I stayed true to the promise I made myself, and didn't even interact with Adrian the rest of the night. Not that he had much more to say after our little… whatever that was.
He got up to get one more drink but drank water the rest of the night after that. I figured he was doing it for Jill, which I had to admit was great progress for them.
Trey drove me back to the hotel and gave me a long hug before leaving. I promised I would stay in touch with him, and he promised he'd continue to be careful when it came to the Warriors of Light.
The next morning, I went downstairs to wait nervously in the hotel lobby. I didn't want to have to deal with Adrian again. Luckily, it was just Eddie and Jill in the car when they picked me up.
"Unsurprisingly, Adrian's still asleep so he won't be joining us." Eddie told me, as he took off.
After that, I felt I could relax.
We arrived at a very new-looking restaurant that was a short drive from the hotel. It was decorated in all white on the inside. White walls, plates, floors and even cutlery. I couldn't tell what cuisine they offered until I looked at the menu.
It was also completely empty. Just as our drinks were being served, I noticed that there were two serious-looking men standing at opposing ends of the restaurant. One stood near the main entrance, and the other stood near the door to the kitchen. I was surprised to not have noticed them when I walked in.
"They're her extra guardians." Eddie responded, noticing what had my attention. "She's a princess, so she needs at least 3 guardians with her when she leaves Court."
Jill rolled her eyes. "Which I think is excessive. Eddie alone is enough to protect me from anything."
Eddie's head snapped in her direction and his gaze softened for a second, before he was back to being a watchful guardian.
"I guess I just hadn't noticed them yesterday." I told them, trying to remember if I had seen anyone hanging around closely to us all night.
"We're trained to blend into the background when we're out in the human world." Eddie explained. "If we were at Court, they'd be a lot more obvious. That's probably what you're used to seeing when you visit."
"How often do you visit the Royal Court?" I heard the curiosity in Jill's voice, and wondered if this was something that Adrian wanted to know. "I heard you were there 2 months ago."
"Heard?" I asked her, knowing she probably saw me through the bond. She blushed in response. "For all I know, I may never go back there again. The alchemists just call me and tell me where to be. 2 months ago they just needed some help with the strigoi vaccine experiment."
"You make it sound like you're some sort of soldier. Just following orders and going wherever they tell you."
Eddie's words gave me pause. Was I a sort of soldier for the alchemists? I had never thought of our organization in that way but his statement had some validity to it. A lot, actually.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, I just wanted a little more sleep."
I froze. I looked to my left just as Adrian pulled up the chair next to me and sat down. He gave me an easy smile, with no indication of our little argument last night or… anything else.
Eddie snorted. "There's only so much beauty sleep you can get, Adrian."
"If it were for beauty, I wouldn't need sleep at all." He winked at me and then picked up a menu. Eddie rolled his eyes, Jill smiled indulgently and I just prayed that breakfast would be over quickly.
