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I flipped him off, then thought I should throw out a warning about Casey before we got distracted.
“Don’t break her heart.”
“I would never break anyone’s heart, princess.” Robby put his hand on his chest as if swearing.
“Somehow, I don’t believe you.”
He smiled. “Nic was kind enough to warn me of her confession, so you didn’t have to.”
That confirmed that theory. I glanced up at my Nightmare prince.
“Sorry,” he murmured.
“Fine, just, don’t hurt her. So, what do we need to know?”
“Dio is here. I have theories, and I will apply myself to finding him, now that I’ve returned. You continue playing with your men while I do all the work. I will inform you when I have something useful to share.”
“I take back my excitement that you’re not dead, Robby,” I muttered.
He laughed. “You love me, and you know it, princess. This type of work is my specialty. Leave me to it. Though I may enlist your cousin’s aid if Ash is available.”
“Call her. She’s been swamped with her current case lately.”
“I’ll do that. Geraint said you had a show coming up?”
“It’s just a local charity thing for the school. Same stuff we normally do in the summer. We’re going to practice tonight, make sure I can handle it.”
“You’ll stun them all, princess.” He bowed slightly and let himself out of our room, leaving me alone with Geraint and Nic.
The two of them were getting along all right. Our arrangement was easier for Geraint to accept than Nic, since he’d always assumed he’d lose me at some point, anyway. He was thrilled he got to keep me. Nic was not completely happy with Geraint’s and my involvement, but as I’d said many times, it was my body and my choice who I loved. He’d accepted that. Hopefully, my other two princes would, too. If I ever found them. Nightmare’s survival depended on it, so I hoped Robby could work his magic yet again.
We sat in uncomfortable silence for a bit before Geraint shifted and cleared his throat. “We have about a half an hour until the gym is clear for us to practice.”
“That sounds great, Geraint.”
Nic kissed my neck, and for a moment I thought he was making some sort of claim in front of Geraint, but then he released his hold on me. “You two should probably discuss your performance.”
I shifted off his lap, and he stood. “I’ll be out in the woods. I’m going to look around and see if I can figure out how he got the hounds through.”
“Be careful, your highness,” Geraint said. “I’m supposed to be protecting you.”
Nic smiled. “You’re supposed to be protecting our princess. Take care of her. I’ll stick to the shadows.” Nic stepped backward into one of the heavier shadows in our room—we kept the curtains drawn for his comfort most of the time—and melted away.
“That’s such a cool trick,” I said.
Geraint took me in his arms. “You will be able to do it, too, one of these days.” His familiar Irish lilt soothed me.
“Maybe,” I grumbled. “I’m not getting very good at any of them except manipulating the shadow stuff into different styles of clothing.”
“It is possible that it’s because you’re in the conscious realm instead of Nightmare,” he pointed out. “You might have an easier time learning your new skills there.”
I sighed. “Maybe. But it sounds like we’re stuck here for the time being.” I snuggled against his firm chest and rested there. Not long ago, I’d wondered if I’d ever see my knight again. There was still danger, but at least I knew what was going on now.
Geraint pressed his lips to my temple and walked us backward until he perched on the edge of my bed, and he could pull me into his lap.
“We have half an hour,” he said innocently. “What do you want to do?”
I looked up at him through my eyelashes before batting them coyly. “We should probably talk about our routine. It’s been months since we practiced it.”
