Chapter 86: COME BACK

DIANA’S POV

Raigoro always became more difficult to speak to before leaving because everything became practical.

There was always another practical thing to settle before Raigoro left: departure time, road conditions, relay stations, command authority, emergency doors, family reports, and where Diana should send anything the audit uncovered.

Every question was useful. Diana hated all of them.

They stood inside her relief office before dawn.

Why Raigoro had come there instead of summoning her to Command Terrace remained unexplained.

Diana preferred it anyway.

Her desk was covered with the last audit packets.

Master Marlon and the junior clerks had not yet arrived.

Alma stood near the window.

Daric stood near the doorway with the final departure officers, though he wore no traveling cloak.

Raigoro was going north.

Daric was staying behind.

Beyond the office window, the lower court had already been awake for more than an hour. Horses stood saddled beneath the covered walk. Relay cases were being strapped behind fresh mounts. An armorer moved down the line checking buckles that the soldiers had already checked themselves.

An officer appeared at the doorway long enough to hand Raigoro a sealed route packet. Raigoro read it, asked one question about the northern road, and sent the man back outside.

Diana watched the change happen almost without movement. The man who had sat in her office after dinner and noticed which preserve she preferred was still there. So was the man who had slept beside Vharos in the cavern. Command simply settled over both of them until half the courtyard seemed to be waiting for his next decision.

Perhaps that was why he had come to her office before joining them.

Diana did not ask.

She was not certain what she would write if the answer was that he had wanted to see her before he left.

Raigoro pointed toward one file.

"If you find anything connected to West Rime, North Spur, or the junction, it goes through Command immediately."

Diana nodded.

"Do not wait for my return."

She gave him a look.

"I know you know."

Good.

He continued.

"Family-relief work does not stop because of deployment."

Another nod.

"Winter Court can take overflow if infirmary traffic rises."

YES.

"Your Household Guards remain with you."

Diana wrote: I KNOW.

Raigoro looked at the slate.

"You have become very tolerant of instruction."

She wrote: NO.

"That seems more familiar."

He had dressed for field command rather than battle.

He wore dark armor beneath his winter coat, with his sword, maps, and dispatch case ready for the road. There was no ceremonial black and no Dragon Warlord performance for anyone watching the gate.

Still, the sight bothered Diana more than she wanted.

Rellan had taught her that danger did not need armor to injure him.

The border had taught her armor did not guarantee he returned.

The cavern had made the problem worse.

Now she knew what his mouth felt like.

Accidentally.

That word was becoming insufficient.

The contact had been accidental.

Everything Diana had noticed afterward was not.

Raigoro’s gaze dropped toward her slate.

"What?"

She had written nothing.

Diana looked down.

Annoying.

She wrote:

VHAROS.

"Stable this morning."

NOT WHAT I MEANT.

Raigoro waited.

She wrote: DID THAT CHANGE?

"No."

Diana looked up.

"He is improving. He is not combat fit."

Good.

Relief came too quickly.

Raigoro saw it.

"Master Clair cleared one short supervised flight. Healer Lou did not clear a war."

Diana nodded.

Then: IF WEST RIME GETS WORSE?

Raigoro looked toward the lower court.

"Then I use the forces I am taking."

She waited.

"Vharos is not part of my plan."

That answer she liked better.

It did not mean the battle would agree with either of them.

A horn sounded once from the lower court.

First departure warning.

Raigoro looked toward the door.

The first departure horn left Diana searching for another practical question before the conversation could become a goodbye.

WHEN WILL I HEAR FROM YOU?

Raigoro looked at the question.

"Not quickly."

Diana waited.

"The command party changes horses where the northern posts allow it. Once I reach West Rime, anything I send still has to come back through the relay."

HOW LONG?

"Late tomorrow at the earliest. Possibly the following morning."

Diana wrote: TOO LONG.

"Yes."

That answer did nothing.

She wrote: WHO STAYS AT COMMAND?

"Daric."

Diana glanced toward the corridor.

"Citadel command, internal security, intelligence, reserve coordination, and the northern relay remain with him."

She nodded.

That answer was better than a name she barely knew.

WHICH DRAGON PAIRS REMAIN AT THE CITADEL?

"Enough."

BAD ANSWER.

"Classified answer."

Diana glared.

Raigoro almost smiled.

The second horn would come soon, and Diana had run out of useful questions. Raigoro seemed to realize it at the same time. They had no report left to carry between them, no office problem to solve, and no practical reason to delay the goodbye.

Raigoro stood close enough that Diana could see the faint line of the old scar near his temple, though touching him would still require one of them to move deliberately closer.

Neither moved.

Diana looked down at the slate.

One sentence came immediately.

She did not write it.

The sentence felt too personal and too revealing, too close to admitting that Blackharrow’s Grand Duke was no longer simply the man whose decisions determined whether she remained safe.

The second horn sounded from below.

Diana put chalk to slate.

COME BACK.

She stared at the words.

Her hand moved toward the cloth.

Erase.

Simple.

Before she could wipe the words away, Raigoro caught the edge of the slate. He touched only the board, leaving Diana’s hand free.

Diana looked up.

He had read it.

Of course.

Raigoro released the board.

"I intend to."

He could not promise that nothing would happen.

He gave her intention instead.

Diana trusted that more.

Diana swallowed.

She nodded.

Raigoro’s attention dropped briefly to her mouth, and Diana noticed.

He could have kissed her. They were married, and neither of them could reasonably pretend the attraction was one-sided anymore.

Raigoro still did not move closer.

That mattered.

The first contact had been an accident.

The next one, if there was one, would not be.

Neither of them appeared willing to let war choose the moment.

Raigoro stepped back.

"Keep the slate."

Diana looked at it.

COME BACK remained written across the center.

Humiliating.

He went to the door.

Alma moved aside.

Before Raigoro opened it, Diana tapped the slate.

He turned.

She added:

DO NOT MAKE ME SEND THIS AS AN OFFICIAL ORDER.

Raigoro read the added line.

"I will consider the administrative consequences."

Then he left.

Diana stood in the middle of her office and listened to his steps disappear into the corridor.

Alma waited.

Diana looked at her.

"I have said nothing."

Good.

Diana wiped the slate.

The words disappeared easily.

The wish did not.

Outside, the final departure horn sounded.

Blackharrow’s gates opened.

Raigoro rode north.