Page 24 of Demon's Beauty

“Grow only in that part of the realm,” I finish for him. “Quite close to the drakons’ breeding ground, isn’t it?”

They both look at me strangely, but I just shrug. “Botany was one of my favorite subjects in school.”

I did enjoy botany. Like everything else, though, I didn’t like it enough to make any sort of career out of it. But I’ve always had a head for remembering obscure facts, and the looks on both their faces make reciting this one worth it.

“Uh, yes,” Glenson says. “We’re assembling a team to help guard Vayla and her assistants. It’s not mating season for the drakons, but they don’t take kindly to outsiders in their midst, no matter the time of year.”

“Excellent.” My father claps him on the shoulder. Always making friends. Always with an eye for a star on the rise and an angle he can use to build a relationship that might serve him later. “I imagine that’s outside a guard’s regular duties here at court.”

Glenson nods. “It is. And with half the king’s council on a diplomatic visit to Traverdale, we’re already short-handed as it is. We’re looking for anyone, really, with a sharp mind and who can wield a sword.”

My head—still not entirely attached to my body—latches onto that statement, and my mouth starts moving before the rest of me has caught up.

“I’ll go.”

Again, they both look at me as if I’ve lost my damned mind.

“You… will?” my father asks.

I shrug. “Sure. Why not?”

It can’t be any worse than staying here at court with a mate who doesn’t want me.

He looks me up and down. “You’ll need to be outfitted with armor and a weapon.”

I look to Glenson, and he nods.

“We certainly have enough to spare.”

“Excellent,” I say, “then it’s all—”

My father isn’t finished with his nitpicking. “What training do you have that would make you useful on such an assignment?”

I can’t help but bristle a little at that. “You’ve forgotten the years of swordsmanship lessons you put all your sons through growing up?”

“I never really thought you took to those.”

Goddess, can no one give me a break today?

“I took to them just fine. I’ll spar with Glenson here if need be, just to prove I can handle myself.”

Glenson coughs uncomfortably. “There’s no need for that. The swords are mostly a precaution. If you get close enough to a drakon to use one, the only thing that’s going to save your a—er, save you—is a portal out of there.”

“Portals I can do,” I say, clapping him on the shoulder just like my father did. “Count me in for this mission.”

See? I can be a good Nighfall, playing these courtly games.

My father eyes me up as if he knows exactly what I’m doing.

Surprisingly, he doesn’t look disappointed.

Perhaps he’s already envisioning a splendid career for me in the king’s service as a guard. A few years of climbing through the ranks, some heroic deeds to get me noticed, perhaps a rise all the way to Captain, placing me at the right hand of the king.

What a boon that would be for my family and their business interests, having their wayward son so close to the seat of power in the realm.

I’m sure it’ll be one more in the long, long list of my disappointments when he realizes this isn’t going anywhere beyond a few days chasing flowers and avoiding drakon flames.

A few days far, far away from court where I won’t have to run into the mate who doesn’t want me.