one doing the begging, and you should be the one being strong for both of us.”
Audiv flinched. “I tried that one before, Antonio. It was no good. He ended up cheating on me and blaming me for it, because I wouldn’t put out. I only tease you because I know that you understand where I’m coming from and you won’t use it against me.”
Antonio stared at her. “He cheated on you?”
Well, now was not the time to bring that up. Audiv flopped back on the couch, groaning. She had been waiting for the right moment to tell him, to bring up her past engagement. Why had she gone and blurted it out like this? Great, now I’m going to have to explain everything when we both ought to be doing other things.
Antonito returned to her side, sitting at the edge of the couch and frowning at her. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Audiv hid her face. Yes. No. Not right now. If not now, when? “It was a long time ago. I was engaged. He kept wanting to have sex, I compromised and would give him oral sex and hand jobs. But that wasn’t enough for him. Then I came home one day and… she was there, in my bed, with him. He didn’t even stop when he saw me. Later he told me that when a man gets to a certain point, he is utterly unaware of what’s around him. Then I kicked him out. And he said it was my fault that he’d cheated because I wouldn’t give it all up.”
Antonio’s jaw clenched tight. Fire burned in his eyes as he took her by the shoulders and stared in her eyes. “That man was undeserving of you.”
“I know,” she quickly said, then added in an undertone, “it still hurts.”
Antonio studied her for a moment longer before he nodded. “That’s that, then.”
“That’s… what?”
“Marry me. Right now.”