She blushed.
“Keep it in your pants, Olivier,” Xuan joked. “Ew. Let’s go.”
They had to take the levi-car. Earlier, the twins had approached on wing and landed on the roof. It was probable that Marc would expect them to come the same way.
So they rode over the hills and towards the auction house.
The levi-car ride was extremely quiet, and Phuong knew why. Xuan wasn’t all that comfortable with the Thrones. They didn’t know each other. She still hadn’t met their father.
“This will be a peaceful recovery of goods, Xuan. Don’t worry,” she said, trying to reassure her brother. She smiled at him, but she didn’t think that it had any impact at all.
Gahariet reached for her hand, but she tugged it out of his grip and tucked a strand of hair behind her hair, before looking out the window.
“I don’t understand why you didn’t want the guards to come with us.”
“Perception is everything in our world,” Gahariet told him.
Xuan frowned at Gahariet. “In your world, that might be true. In our world, we like to stay in the land of the living. We should have covered every possibility.”
“Why are you suddenly so worried?” Olivier cut in, defending their choices. His eyes were fixated on Xuan.
Xuan shut up, but then he started talking again.
“I stole from him before. He might remember.”
“Do you think that he really will?”
“Did he see your face?” Gahariet asked.
“No.”
“Then there’s nothing to worry about.” Gahariet readjusted the collar of his suit.
58
Infiltration
Phuong
Phuong felt wildly uncomfortable in the crush of people in the auction house. She was sick with worry. Her mates looked like they were having a good time, but she could see that their shoulders were tense. She could also feel their feelings through their mate bond, which was normally closed. Maybe the mission had made them open it.
If she could feel them, then Marc must be able to do so, as well.
She could feel the unfriendly gazes of the other Drakans in the auction house, almost like a heavy weight upon her.
Phuong held her head high. She wasn’t a servant. She was twice royal, once by blood and twice by mating. Yes, she had mated men that she wasn’t too sure about. All this time, they’d known where she came from, and Xuan had had to tell her.
She wondered if they knew she was imperial. They hadn’t told her that she was royal right away…they could easily have kept it from her.
She tried to refocus on the mission. She grabbed a glass of wine from a passing server.
Then Marc headed for them and she almost spilled her wine, her anxiety peaking.
Looking closer at him, he was a little shorter and more heavyset than Marc. The man heading in their direction wasn’t Marc at all.
He made a beeline for her mates, ignoring her outright before turning and assessing her thoroughly with his eyes. His eyes made her feel greasy, like she needed a bath.
A split second before he came, Olivier told Phuong, “Stay quiet while Lucien is here. He’s Marc’s bloodthirsty brother.”