The Hero and the Hidden Royal - Renae Kaye Page 0,32

class of supo children.

The relationships she’d grown with many of those children through the years had helped her rise to the position of Assistant Director of the Dulibre office in the Municipal ranks.

Now she threw herself into a chair the other side of Derek’s desk and heaved a sigh.

“That bad, huh?” Derek asked in commiseration. As the only archivist in the Dulibre office, there was no management chain above him, so he reported directly to Sylvie. Not that he needed to do that often, because it wasn’t like the archives were bursting with important and urgent business he needed to bother the assistant director with. But nonetheless, despite the differences in their management levels, Derek and Sylvie got along well and met often.

“Yes. That bad and even worse,” Sylvie confirmed. “And don’t ask me any more, because I can’t tell you.”

“I was only going to ask you if Sander and Tarik were really missing. Missing or do you think they’ve been killed? Assassinated or something?”

“Nothing points to anything like that,” Sylvie said, “and I really can’t say anything more unless you know any information?” She raised an eyebrow. “What were you doing this weekend, Derek?”

He couldn’t help it. He blushed. Sylvie saw it and sat up abruptly with a thunderous face. “Derek Carson. You’d better not know anything about this or else I will… I don’t know. Detention? Banging blackboard dusters?”

He laughed at her attempt at levity. She knew him well and knew she had to keep him from being so nervous that he’d disappear. “No. Don’t worry. I don’t know anything about that.”

“Then why the red face?”

Derek’s mind went to Sam and he felt the grin transform his expression. He didn’t really feel like confessing to his boss, but he thought, given the circumstances, he’d better. “Well. It’s just, I… well, I met someone,” he finished in a rush. “And we spent the weekend together.”

Sylvie laughed and relaxed back in her chair. “Oh. I see. What’s his name?”

“Sam.”

Even Derek could hear the note of adoration in his tone.

“Is he a supo?”

“No.”

Sylvie hesitated, then asked, “So how does he react to the invisible thing?”

It wasn’t as if Derek could hide being invisible. Sylvie knew that anyone who spent time with Derek would be aware of his secret.

“He’s pretty cool with it,” Derek replied. “Of course he was completely freaked out initially, but he’s working out strategies so he doesn’t lose me. He holds my hand a lot so he doesn’t lose track of me, and if he wants to see my face and can’t, he—” Derek stopped abruptly and blushed when he realized what he was about to say.

Sylvie raised one eyebrow. “Don’t leave me hanging. What does he do? Is it something I should’ve thought of when you were six?”

Shaking his head and laughing, Derek answered, “Not unless you wanted to lose your teaching license.”

“He doesn’t hurt you, does he?” Sylvie asked with a worried frown. “How long have you known him? Can you trust him?”

Derek smiled, grateful that he had people who cared about him. “Of course he doesn’t hurt me. He kisses me. That’s why I said you’d lose your license. I don’t think going around kissing six-year-olds would be accepted, right? And yes. I trust him with my life, Sylvie. I only met him last week, but he’s one of the good guys. He’s… well, he’s a hero in my eyes. I found him trying to stop a robbery last week. He was fighting three guys at once.”

“Three?” Sylvie gasped, astonished.

“Yeah. And one had a gun. He’s always trying to be the good guy. Mom likes him, too.”

This time Sylvie was unconvinced. “Your Mom likes him? Your Mom likes everyone, Derek. I’m not sure if that’s such a rousing accolade.”

With a roll of his eyes, Derek huffed, “She’s not that bad. And yes, she likes him. And Sam likes her, too.”

Sylvie was more cynical than that. “Yes, she is that bad. And you take after her, Derek. I mean that as a compliment. Both of you are charming, but you only see the best in people. You have to be a little more suspicious than you are.”

Derek wrinkled his nose. “Suspicious. Ugh. You mean seeing things that aren’t there? And no, that wasn’t a pun about my invisibility. I just mean that Sam… well, Sam is a wonderful guy. You should meet him, Sylvie. He’s just so happy all the time. Like super-upbeat and positive and it’s-all-going-to-work-out-fine attitude.”

“You mean different from your negative and it’s-all-going-to-go-bad attitude?”

“Yes.”