Crave To Conquer (Myth of Omega, #1)(6)

A strange air around her caused her to stir awake. She blinked, suddenly alert, and slowly sat up. Turning to glance around her quarters, she screamed in shock. Emperor Drocco loomed next to her bed, his wide build blocking almost all the light.

“Emperor,” she gasped. “What are you doing in here?”

“This is my Palace,” he said, gruffly. “I can go anywhere I choose.”

She bit her tongue to avoid responding with an angry retort. She valued her privacy, especially with her occupation. Taking a breath to calm her racing heart, she secured herself upright, keeping her eyes low. “How can I help you, Emperor?”

“You know I am due to see you at midday,” he said. “I arrived today and you weren’t there.”

“I wasn’t aware I was required to be there.”

“Of course you are,” he barked. “I need an update and an analysis.”

She lifted her eyes to meet his. “These updates are causing me mental fatigue, Emperor. They also waste a lot of time. In a week, I have done a fifth of the work possible because I keep being interrupted to stop and explain things to you.”

The Emperor’s eyes narrowed. “I need nothing explained to me. I have read every single one of those files,” he said, his tone sharp. “I’m making sure you are as good as your reputation suggests.”

Cailyn made a face. “If you don’t trust my reputation, why have you allowed me on the investigation?”

“You are being interviewed.” His eyes glittered from the shadows on his face. “And this midday nap does not bode well for your continued employment.”

Cailyn’s mood lifted. If he retired her from the investigation that would be perfect. She could simply take the useful information she had found so far and leave unscathed. “Are you bringing in another researcher?”

The Emperor looked down at her for a long moment but she couldn’t see his expression with the shadows across his face. That trembly feeling began to rise in her again and she tensed, hoping it wouldn’t overwhelm her.

“Get back to the research room.” He spun on his heel, his black robes twirling around his enormous frame, and left the room.

Cailyn’s mood sunk as she fixed her hair and headed back to the research room. Maybe she had just made things worse for herself. He was probably offended that she had criticized him, but she had wasted half an afternoon sleeping because of his ridiculous interrogations. He needed to know.

The Emperor stood in the center of the research room talking to another man when she arrived—a man dressed in the rich red cape of the Lox and not the gray robe of a servant. However, he was slimmer than most of the Lox, with a head of curly brown hair and silver-gray eyes. Commander Torin. Cailyn had read about him. At one point in the past, she had considered accepting a mission to seduce him in order to get close to the Lox. He was the only Beta in the army and that alone made him interesting, but there was as little information about him as there was about the Emperor. As she approached them, their conversation ended. Commander Torin walked past her without giving her a second glance.

“How are you organizing the records?” the Emperor asked.

“I’ve created piles for each decade and spread them a little so files and other information can slip in,” Cailyn explained. “Why?”

The Emperor glanced down at her. “That isn’t your usual method.”

A sudden heat spread through Cailyn. He knew Miss Lefroy’s methods. “I thought this way would work better considering the variety of subject matter.”

The Emperor made a noise in the back of his throat, before moving quickly around the room. “I think your usual method would work better.”

Cailyn stood for a moment trying to think of which of Miss Lefroy’s methods he referred to. When he began to pull the tables around the room, she knew which one. The Chron Line—the most popular method of organizing research that Miss Lefroy had developed.

Over the next few minutes, Emperor Drocco pulled a number of tables to make a line across the length of the research room. He shot her a hard look any time she moved to help, so she just watched and injected where necessary. Next, they decided how to order the information chronologically down the table, with areas cordoned off for specialist information.

“This should make the research easier to organize,” the Emperor murmured, observing the new layout. “It is a good method.”

Cailyn dipped her head in a nod. “Thank you. When will you be checking in next?”

The man walked around the tables slowly until he faced her. “I want your comments on all of the files you have examined,” he said, his voice somewhat soft.

Cailyn kept her eyes locked on his, unable to lower them as he came closer. His dark eyes looked different than normal—shiny and luminous.

“I want to be able to see your opinions on the research.”

Cailyn frowned. “You want my opinion permanently recorded on the files?”

“You are the most accomplished historian in the Eastern Lands aren’t you? Why not?”

Cailyn lowered her head, that strange trembling feeling creeping over her again. He stood too close. “Yes, Emperor. Of course.”

He stood silently in front of her and then lifted a hand to her chin, a rough brush against her skin as his finger lifted her eyes to his. “You have the job.”