Claiming Valeria by Rivard Rebecca

Author:Rivard, Rebecca [Rivard, Rebecca]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Wild Hearts Press
Published: 2015-08-01T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“Mama?” Merry shot Valeria a winning smile as they entered the dining hall. “Can Tio Rui sit with us again tonight? Please?”

“It’s up to him, sweetheart. He might not want—”

“Oh, he will,” she said with a child’s absolute confidence and skipped off to play with her friends.

Valeria gazed after her, a tiny frown between her eyes. Things had been quiet the past couple of weeks, but Valeria didn’t fool herself that Lord Adric had given up.

Rui had arranged a meeting with Dion before he left on his honeymoon so that Valeria could explain what had happened. Dion had assured her that Merry was a member of the Rock Run clan now and that he’d fight any attempt by the Baltimore shifters to take her back.

“This thing with the crystal—” He shook his head. “But Merry’s okay for now, right?” When Valeria replied in the affirmative, he said, “So we have some time to figure this out. Let me see what Cleia thinks. She’s spent her whole life working with energy—she may know something.”

“Good idea,” Rui said.

Valeria’s jaw tightened. The last thing she wanted was to bring the queen into this, but this wasn’t about her, it was about Merry. “I’d be grateful,” she forced herself to say.

“Meanwhile,” the alpha continued, “don’t leave the base without a guard—not even to crab or fish. And keep Merry close to home. They might sense she is here, but they won’t be able to find her—not with the concealing spell Cleia had Lady Olivia cast for us. The only way Adric and the sun fae got into the base in the first place was with Olivia’s help.”

Valeria nodded. It was a relief to know that Adric couldn’t come and go at will. But—“How did Adric know where to find the queen? I heard he and the sun fae teleported straight into your quarters.”

“They had help,” was the grim reply. A shadow passed over Dion’s face, and she wondered who it could’ve been, to make his expression so bleak. “But, Valeria? No one is to know. Understand? I promise you, Merry is safe. The man is no longer at Rock Run—and he won’t be returning.”

Rui shifted as if in protest but remained silent. Valeria ducked her head. “Of course.”

Dion waited another few days until Rui was well on the road to healing, then left him in charge with Luis as second and departed on his honeymoon. Meanwhile, Rui moved back into his own apartment. She could tell he hadn’t wanted to leave, but he was too smart to push when he saw he was making her uncomfortable. Meanwhile, he was courting her as promised: bringing her flowers and a large box of her favorite chocolates, inviting her to the regular Saturday night shows put on by the base’s musicians and poets, and joining her and Merry at meals whenever he could.

She couldn’t help enjoying it, even as she kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, afraid to trust that he really did want her.

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