Agent Phen elbowed her way out of the room ahead of everyone else and disappeared outside. Nash wouldn't be surprised if she was already commandeering a carriage to get to Yidelhorn station. She had been wriggling in her seat ever since she arrived at Vlitavia Palace. Her agitation had only worsened when Lyrani arrived.

They reminded Nash of Trelle and Lyrani when he first met them, a more experienced senior agent supervising a headstrong junior agent who was sure she knew better.

Lyrani had known better then, and Nash had to trust that she would now. He couldn't bear to think of her making the wrong decisions and falling into the hands of the halflings who wanted to destroy him. If they hurt her, they needn't bother about hunting him down to finish him off. Their job was already done.

Lord Dundor rose behind Nash's desk, as quick and silent as any of the agents he commanded. Nash, Anesse and Lyrani all stood at attention as he crossed the office, Camlir trailing after him. He commanded the room even better than Nash did as a born royal.

Dundor had only acquired his noble title by working himself up to the position of director of ECISI and earning the land that hosted the organisation's headquarters as part of the deal, but when Nash looked at him now, he couldn't believe his grandmother had refused to allow him to marry her daughter because she considered him unworthy of Livh. Perhaps he had been timider before, a commoner with a noble title like a cloak he hadn't quite grown into, but now he stood straight, tall, and imperious, the type of man nobody would argue with or disobey. Nobody except for Lyrani, that was.

Nash couldn't help the little smirk that crept onto his face when Lord Dundor stopped in front of Lyrani.

Her back straightened even more, a subtle reminder to anyone who knew her story that she was a lady in a secret agent's clothing.

"Be safe and return soon, will you? Your father will never forgive me if something happens to you."

"Yes, Lord Dundor." Lyrani's mouth quirked. "Solely for the sake of your friendship with my father, I will return."

"Always so cheeky." The director chuckled as he kissed her forehead. "I do wonder why I haven't fired you yet."

"It's because ECISI needs me, Lord Dundor." Lyrani smiled up at him innocently because she knew she was right, and so did Nash.

"I wish I had never told you that." Lord Dundor gave a mock sigh.

Lyrani merely laughed.

Nash closed his eyes to savour the sound. He had nearly lost her before. He would never forget the terror that had taken hold of him when he thought he'd never see her again, never speak to her, never kiss her. That was why he held onto every part of her, no matter how simple.

The truth was, the realm was cruel, and in Lyrani's line of work, any time Nash saw her could be the last, and neither of them would know it. That was why he treated it like it was, even though he looked at the stars shining through the glass ceiling in his bedroom every night and asked them for a lifetime more with Lyrani Esch.

It was easy to forget, with the way Lyrani and Dundor argued, that Lyrani had been like a child to Lord Dundor before he knew Nash existed, even before Nash and Lyrani were officially in a relationship. Or perhaps it was the effortless banter that told the story of how close they were.

A small, shameful part of Nash couldn't help but envy the relationship his girlfriend had with his father, but they'd had decades to reach this point. Nash and Dundor had only had just over a year, but they'd made a lot of progress in that time, and they grew closer every time they met.

Lyrani smiled at Camlir as she knelt to buckle her backpack closed. Lord Dundor turned away from her and stopped in front of Nash and Anesse, the gadget master still behind him, wringing his hands as if just to give them something to do.

As Lyrani had, Nash found himself straightening to his full height, that of a king, of the director of ECISI's son.

"I have matters to see to in Irylen, but I'm only a call away if you need me." Lord Dundor rested a hand on Nash's shoulder.

He had gotten so used to being alone before Lyrani and Dundor came into his life that he welcomed the reminder that he wasn't.

The director's dark, serious eyes settled on Nash's advisor next. "Anesse, take care of my son for me."

"Of course, Lord Dundor." Anesse pushed a bothersome blonde ringlet over her shoulder.

Lord Dundor embraced Nash. The king felt safe for a moment, and then his father pulled away, reminding him that he was an adult who had to face his own challenges even though he felt like a child in the presence of the father he had only so recently met.

With a nod at Anesse, Dundor strode out of Nash's office with as much purpose as Agent Phen but far less hostility, taking the quiet Camlir with him. All that remained of the briefing was Anesse and Lyrani.

Anesse turned to Nash. "Your meeting with the enchanter king is in three hours. And, don't forget, you must review and sign the treaty with the pixies before sunset."

Nash waved her reminders away. The pixies had a very specific deadline for the finalisation of their negotiations with Nash, but he would meet it comfortably. That wasn't the deadline he was worried about.

"I'll see you later, Anesse," he said with a pointed look at the door.

The advisor frowned, and then she looked between Nash and Lyrani, who was slinging her rucksack over her shoulders. Realisation raised her eyebrows. With a nod, she left Nash's office, leaving him alone with Lyrani for the first time in a month. Excluding the crystal calls, of course, but those weren't the same as speaking to her in person, as tracing his lips over her warm skin.

Lyrani made to stride out after Anesse, but Nash slammed the door closed.

"In a hurry, Lyr?"

"Yes, actually." Her bark-brown eyes flashed to him. "I have a mission to handle, and it sounds like your advisor is keeping you very busy."

She flashed him a smile he knew was false because he knew what her real one looked like. He had seen it several times before when she laughed at something silly that he had said, when he charmed her with compliments she didn't think she should accept. She was wrong, of course.

Nash smiled to himself. That's what it was about, the way Lyrani had glared at Anesse, the way she had torn anything the other elf said to shreds.

Nash took Lyrani by her waist. Her eyes latched onto his. The resistance in her gaze faded as he pulled her closer to him. She rested her hands on his chest, smoothing over his tunic.

Nash nuzzled her neck, breathing her in. She smelt like acorns and that rose perfume she always wore. She gave a low moan as Nash's lips brushed against her skin. He might not have heard her if the sound didn't vibrate through her and him at the point where their separate beings met.

"Are you jealous of my advisor, Lyr?"

"No," she snapped, peevish in a way Nash had never seen her before. "Why would I be jealous? Because she gets to be here with you while I'm on the other side of the realm wishing I could be?"

Nash breathed a laugh against her skin. She was definitely jealous.

He pulled away from her. She looked up at him with those eyes that swallowed him whole the first time he looked into them. They flitted from his eyes down to his mouth and then back up, unmistakable with what Lyrani wanted even if she didn't know it yet.

Nash cupped her face in his palm, brushing his thumb over her parted lips. "You do remember I offered you that job first, right?"

She rolled her eyes, even as her mouth quirked. She was as bad at resisting Nash as he was at resisting her. They both knew that, even though she tried to pretend it wasn't so.

"You only said that to get me to kiss you."

He cocked his head, grinning. "I'd say it worked pretty well."

Something blazed in Lyrani's dark eyes. She slid her fingers into Nash's hair and pulled him down to meet her lips. They touched with the force of a meteor striking the ground, the impact leaving a crater in Nash's being that could only be filled by one person: her.

So, he leaned into her until there was no space between them, until their breaths became one, until he didn't remember what it was to be apart from her.

"It did work out for you," Lyrani murmured against Nash's mouth, breathless. "You must be very pleased."

"How could I be anything else when I'm the luckiest man in the realm, Lyr?" he whispered.

Her breath caught. She ground her hips against him in an unmistakable demand, and suddenly Nash couldn't think of anything other than his own throbbing, insistent desire.

He moaned, releasing Lyrani's lips and tracking kisses down to her neck. Her pulse quickened beneath his mouth, and he smiled against her before he reined himself in enough to pull away.

It was difficult to keep that distance between them when Nash opened his eyes to see Lyrani gazing up at him, breathless, with her hands still tangled in his hair. The truth was, he wanted nothing more than to draw her to him and remind her that he was hers right here, right now, but anyone could walk in on them in his office in these afternoon hours.

Nash touched his mouth to Lyrani's ear. "How about we take this to my apartment?"

She bit her lip. He knew without having to ask that she was thinking about her mission.

"I'll get you to the station in good time for your train. Promise." He kissed the tip of her pointed ear.

She nodded. She knew Nash always kept his promises to her. At least when there wasn't a vicious spirit occupying his body.

Lyrani had been there for Nash even then, when he'd had nobody else. She had been the one person who believed in his innocence enough to risk her life for his. He would always love Lyrani for everything she had done and everything she was to him when he'd had nothing and no one, no matter how much or how far their work kept them apart.

He had gained new advisors and forged new bonds with clans who had formerly wanted nothing more than to rip him apart for what Rayn had done, but Lyrani was still his favourite person in the realm.

He would make sure she never doubted that.

Nash raised Lyrani's hand to his lips. He felt her breath catch as he kissed her knuckles, and then he pulled her out the door and up the stairs to the royal apartments.

She was almost as familiar with Nash's palace as he was, but she let him lead her. He gave the guards on the landing outside his apartment a formal nod even though his feet were moving almost too fast for him to keep up with them. Lyrani waved at them, and then she and Nash burst through the door into his apartment.

He slammed it closed behind him, and then Lyrani was dropping her backpack on the floor, pushing Nash into the wall and standing on her tiptoes to kiss him. He closed his eyes.

Stars. Every time Nash kissed Lyrani, he couldn't believe she was real, but she had to be as solid as the hips pressing against him, as the hand teasing at the hem of his tunic.

Nash broke the meeting of their mouths long enough to pull his tunic over his head and chuck it onto the floor. Lyrani shrugged hers off in the same moment to reveal a sturdy, skin-coloured bra that somehow made Nash as hot as if it was one of those barely-there lacy things she liked to wear for him.

She undid the clasp, and then she was topless before Nash. He didn't know where to touch her first. He needed to touch her everywhere.

Her dark gaze summoned him to her without her needing to utter a word. Nash lifted her into his arms and carried her to his bed.

He liked teasing Lyrani. He liked hearing her pant, feeling her grow damp, making her beg before he gave in to her, but he was in no mood to play today.

It had been too long since he had Lyrani Esch in his bed.

He pulled off his trousers and underpants, never breaking Lyrani's stare. She was the one whose gaze strayed first, settling on his crotch. She bit her lip. Her hand slid down her body. It had barely grazed the waistband of her leggings when Nash grabbed it. Lyrani looked up at him, so desperate for him that he couldn't resist teasing her just a little.

He cradled her hand in his and pressed against her, knowing she could feel his unsheathed arousal through her leggings.

She moaned. "Nash..."

"How much do you want me, Lyr?"

She ripped her hand out of his grasp and tugged her leggings and underwear off in one movement. Her eyes holding Nash's, she directed his hand to the glistening wetness between her legs. As soon as his fingers touched her skin, she sighed.

Nash could slide right into her if he tried, but he kept his fingers shallow. "That's not an answer, Lyr."

"Nash, please..."

He traced along her dripping folds. "Still not an answer."

"What makes you think I want you, Nash?" She trembled in pleasure as he brushed his thumb over the centre of her pleasure.

He raised his eyebrows. It was all there, in her beautiful writhing body, in her hand twisting the edge of his sheets, but if she wanted to play this game, so would he.

He gave her a wicked smile. "Well, if you don't want me now, perhaps I should leave you here and come back later when you do."

Lyrani's arms closed around Nash's shoulders. She pulled him down to her so that their chests were parallel, and their noses were nearly touching.

"You're not leaving this room." She brushed her lips against his.

"How can you be so sure?" Nash murmured against her mouth, bluffing even though he knew his desire was as obvious as hers.

She had to feel it prodding that hungry flesh between her thighs, yearning for her as she did for him.

Her low groan told him that she did. "Because I won't let you leave. Because I need you, King Nash. Please."

He bit her lip gently. "Anything for you, Lady Lyrani. Anything. Always." Nash pressed his lips to hers and pulled her to him by her hips as she opened herself up to him.