Married to Krampus - Marina Simcoe Page 0,58

This was between Shula and me, and I believed I’d already handled it just fine back at the ball. Lievoa had appeared to be satisfied with my response back then, too. I suspected the couple of glasses of wine she’d had this evening might’ve made her especially vengeful and feisty.

Or maybe something else had set her off?

“Is that true?” the Colonel’s voice thundered, prompting me to open my eyes quickly.

He towered over Shula, now. The terrifying expression I hadn’t seen for so long was distorting his handsome features.

“Grevar...” Shula squeaked.

“Kyradus!” The Governor finally jumped to his hooves, too. “It’s my wife you’re talking to!”

“She insulted my wife,” the Colonel gritted through his teeth. “And I demand an immediate apology.”

The atmosphere in the room grew thick with tension, which I couldn’t bear.

“Colonel...” I took a step his way.

Suddenly, Shula lifted her hand up in a call to silence.

“I apologize,” she said loud and clear, slowly rising from her chair. “I voiced some rushed conclusions out of concern for my close friend, and I regret it deeply.”

I’d never seen an apology delivered in such a dignified fashion. Shula wasn’t born as Madam Governor, but she’d sure grown into her position nicely. She wore it with ease and style.

As well as it was done, however, her apology brought more questions, I imagined, than it had answered.

The Colonel’s frown grew deeper. “What exactly are you talking about?”

“I’m regretting and retracting the words I said to your wife that day. By insulting her, I’ve insulted you. Please accept my apologies.”

“It’s Daisy you should be apologising to,” Lievoa noted grimly.

“Daisy,” Shula pivoted my way. “May I have a minute of your time, please? In private?”

Oh, boy. The last thing I wanted was a one-on-one talk with Shula. Did she have more insults to toss in my face when no one was around but me?

The Colonel stepped to my side and took my hand in his.

“Say it here, in my presence.” He lowered his horns her way.

She glanced at our linked hands then stared back at me.

“Please,” she added insistently.

I believed I heard sincerity in her voice. What harm could there be in hearing her out? I could simply leave if I didn’t like what she had to say. Here, in the Colonel’s house, I certainly felt more at home than at the Governor’s Palace.

“Okay. We can talk in the sitting room off the kitchen.” I patted the back of the Colonel’s hand soothingly. “I’ll be right back,” I promised.

“WOULD YOU LIKE TO SIT down?” I gestured awkwardly at one of several comfy armchairs in the small sitting area.

Shula shook her head in response, the glowing light of the room twinkling along the golden swirls painted on her horns. Taking a sip of wine from the tall glass in her hand, she remained standing.

Surrounded by the long planters with tall lattices of vines and flowers, this wasn’t even a separate room, just a space between the Colonel’s kitchen and the enclosed breakfast patio.

The planters here had elaborate waterfall features. The soothing sound of trickling water muffled our voices. The distance of this space from the main area and from everyone else also ensured that our conversation remained private—as Shula had requested. I only hoped I would not come to regret humoring her on that.

“I accept your apology,” I said tentatively. “If that’s what you wanted to talk about.”

She lowered her wine glass, pinning me with her stare.

“Believe it or not, I mean it. I’m sorry for talking to you the way I did that day.”

“Okay.”

“It’s true. I had my reservations about the program. I even urged Ashir not to move ahead with it, despite the generally favorable response to it from the public.”

“When did your ‘opposition’ to it start?” I crossed my arms on my chest. “Let me guess. When my husband was chosen as the first man to get a human wife?”

She darted a sharp gaze my way.

I released a long breath and lowered myself into one of the chairs, not caring whether I was breaking any protocols by sitting in her presence while she was standing.

“You rejected him years ago,” I said. “You married another man, but you wanted the Colonel to stay single. Why? So he’d be there for you in case you ever changed your mind?”

“I’m not...” She lifted her hand, shaking her head. “I was never thinking about changing my mind, Daisy. I do not regret my decision to marry Ashir.”

“Why, then? Why do you hate the idea of the Colonel and