Accomplice to the Villain (Assistant and the Villain Book 3)

Kingsley

Alexander Kingsley knew when something was wrong. It was obvious when there were whispers, but Trystan hadn’t whispered. His oldest friend merely stared. So long and so much that Alexander couldn’t seem to handle the weight of whatever Trystan’s dark eyes were trying to convey.

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So instead he leaped down the hall, from one stone in the floor to the next, finding the center of Trystan’s office, where the sunlight gathered.

The green skin of his foot as he hopped reminded him of his kingdom’s crest, of the ring he’d worn every day as a human. In the aftermath of Kingsley’s transformation, Trystan had pocketed it and attempted to resize the gold ring to something that might fit a webbed foot.

None did or would. Webbed toes were no place for a prince’s ring.

It mattered not, for Trystan had found another place for Kingsley’s princely ring.

Atop Alexander’s head, as a crown.

The sun hit the gold as he lay flat into the light, letting it warm his back. He wondered if what he missed most in the world was the simple sensation of sun against his skin, the way he used to know it. Everything was different now. Everything was—

Trystan burst through the door, breathing heavily, the dark circles under the man’s eyes so prominent Alexander felt comfortable enough to nickname them Evie and Sage. The source of their existence. “Kingsley! You cannot just leave after that.”

Yes, he could. In fact, he had!

Kingsley shrugged, reaching for a sign and writing down a word he hadn’t had cause to use in a while. Boring.

“My apologies that my concerns aren’t more exciting, but you cannot run away from a problem.”

Oh, a word. That needs a word.

Alexander moved to jot it down and froze.

HOP or HYPOCRITE?

“I need to know what happened to you just now.” Trystan crouched, dark brows slanted downward, a worried frown on his face. “Please tell me, Alexander.”

Another word came to mind then, and Kingsley didn’t need to deliberate. This one was easy: Friend.

Trystan stared at the sign for a moment and leaned back on his heels, looking overcome. “Yes,” he said softly. “We are that, and I know you’d tell me if there was something I needed to know.”

Alexander only blinked.noveldrama

Trystan cleared his throat, standing and brushing off his pants. “I have some things I need to do. But you find me if you need something. All right?”

Alexander nodded, watching Trystan’s back as he exited the room, closing the door softly behind him.

It hadn’t technically been a lie. There were many things Alexander hadn’t told Trystan over the years, but none were things his friend needed to know. Just things he probably should.

So he’d let Trystan believe it had been a fluke, a mistake.

And he flopped back onto his stomach, feeling what he now knew of the sun’s touch, all the while aware that what had just happened to him in the meeting…

Had happened before.