“One of the pups is missing,” she sobbed, covering her face.
“Hey now, don’t cry,” Etienne soothed, reaching out a hand to brush a lock of hair behind her ear. “It’ll be all right. What do you mean he’s missing? When was the last time you saw him?”
“I haven’t been to the lake in a week,” she moaned. “I don’t know how long he’s been gone! He could have been eaten, or wandered off and gotten hurt, or—”
“Loupe, no such thing has happened to him,” Etienne said firmly. “He was probably just playing with you and hiding behind a tree or something. We’ll find him, don’t you worry.”
“Etienne?”
Loupe whipped around to face the female voice. She almost died of embarrassment at the sight of the queen standing in the doorway. The monarch’s crown gleamed in the light as she tilted her head, drawing Loupe’s gaze from her admiration of the queen’s long crimson gown with its blood red corset and golden embroidery.
“Etienne, what’s wrong? Why is this young lady crying?”
The queen left off the “and who is she,” but that part of the question was implied. Loupe clenched her hands into fists, struggling to get herself under control. She swiped at her tears and tried to calm her breathing.
“Mother, this is Loupe, a friend of mine from the village. She’s distraught because one of the wolf pups she’s been taking care of is missing.”
“You take care of wolf pups?”
The queen sounded surprised. If Loupe didn’t know any better, she’d say the woman also sounded pleased.
“Yes, Your Highness,” Loupe said, proud that her voice didn’t tremble. “I’m sorry to bother you, I just…I didn’t know where else to turn,” she finished lamely.
“Nonsense, you did precisely the right thing,” the queen hushed her. She looked at Etienne. “Go get your father, Etienne. You know what a…nose he has for these things.”
Etienne nodded then turned to offer Loupe a reassuring smile. “Please don’t worry, Loupe. We will find the missing pup.”
Loupe stared, her jaw dropping in shock. “You…you and the king are going to go look for a missing wolf pup?”
Etienne grinned. “Of course.” He leaned in and winked at her. “You know how fond my family and I are of wolves.”
I’m dreaming. I fell and hit my head and now I’m dreaming. Loupe stared at him, her brain clicking without offering a single intelligent thing to say. Finally she glanced at the queen. The monarch mirrored her son’s reassuring smile.
Cursing her eyes for holding so much water, Loupe shrugged as more tears spilled down her face. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Chapter 4
Etienne burst out laughing, nearly falling off the driver’s seat of the royal carriage. He wiped a tear from his eye as his father trotted up to the carriage in wolf form. He was a large silver wolf with gleaming gold eyes. He was normally a very intimidating beast to see, but his image was somewhat ruined by the small brown wolf pup hanging from his mouth.
At least, Etienne thought it was a wolf pup. It could just as easily be a large ball of mud. Still chuckling, he climbed down to the ground and took the pup from his father.
“I don’t think you could have possibly gotten more mud on you if you’d had the help of the Earth Mother herself,” he said to the little beastie, his voice thick with barely restrained laughter.
The pup yipped and tried to shake itself clean, but the thick mud persistently clung to his fur like glue. The little wolf whined and squirmed in Etienne’s grip.
“No wonder Loupe couldn’t find you, you little rascal,” the prince chastised him. “You worried her to tears!”
The pup whined again and Etienne tsked.
“The little devil was half buried in a mud puddle between the raised roots of a giant oak.” Etienne glanced behind him into the carriage where his father was back in human form and pulling on his clothes. The older man had a huge grin on his face as he eyed the mudmonster. “He was probably jumping from one to the other and misjudged the distance.”
“We’ll have to work on that,” Etienne joked. He eyed the mud dripping from the pup. “You couldn’t have dunked him in the lake before bringing him back to the carriage?”
“I am the king of all you survey and I’ve just come back from being sent on a mission to rescue a wolf pup from a mud puddle,” the king countered dryly. “And I am still waiting to hear why.”
Etienne scraped as much mud as he could off the pup then set it on the driver’s seat of the carriage. It took a few minutes to wipe the mud off his hands with the cloth he’d retrieved from under the driver’s bench, but he managed to get his hands mostly clean. He hauled himself up and settled in with the reins, wincing when the pup decided to cuddle against his hip. He eyed the thick layer of mud that had now been transferred to his trousers and sighed.
“I told you, Father, it was a gesture of goodwill to one of our nobler citizens. Loupe is one of the few people in this village who not only supports our protection of wolves, but actively makes it her duty to look out for them. I’m sure she had better things to do today than hunt for a wolf pup.”
“Much more important things than anything the king might have been doing, no doubt,” the king commented, leaning out the window to look at Etienne. “Tell me, is this noble villager an attractive young woman?”
Etienne clenched his teeth and refused to answer, keeping his attention ahead of him and clicking at the horse to move. The sleek white steed obeyed instantly, moving into motion as smoothly as a current sliding down a river. For what had to be the thousandth time in his life, Etienne was grateful to the fey for letting his family breed their horses with steeds of fey blood. He couldn’t imagine fighting with a common horse, which tended to become very nervous in the presence of a lycanthrope.
“You know,” his father started after a few minutes had gone by, “I should try to come into the village more often. In human form, I mean.”
“We have a very beautiful kingdom,” Etienne agreed. “It would do you good to see more of it.”
“You come into the village often, don’t you?”
“Yes. I like to meet as many people as possible. I get to know their scents and try to keep up with anyone that strikes me as behaving suspiciously. As much as I enjoy patrolling in wolf form, there are some things you have to be a man to pick up on.”
His father coughed. “I take it you were a man when you picked up on Loupe’s…dedication?’
Etienne flushed and scowled. “Drop it, Father.”
“Etienne, don’t be difficult. There’s nothing wrong with finding a young woman attractive—you should find young women attractive at your age. For goodness sake, Etienne, it seems to me you have found a solution to your—”
“Don’t say it.”
The king sighed, but lapsed into silence. Etienne stared at the road, concentrating on getting back to the palace. It would have been a more peaceful ride without his father’s suggestion that Loupe be used to provide a lycanthrope heir. Loupe was a kind and beautiful woman, but he had no future with her. The last thing a woman as sweet and meek as Loupe needed was to be married to a beast.
Of course, you may not be a beast for much longer, a voice in his head pointed out.
Images of Loupe naked in the lake swirled through Etienne’s mind. He hadn’t been back to the lake since then. He’d been tempted a few times, sorely tempted. But Loupe had been so skittish around him, so obviously uncomfortable. She was far too innocent to toy with and Etienne didn’t have time for more than that, not while his future was in such dire jeopardy. He remembered the way she’d looked up at him, the way her soft plain dress had hugged her curves. If only things were different…
Etienne rubbed a hand over his face, cursing at the thick, cold trail of mud it left over his cheeks. He narrowed his eyes at the wolf pup who sat there staring at him without a trace of remorse. Somehow the little scamp had ended up in his lap and had taken the opportunity to try and get
Etienne to pet him. He stared at his hand. Hence the mud.
Which is now all over my face.
Momentarily distracted from thoughts of Loupe, Etienne wiped his hand on his already muddy trousers and then shifted the reins to that hand. With his clean hand, he reached into his pocket and withdrew a handkerchief. By the time they arrived back at the palace, he was fairly confident that his countenance was as mud free as it would get without a proper bath. Etienne picked up the wolf pup and climbed down from the carriage.
Maurice approached from the direction of the stable. “Your highness, I wish you’d have let me drive you and your father. It would have been my pleasure.”
Etienne smiled. “Your dedication is admirable, Maurice, but this was a little father-son excursion. We managed quite well on our own, thank you.”
Maurice bowed. “Very good, sire. I’ll take the horse back to the stable and get him all settled in.” He paused. “Will the young lady be needing her cart tonight?”
Etienne flushed and cursed himself for it. “I—”
“No, Maurice,” the king interrupted. “It is getting dark and we cannot let the young lady travel home alone in total blackness. She will be our guest tonight.”
The blush grew hotter and Etienne walked away before his father could see. He didn’t know why the thought of Loupe staying at the palace affected him, but he was annoyed. And he would be more so if his father discovered him blushing like a teenager.
He pushed open the door to one of the sitting rooms and found Loupe sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace playing with the two wolf pups. His mother sat in an overstuffed chair beside her, watching Loupe and the pups and knitting. His irritation vanished as he surveyed the cozy scene.
“And if an eagle ever tries to scoop you up, I want you to claw and bite!”
Etienne froze, his eyebrows meeting his hairline as Loupe proceeded to demonstrate what she meant to the wolf pups, clawing the air and snapping her teeth. The queen laughed and dropped her knitting to clap.
“Well done, yes, that is precisely the way,” she said, her voice echoing her mirth. “Loupe, you will make a wonderful mother someday.”
For a second Etienne cursed his timing and the fact that his mother had unwittingly echoed his father’s sentiment. The moment didn’t last long though. He noticed a tightening around Loupe’s eyes and a sudden tension in her shoulders. She swallowed hard and looked away. Etienne stepped forward, wanting to ask Loupe what had suddenly made her so sad. Before he could say anything, Loupe’s gaze snapped up.
“You found him!”
Etienne couldn’t help the huge grin that split his face as Loupe leapt off the floor and dashed across the room to snatch the muddy pup from his arms. He laughed as she clutched the pup to her chest, cooing and snuggling him as if he were a human child.
“Oh, don’t you ever scare me like that again! I was so worried, what happened to you?”
Etienne rubbed the back of his head, unsure if he should answer her question. She seemed to be talking to the pup.
“The little devil was tail deep in a mud puddle at the foot of a large tree.”
Etienne turned to find his father standing right behind him. He narrowed his eyes as his father looked at Loupe with a giant smile and then glanced at Etienne with raised eyebrows. Etienne scowled.
“Father, this is Loupe,” he said, his voice tight. “Loupe, this is my father.”
“A pleasure to meet you, Loupe,” his father said smoothly.
“Your highness, I don’t know what to say,” Loupe said, still cuddling the pup. “I can’t believe you went out looking for my—for this little guy.”
“I am only glad that I could help. My son was quite insistent that we provide you with anything you may need.”
Etienne’s lips parted as he stared at his father. His father smirked at him.
“Oh, I, uh,” Loupe stammered, her cheeks flaming red. “Thank you,” she mumbled.
“Etienne will show you to a guest room now, so that you can get settled in. Your horse and cart will be ready for you in the morning whenever you’re ready to leave.”
Loupe snapped her head around and stared at Etienne. He gritted his teeth and gave her a polite smile. “Of course, if you’ll just follow me.”
“I, um, I can’t stay. I need to get home.”
“Oh?” The king frowned. “I do not want to cause trouble with your family. If you must return tonight, Etienne will escort you.”
Loupe’s eyes grew so wide, Etienne would have laughed if he hadn’t been so perturbed. The very thought of him escorting her home had drained all the blood from Loupe’s face. Why?
“I’ll stay,” she squeaked finally. She cleared her throat. “I mean, thank you for your hospitality. I would love to stay, if you’re certain it’s no trouble?”
“Not at all,” the queen assured her with a pat on the shoulder. “Etienne will show you to your room. Sleep well, Loupe.”
“And you, Your Highness,” Loupe returned softly.
After his mother and father left the room, Etienne turned to Loupe. She was holding the muddy pup so tightly the poor little mudball was scrabbling at her chest. He cleared his throat and she jumped. The pup yipped and she finally realized she was holding it too tightly. Her blush deepened and despite himself Etienne found himself smiling. She really was radiant.
“If you’ll follow me, mademoiselle, I will show you to your room.”
Loupe’s eyes grew wider. Etienne gave her a moment to compose herself, striding across the room and scooping up the remaining pups. The sight of him holding the little wolves seemed to snap Loupe out of her daze.
“Etienne, thank you,” she said earnestly, following him out of the room. “I feel so silly for overreacting.” She forced a laugh. “I can’t believe I barged right up to the palace gates with two wolf pups in the back of my cart and demanded the prince and king go off in search of their missing brother.”
Etienne chuckled. “Please stop worrying, Loupe. I dare say this is the most fun my father has had in a long time. And my mother seemed to enjoy your company.”
“Your mother is wonderful.”
There was a wistful, almost sad tone in Loupe’s voice now. Etienne glanced back at her. “Forgive my boldness, but you sound sad.”
Loupe shrugged, her eyes staring blankly ahead of her. “My mother died giving birth to me. My father remarried, but…” She swallowed and offered him a weak smile. “Let us just say, it’s not the same.”
Etienne had the strange urge to gather her to him and hold her as she was holding the pup. There was something very vulnerable in her posture right now, the way she hunched her shoulders and kept her gaze down. He didn’t like to see her sad.
They arrived at her room and Etienne fumbled the door open, balancing the two pups. Warm, moist air kissed his skin and the scent of bath oils tickled his nose.
“Ah, it seems that my mother had the servants prepare a bath,” he observed.
“Oh thank goodness!” Loupe trudged over and dunked the muddy wolf pup into the large tub, holding him with one hand while she used the other to scrub his fur. The wolf yipped and struggled, but she held him firmly. Etienne stood in the doorway, staring in frank amusement.
When he didn’t speak for a minute, Loupe looked up.
“You look like you’re trying not to laugh.” She furrowed her eyebrows and briefly halted her scrubbing. “What’s so funny?”
Etienne cleared his throat. “Ah, I believe the bath was meant for you.” He gestured to the clean nightgown lying folded on a chair.
Loupe turned red from her neck to the tips of her ears. “Oh. I see.”
Etienne couldn’t help it. He laughed, a booming sound that set the pups in his arms to barking. Loupe frowned.
“No, it’s all right, Loupe, truly,” Etienne assured her, reining in his amusement. “I’ll have the servants bring up another bath.”
“No, don’t be silly, I don’t need another bath.” She pulle
d the pup out of the tub and wrapped him in the large towel that had been provided. The pup’s growls were muffled as she vigorously rubbed him dry. Amusement tugged up the corner of Etienne’s mouth as the pup staggered out from under the towel and across the floor. She grabbed the sponge that had also been by the tub and dipped it in the bathwater.
Loupe looked down at her dress. The bodice wasn’t terribly low-cut, but it did give a hint of cleavage. Loupe scrubbed the mud from her skin. The smile died on his face. Etienne’s blood heated as her motions drew his attention to the smooth mounds of her breasts. Every vigorous scrub made the tempting globes of flesh bounce in the most mouthwatering display. He took a step forward.
“There,” Loupe announced. “My dress is a bit damp, but I’m sure it will be dry by morning…” she trailed off as she turned to find him staring. He took another step and her eyes widened.
Before Midnight (Book 1) (Blood Prince Series) Page 6