by May Dawson
“That’s passionate hatred, you absolute moron.”
“Is it, though?” He crinkled his nose. Then he looked past me to the guard. “Take them to the hold. Make sure they remain unharmed.”
I scoffed. “Unharmed? Your owner is trying to murder me.”
“Oh please,” he said. “As if anyone could wipe your insufferable spirit from the face of this world or any other. Anyone as unbearable as you achieves a certain kind of immortality.”
It was Azrael who caught my arm and pulled me gently away from the sea king.
“We’ll figure out a way out of this,” he murmured into my ear. “Let it go.”
I turned my back on Raile. Let him have the last word—it was the only pleasure he was ever going to get from me.
Duncan was watching me with a look on his face I couldn’t read.
“What?” I demanded.
He shrugged one shoulder—the one that wasn’t gripped by the guard. “It makes our relationship look warm and fuzzy, that’s all.”
Raile said to the head of his guard, “Once you’ve locked them up, bring me the keys. All of them.”
“Yes, your majesty,” the male replied, and if Raile’s order struck him as strange, it didn’t show on his face.
“I want all the weapons locked up,” Raile continued. “You can bring me those keys as well, once you’ve locked every single stabby thing in the armory.”
The guard was escorting me—gingerly—toward the stairs that led down into the ship, but when I looked back over my shoulder, Raile was watching me. Faer had come to stand by his side.
“My darling bride is apt to cause trouble,” Raile said, to one in particular, and there was a bit of a smirk playing around his lips, a sparkle of pride in his eyes. He was the perfect contrast to my twin brother, watching me with malevolent hatred glinting out of his pale eyes.
“Princess,” the guard said, his tone a little desperate. I was pretty sure I could throw him and hurl myself overboard, but how far would I get when the sea king was so determined to chase me down?
And anyway, Duncan’s broad shoulders were already heading down the stairs, shepherded by a guard who was not nearly as anxious as my own.
I took one last glance back at Raile, wondering if I’d read him correctly, or if I’d just imagined the emotions written across his face. But his expression was hard, his eyes cold, and I could think perhaps I’d just imagined him ever looking tender.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Duncan
Seven Years Earlier
It was almost dawn when we arrived at my father’s castle. He didn’t greet us, but soon after we arrived, Zora came down to see us. She used to fly across the yard, and I looked across the servants without seeing here, because I expected Zora to be a freckle-faced commotion, as she’d always been before.
She was almost to us when I noticed her. With her dark training tunic and the graceful, sedate way she moved, she’d blended in as if she were any squire here in training.
A less practiced eye wouldn’t have noticed the way she limped, but then, I’d been on the receiving end of more than a few beatings for the crime of letting my pain show. Walk proud was the admonishment.
A few months before, I’d have said I was grateful for the education I’d received in how to be a prince.
Watching my sister’s slightly awkward stride, though, and wondering what pain it covered, I couldn’t summon any gratitude at all.
“Duncan,” Alisa said softly, and I glanced at her, wondering what she saw. Alisa always saw too much.
I shrugged, then reached to give my sister a hug. She circled my waist loosely with one arm and barely hugged me back, unlike when she was younger and threw herself into my arms, and I felt a lurch of loss. I wondered if the days of those carefree big hugs had passed forever and I hadn’t even thought to appreciate the last time.
But all I said was “Zora. I’d like you to meet a friend of mine.”
“Duncan,” she said, just as restrained. She turned to Alisa curiously. “A girl friend?”
“It is incredibly surprising, isn’t it?” Alisa agreed.
“This is Isla,” I said, determined to ignore Alisa’s teasing.
“How did you meet a girl at your all-boy’s academy?” Zora asked. “That’s the kind of thing I expect from Azrael.”
To Alisa, she added, “He’s the charming brother.”
“Oh, I know,” Alisa smiled back.
I was not sure I could actually survive the combined teasing of my sister and…whatever the hell Alisa was to me.
The door into the courtyard opened and my father’s entourage streamed out; they must be going hunting. It was when he did his best thinking. I stiffened when I saw his silver head, even though he smiled when he saw me.
“Duncan,” he called warmly as he strode over. The two of us hugged hello. He glanced at Alisa, looked at me with a smile lingering on his lips, but clearly dismissed her as unimportant when he turned back to me. “I suppose you’d rather rest than ride?”
It was a challenge, the kind Azrael and I never turned down.
But Alisa was watching me too, and I felt a different challenge in her gaze.
“I think so,” I said, and my father’s surprise, then irritation flickered across his face before it disappeared. “I think my guest and I would like some breakfast before we do anything else.”
“Very well,” he said, still not curious about Alisa’s name. He nodded goodbye and strode off.
Zora watched him go, then asked, “Where’s Azrael?”
“Father didn’t tell you? He’s on a mission to the front.”
Her face changed almost imperceptibly. “I see.”
She didn’t even come up to my chest yet. I tugged the end of her long braid. “Have breakfast with us?”
“Training,” she said lightly. “I’ll see you two at dinner.”
I nodded and watched her go. When she was out of earshot, I said, “I’m pretty sure my father thinks you’re bought-and-paid-for.”
“I can work with that,” she said, before tucking her arm through mine. The summer princess, for all her faults, was not easily offended; she held her own pride quite lightly. I wished I knew how to free myself from others’ expectations the way she did. She’d made herself free.
It would seem strange if Alisa didn’t stay with me. The servants carried her bags up, and the two of us had breakfast together in my room.
The room seemed huge and lavish after my time at the academy. Alisa regarded the huge four-poster bed with a look I couldn’t quite read.
A fire crackled steadily in the fireplace, flames leaping and warding off the chill, and an enormous breakfast of bacon, omelets, fruit, pastries, bread and cheese was soon spread on the table in front of the fire—and just as soon devoured.
I didn’t know what to say. When the two of us sat together this way, it felt as if we were playing at a relationship. It made me feel awkward.
Alisa stretched out her legs in front of the fire, tenting her hands behind her head. “Gods, I’m exhausted. And I have a feeling your family is going to be exhausting.”
“You wanted to be here.” I debated throwing the rest of my muffin at her. But starting a food fight was definitely more Alisa’s territory. “How did you end up the way you are, anyway?”
“You ask a lot of deep philosophical questions. But I already think I can tell why you are the way you are.” She gave me a cheeky grin. “Perhaps you should get to know Herrick and Faer, and then you’ll know.”
“You act as if you’ve been spoiled all your life.” And adored. That was the part I couldn’t bring myself to say. As soon as I’d accused her of being spoiled, I worried I’d offend her.
But she just mused, “Do I? Maybe. I’ve certainly spoiled myself—I’m quite good at getting my own way.”
“What happened to your mother?”
“She is a mystery,” she said lightly, as she said everything. “Perhaps I was hatched from a
n egg.”
“A crocodile egg.” I’d seen a crocodile once when I was visiting the mortal world.
“We don’t have crocodiles.” But she gave me a distinctly predatorial grin. “So, what shall we do today?”
We spent the day riding around the forest and fields that surrounded my father’s capitol city. At first, things felt stiff between Alisa and me; we were no longer at the academy, where I was used to trading barbs and being comfortable with her.
The fact that my crocodile girl was here with me seemed to open a new chapter in our book, and I was sullenly terrified that I was going to make a disaster out of it. I almost wanted to slam the damn pages shut again, before it could go any further. It’d be nice to at least believe it could have a happy ending.
“I thought you’d be more cheerful away from the academy,” she said. “But you’re pretty much miserable everywhere, aren’t you?”
“Interesting that everywhere you see me, I seem to be miserable,” I said. “I wonder what the common factor might be.”
“Mm, I wonder.” She raised her brows, nonplussed, and pointed at the village. “Take me to lunch.”
“You want to test your magic on an even bigger audience?” I asked. If her magic failed and everyone found out I was busy with the summer princess, Herrick might turn both of us into statues.
“Have a little faith, Duncan,” she teased.
“I have faith,” I began, which made her brows arch skeptically, “but I also want to protect—you know what, fine. Fine. But we’re riding off to Kelibrugh; I’m taking you to my favorite pub. Azrael’s too. They always ask him to play.”
Her eyes widened. “Azrael plays? Oh, that’s delightful.”
“He’s talented,” I said flatly. It was true—but I hated to be reminded of just how gifted Azrael was, in every way, when I was with the girl who already loved him.
Especially because there was no denying that I’d come to love her too.
She grinned. “I know.”
I groaned. “Please keep your lewd thoughts about my big brother to yourself.”
“Is he indeed the big brother?” she asked as the two of us cantered toward Kelibrugh. “He told me he’s an inch taller than you are, but it’s hard for me to tell if there’s any size difference.”
I laughed. “No, he must have been confused. He’s an inch shorter.”
“I mean, you’re both the size of monsters.”
“You’re ridiculous,” I said, but things were comfortable between us again. Apparently, Alisa and I had a romance that was based in sarcasm and mockery. Maybe I wouldn’t have it any other way.
That night, Alisa dressed in a long gown that almost made my heart stop when I saw her. My father was drinking wine at the long table in the dining hall when we walked in, and I saw the way he stared at her hard. It made me suddenly, irrationally furious.
He served Alisa a glass of wine, although he still didn’t know her name, and then drew me over by the fire.
“Where did you find her, anyway?” he asked.
“Village girl, near the academy,” I said shortly.
He nodded slowly. “She’s a beauty. Just don’t forget who you are, son.”
As a prince, I could fuck whoever I wanted—I just couldn’t marry whoever I wanted.
But the autumn princes and the summer princess shouldn’t be together, anyway, though we were both royal blood. Right now, the thought of being like the couples we’d seen in the village was oddly appealing.
“I never can,” I promised him.
“Good.” He clapped my shoulder, the gesture so like Azrael’s that it startled me. I’d forgotten where Az picked up that affectionate gesture. “And when you tire of her, consider passing her along. I could use a maid.”
He winked, and fury spread through my gut like acid. He’d already turned away before I could decide how to respond. He poured Alisa another glass of wine, making some comment that made her laugh.
When the servants came in, setting the many dishes on the table for dinner, my father swept his arm toward the table. “Shall we?”
“Where’s Zora?”
“Practice,” he said.
“Father,” I said, my voice chilly. “It’s winter solstice.”
“No matter,” he said. He could’ve pointed out that the knights didn’t take off a full two weeks of training, like our leave from the academy, but he didn’t bother; my father never expected to be questioned, and he didn’t explain much.
He seemed to try to charm Alisa at dinner, and she laughed at all his jokes until I was quietly fuming. All I wanted was to make sure Zora was fine, even though I knew I had to tread lightly to keep from enraging my father. He’d take any perceived disrespect out on her.
“If you’ll excuse me,” I said finally, standing from the table. I nodded curtly to Alisa, who rushed to excuse herself, giggling with my father over something. I’d almost thought she might stay, she seemed so amused by him that I was no longer sure if she was tricking him or not.
But when she tucked her arm through mine and we headed out into the training yard, she whispered into my ear, “What a despicable little male.”
It made me smile, even if it shouldn’t.
We found Zora stumbling on her feet, her lips turning blue. She shook her head subtly when she saw me. I turned my back, folding my arms over my chest, fury coursing through my veins.
Alisa gave me that familiar, considering look.
“What?” I demanded.
“Do you want me to plot?” she asked lightly.
Relief flooded my chest. She was on my side. I admitted, “It would be nice if you could use your considerable talents for good.”
“I always use them for good.” Her smile and the banter between us cooled some of my fury; Zora might be suffering now, but Alisa’s eyes promised we could always find a way together.
She made me think there would always be a happy ending, no matter what happened along the way.
“That’s a lie,” I said. “You usually use them for stealing pastry. What do we do, sunshine?”
“Do you think you could get me a carriage?” she asked. “Or should I steal one?”
“What’s the carriage for?”
She changed her posture and stance, taking up a little more space, her face hardening into something less cheerful and winsome. Those small changes made me see Faer, and I realized how subtly she’d manipulated her appearance at the academy—not just with magic but with the way she commanded a room.
“I think Faer would like to come see your father on Herrick’s behalf,” she said, “if you could do without me in your bed for a while.”
“Perhaps I could go have drinks with my father in his study.”
“That sounds lovely. And then perhaps your village girl can rejoin you in your room later tonight. For sex or to scrub the floors—they seem to be interchangeable chores around here.”
“Did you overhear that?”
“Mm-hmm. And if your tastes run the same way, Duncan, I’ll need a costu—”
“Please shut up,” I said, which just made her laugh.
She bobbed up onto her toes and brushed a quick kiss over my cheek. By the time I realized what she was doing and put my hands on her hips, she was already pulling away. She flashed me a mischievous look over her shoulder and then disappeared into the evening gloom.
I looked back at Zora, wanting her to know she wasn’t alone, even if I couldn’t fix everything in this very moment. I wondered if my father would have done this to her if Azrael were here. He wouldn’t want to lose the respect of his precious heir. But I’d never mattered that much.
Snow fell softly around us both as I watched over my sister, as best I could.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Alisa
Present Day
That night, the four of us were chained in the hold, which rocked up and down on the sea steadily. The scent of the sea assailed my nostrils; it reminded me of how Raile smelled, the crisp,
salty scent of his body when he’d leaned so close to me.
The way he’d acted possessive and protective prickled at me, irritating me. I hated him for defending me when he was also the one who imprisoned me. He did Faer’s bidding.
Duncan nudged me with his foot. “What are you pouting about?”
I stared at him as if he were a fool, although I was annoyed by the thought it looked as if I was pouting. I wasn’t the kind of girl to pout; I was the kind to plot. “I’m literally in chains. Maybe you can figure it out on your own.”
“Do you ever truly feel trapped, Princess? You’re always the smartest person in the room. Does it matter if you’re in chains?”
As my brows rose, Duncan’s expression darkened. Tiron laughed out loud, and Azrael shook his head, unable to hide his faint smile.
“You think you’re always the smartest person in the room,” Duncan corrected, but the damage was done.
And my heart felt far lighter than it had a moment before.
“I was just wondering about the black hole in my memory regarding the sea king,” I said. “And I thought perhaps one of you could fill in some gaps for me. Before I’m married off to him and you’re fed to the sharks.”
Duncan snorted. “Whoever marries you would be better off being fed to a shark.”
“Raile seems pretty fond of me,” I said.
“You two were engaged,” Azrael said abruptly. He drew my attention from Duncan’s grouchy face, and I turned to find Azrael looking grim again. “Herrick had arranged it even before you came to the academy. You bargained with Herrick for your freedom; you claimed you’d do the engagement ceremony with Raile once you graduated the academy. And you may have bargained more than that, I don’t know.”
“But I never graduated,” I said.
Azrael nodded. “Herrick forced your hand somehow—I’m not sure how. You didn’t want to tell me.”
“Well, that seems short-sighted now,” I said.
“I told you it wasn’t your best choice at the time,” Azrael said.
“Were you and I still together then?” I asked.