(Caius)
I told her I'd be busy.
That wasn't a lie. Pryor had three council matters waiting on my desk before midday and a letter from Cedric's steward that still needed a response, confirming the formal terms of Coldmere's alliance and whether Cedric's own wolves would stand present at Wraithbone when the High Council arrived. There was enough work stacked in front of me to justify staying behind without needing to explain anything further.
It also wasn't the whole truth.
I sat at my desk an hour after the vehicle left and stared at the same page of border reports I'd been staring at since Isla walked out the door. The words weren't registering. I read the same line three times and still couldn't have repeated what it said.
Pryor noticed. He always noticed.
"You could have gone," he
