The White Wolf Chapter 90: Fine

Not bothering to knock she opened the door and walked into Caspian's study with her head held high. Gabe was seated in a chair and turned to see who had entered raising an eyebrow.

Looking between the queen and Enzo he could tell this was not a happy visit. "I will leave you alone." He muttered as he got up from his chair and quietly walked to the door with Enzo on his heels.

The Beta and Gamma shut the door behind them. Caspian was seated at his desk studying his papers and Alexia sauntered across the room picking up a paperweight on his desk and pretending to study it.

"How did you sleep, my dear?" Caspain asked not looking up from his paper.

"Fine."

He cocked an eyebrow and looked at her. Setting his papers down he straightened himself in his chair and gave her his full attention as if he were readying to spar. "What's wrong?"

"Wrong? Why would you assume something is wrong?" She feigned ignorance setting the paper weight down.

Caspain clicked his tongue. "Nothing is bothering you?"

"Perhaps, but you could always ask my babysitter if you are worried about my well-being." She said.

A groan escaped his lips as he ran a hand over his face. "Edmund is not your babysitter."

"Then what would you call it?" Her eyes locked on him.

Caspain contemplated his words carefully before he spoke. "A precaution."

"Precaution?" Her eyes narrowed on him.

"Yes, with the attack we cannot be too careful. Some may have infiltrated the palace. I just did not want to leave you by yourself in case something like that were to happen." His words made sense to her but she did not quite believe them.

"Huh." Looking away she made her way over to where a cart held a hot coffee pot and poured herself a fresh cup. She could feel herself losing her edge and wanted an extra kick to help her in her resolve.

"Also, I've been too busy with work and I needed Enzo and Gabe so you would not have a personal guard for a while." He baited her alluding to his work hoping to change the topic. The chances of something happening were slim but after the terrifying night he had experienced, he could not be too cautious.

"What happened? Edmund said you were in a meeting." She was eager to know what would be so important that he had risen early without a word.

“This,” he said sitting up to retrieve a piece of paper from his desk and then offering it to his mate.

“What is this?” She said reaching to meet his extended hand. In between her fingers was a thick piece of paper with an eloquent script written on it.

Her eyebrows scrunched as she tried to decipher what it said. “Who is this from?”

“The Eastern Kingdom.”

From what she had learned, relationships with the Eastern Kingdom were neither good nor bad. Each kingdom seemed to exist peacefully by itself. This could either be good news or bad. “The Eastern Kingdom? What do they want?”

“They want to send a representative here in the name of building stronger relationships.” the way he said did not indicate that he believed that to be the real reason or that he was happy about it.

“So, they want something.” She deduced from his words and how he acted.

“Yes, that’s what Gabe, Enzo and I have been trying to figure out.”

That explained why he left early and even though she knew the reason she was still annoyed with him.

"Did they say who they were sending?" She asked even though the letter did not say maybe he knew something that was not in the letter.

"No." His eyes darkened as he said it.

Alexia read and reread the piece of paper thinking she had missed something

“If you frown like that you’ll have frown lines on your face.” “Caspian said not bothering to look up from his papers as Alexia reflexively reflected her face trying to get rid of any wrinkles.

Pretending to be unbothered she asked, “Are you going to accept?”

“I think I have to. I want to know what they want till I get them here. We will need to prepare though." They would need to strategize every angle the eastern kingdom could come at them and make a plan for each way of attack.

Needing to know, she asked, “Do you know when they will arrive?”

“It has not been decided yet, we will need to accept first. I will let you know so you can make the necessary preparations.” The palace was the queen's domain and as the queen it would be Alexia's job to make sure they were shown respect and hospitality, especially being diplomatic guests.

Her mind immediately began to make a mental checklist of everything that would need to be done. Plus they did not know the rank of who they were sending so that could determine where they would stay in the palace.

“You haven’t accepted yet?” She was perplexed he did not immediately send his response.

“Let them sit and wait for our reply.” There was a bit of an edge in his voice as he turned to take a drink of his coffee.

"Well, I learned during my precaution." She said with emphasis on precaution. "That Edmund will be leaving to join Luca. Does that have anything to do with this letter?"

Acting as if he did not hear the annoyance in her voice knowing this was probably not the last he would be hearing about the matter. "No, I planned on that anyway before the letter arrived. He needs more duties around here."

Curiosity got the better of her as she stated “You didn’t tell your mother Edmund was leaving.”

“He’ll tell her.” He mumbled but Alexia pursed her lips and looked away. She was still irritated with him so she did not correct him but instead decided to remain silent in the matter.