It wasn’t hard at all. She hadn’t found it difficult to do glamours since she was a little girl and now she looked up at him and willed her hair a pastel pink and her eyes violet. She made her face heart-shaped and of a more pale complexion like his. She made her country nose a shade thinner and her mouth smaller. She made herself the perfect fae girl; delicate and refined. By human standards, she was excessively delicate and refined-looking, to the point of appearing a little alien. But the fae were different.
He frowned at her, rocking back and forth on his feet. He was definitely a bit drunk then. He stared at her and twisted up his mouth. Even like this, she thought, he was elegant. “It’s better the other way. Go back.”
It’s better the other way? She thought, as she let her glamour drop. She decided if that meant he thought she was pretty, she definitely didn’t care.
“So you’re a warrior?” He asked lazily as he leaned against a stone pillar in the garden. Even the way he leaned seemed picture perfect to Cara, like he was in the middle of some fancy magazine photo shoot.
“I’d hope so,” Cara said dryly. “Shed a lot of blood training. Spent just as much time on combat as I did on any of the academic subjects and that was considerable. Brunswick’s curriculum is not forgiving.”
“You really got into Brunswick because you’re that good?” Dayen asked warily. She narrowed her eyes, annoyed that he doubted her. Although he really hadn’t seen her in action, she supposed. She hadn’t given him a reason to believe in her yet.
She thought perhaps she should.
“Your Highness,” Cara said, and her tone made him grimace.
“Day,” he said, curling his lip. “For the love of all, call me Day. You make ‘Your Highness’ sound like an insult.”
“Day.” She swallowed. Somehow her voice had softened. She couldn’t make that shortened name sound unpleasant. In fact, it gave her a familiar feeling to say it.
Day, good ole Day, her brain seemed to say.
“I’m from nowhere,” she went on. “Just a little fae girl from a random village. My parents had never even heard of Brunswick. It was a recruiter who found me. I passed all their tests and before I knew it, I was moving to the terran realm for seven years.”
She smiled wistfully, remembering how awkward and strange that first year had been. She had visited the terran world plenty of times before then with friends, but she had not yet understood it and it had all seemed so loud and complicated and...busy. Now she felt as at home there as she had in her home village.
“Alright,” Day said, nodding. “Except you’re not just a girl from the countryside. Not with those prismatic eyes and the way you…” He squinted at her and she reeled a little under his gaze. “The way you made me feel when we teleported. How did you do that?”
“I didn’t do anything!” she said quickly.
“Yes, you did,” he insisted. “Jumping through dimensions makes me ill, shakes me up, and you made me feel grounded? I didn’t get sick at all.”
“Wasn’t me!” She turned on her heel and started marching through the garden, her head high, her gown trailing after her .
“Yes, you did,” he said, laughing and trotting after her. “You liar!”
“I’m not lying,” she insisted. “And I don’t care if you are a prince, you’re the most irritating man I’ve ever met, human or fae! I don’t know how you do it, Day.”
“Then why don’t you kick my ass,” he cracked, putting on that smirk of his.
It was stupid and impulsive but she could not possibly resist the urge; with a sweep of her leg, suddenly Dayen was on the ground, wheezing, the wind knocked out of him. For once, he was not elegant.
Oh shit.
She winced, mainly at herself. She had been sent to protect the prince. She was beginning to wonder if there was not some ironic plot twist to the whole thing. Had she been sent to protect him from her?
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled.
Dayen started laughing. He was lying on his back in the dewy grass, his ornate, shimmering robes and his silvery hair splayed out around him. His refined, aristocratic nose was scrunched up as he clutched his stomach and laughed. His laugh sounded like music, Cara noted.
“Why?” he asked, still catching his breath. “I told you to do it.”
“I’m supposed to be protecting you,” she said, frowning.
“Well, I’d rather be entertained anyhow,” he muttered. He held out his hand and she grabbed it, pulling him to his feet with ease. “You are strong…”
He had her hand in his and he wasn’t letting go. She didn’t fight him, if only because she was distracted by the way her heart was pounding as he leaned in close, looking at her with heavy-lidded eyes. She backed up against that pillar he had been leaning against and he stepped in yet closer.
Cara felt dizzy and she wondered if Day wasn’t doing something to make her want him.
Because she did… And it was annoying.
She opened her mouth to speak and before she could decide whether she was going to say “kiss me” or “you’d better not kiss me,” he was kissing her. Cara breathed in, surprised, and her eyes fluttered shut as Day’s mouth met hers. She hadn’t kissed anyone in ages, it seemed. Anyway, she couldn’t remember a kiss that had ever been this good. Day’s mouth seemed to fit perfectly with hers and his long, elegant fingers came up to stroke her cheek. She felt want filling her and she clutched his formidable shoulders, bringing him closer, just as his tongue met hers.
Ooh…
Abruptly, she shoved him away and before she could think twice about it, she slapped him across the face.
“Oh shit,” she blurted. “Ugh. I’m sorry.”
“Cara-”
“You really are annoying though,” she said, before taking off toward the castle. Her cheeks burned as she moved her legs, running as fast as she could through the garden and away from that insufferable and insufferably attractive Dayen who was still calling out for her. She remembered the way they’d come out, even with all the twists and turns (her memory had always been impressive), and ran through corridors, avoiding the prying eyes of servants as she beelined back to her room, intending to throw herself down on her luxurious bed and scream her indignation and mortification into a pillow.
She did just that and she could hardly sleep that night.
All she could think about was that kiss.
Cara woke up in the morning, still in her gown, a maid tentatively knocking on her door. She’d fallen asleep in her clothes. She’d also dreamed at length about Prince Dayen’s mouth.
Day.
“Ugh.” Cara staggered to her feet and toed off the shoes she’d also worn to bed. It was well into morning and she could kick herself for not having risen earlier.
She blamed the wine.
“Is Prince Dayen in his quarters?” she asked sleepily.
She needed coffee. It was a distinctly human invention. They wouldn’t have it in the fae realm, but she had become used to it over her time at Brunswick. She wondered how quickly she could get to a Starbucks and back… Probably very quickly…
The maid was quite young. She looked like a country girl too and she smiled warmly at Cara. “Prince Dayen rose a couple of hours ago,” she said. “His uncle asked him to rule in the throne room today and see to the pleas of the people. Do you need anything, miss?”
The throne room, Cara thought. It had its own guards certainly. But they weren’t Brunswick-trained warriors. The throne room and the people flooding into it to ask help of their prince seemed like a perfect opportunity for a threat.
“Yeah…” Cara whipped around. Where have my own clothes gone? “Where’s my stuff?”
Her stuff had been cleaned and folded neatly in the bureau, including her better pair of black jeans. She cleaned up and dressed in those and a clean white t-shirt and her favorite black moto jacket. She tied her boots tight and the maid who was accustomed to helping ladies with their fancy dresses just stood by, waiting to be told
to do something.
“Is Dayen already in the throne room?” Cara asked.
“I believe he’s still breakfasting.”
That was good. She wasn’t about to join him for that stupid post-kiss awkwardness. It gave her just a little time. “Excellent,” Cara said.
She closed her eyes and thought about the Starbucks on Fifth Avenue close to the park.
Not twenty minutes later, Cara was striding to the throne room (which seemed prohibitively hard to find and she’d had to ask directions from multiple servants), a fresh hot drip of the day in her hand. She got some raised eyebrows from a few passersby in the castle but eventually she found the throne room and she smiled tightly at the guards who questioned her, but upon learning her name was Cara and that she was a personal guest of the prince, they only nodded. Apparently Cade had alerted everyone to her presence, even if he hadn’t told them why she was there.
The throne room was massive; an expanse of stone floor and vaulted ceiling and pink-flamed candles. At its head, the throne sat, a huge solid glass chair. Cara had heard of it but never seen it up close. It had been brought from the now destroyed castle on the coast where the royals used to rule.
Dayen seemed to have just arrived. He was still getting comfortable, some assistant muttering in his ear as he nodded and squirmed. The chair really didn’t look comfortable to Cara’s mind.
The throne room was full of people. Cara attempted to get lost among them. There was a long line of fae waiting, streaming from the middle of the throne room and out the door to a waiting area outside. Everyone wanted to speak to the prince today, it seemed. It put Cara on her guard, and she sipped her coffee, scanning the crowd, looking for anything suspicious.
Day caught Cara’s eye and she stiffened.
He smiled widely and winked at her.
Oh God.
She rolled her eyes and looked away.
Cara kept her guard up, determined to get through this entire session of Dayen seeing his subjects. She didn’t expect it to last very long. There was no way, she assumed, he would talk to them all and sort through all their problems and requests. Dayen took nothing seriously and seemed to only want to avoid the responsibilities of the throne.
By the time he’d spoken to the thirtieth person, Cara wanted another coffee. She was also astonished by Dayen’s behavior so far. He not only seemed determined to see to every subject (some who had already been turned away multiple times before), but he was genuinely thoughtful and when there was a dispute between two subjects where neither party seemed definitively right or wrong, Day was genuinely troubled by it.
Over the course of several hours during which Cara had to keep her senses completely heightened and remain ready to pounce should any hint at danger make itself known, she realized that Dayen was...a good guy. He wasn’t just a good guy, he was obviously a fair and just and kind ruler.
It was startling.
By the time it was finally over, having blown right past a midday meal so that Cara’s stomach was rumbling, she felt as if she was meeting Dayen all over again for the first time.
It seemed to change the context of everything.
“That was the last one?” he finally asked, when the weeping old man who had wanted a river dedicated to his dead daughter left after having been duly consoled by the prince. He stood and stretched and the prim-looking man who had seemed to be Cade’s assistant now helping the prince with his duties only nodded curtly.
The throne room was now empty but for the dozen or so armed guards, the assistant, Dayen and Cara.
“You did remarkably well, Your Highness,” the assistant said. “I’ll be sure to relay that to your uncle.”
Dayen got up and stretched and Cara reflexively shook out her arms, still keeping an eye on everyone left in the room. Her Starbucks cup had long since been disposed of.
“Oh, please don’t,” Day grumbled. “It would be much better if my Uncle Cade thought I was utterly useless.”
Cara snorted at that and it echoed in the big empty space of the room. Day looked up at her sharply, but he grinned when he saw it was her. “Ah, hello there, vixen.”
“Don’t start,” she mumbled, but her heart was racing again as he came toward her. “Are you going to eat now? I’m starving. What was that, six hours?”
He shrugged. “Something like that. If you don’t address the concerns of the people, they’ll only come back but louder. It had to be done.”
“You’re trying to dismiss it,” she pointed out. “But that was something. It was impressive. Surprising.”
“Oooh.” He patted her arm as they made their way out toward the banquet hall. “I impressed and surprised you. What a day. Such a high compliment.”
“Don’t get used to it,” she said, but there was more affection in it than she’d intended. “Listen. We should try that interview again. About potential threats? Maybe you could not be such a dick this time?”
Day threw his head back, laughing and there was a twinkle in his eye when he looked at her again. “I can do that.”
A week passed and still Cara could find no threat to Dayen’s life. For a full day, she was convinced Cade might be the true villain. But then she’d interviewed him and then Aela and then questioned Dayen. It hadn’t taken a genius to see that Cade truly loved his nephew and would never do a thing to hurt him. He had a soft heart, he’d told Cara. He couldn’t bring himself to be angry at Day for avoiding his responsibilities of the throne. Not with the way his parents had died.
The note about his parents had stuck with her.
She had yet to get any details out of Day about his parents, but was beginning to think it might be relevant. He wouldn’t speak about it. He got so quiet when she got anywhere near the subject, she finally dropped it, and then felt like a failure of a fae warrior and a Brunswick graduate. Shouldn’t she push?
But she had begun to like Dayen. That made it a problem.
After that first week of nothing, as much as fun as she realized she was having just hanging out with Dayen (who she supposed wasn’t so bad and twice as cute), she decided to make a trip to Brunswick. There was no rule against it. Even after that initial warning that the mission could take years, decades, who knew how long, she felt like there must be some piece missing. Perhaps she just needed to give Benjamin the Oracle a little nudge to uncover some clue they’d all missed.
Dayen seemed put out when she told him she was going to Brunswick for the day.
They’d been hanging around in a sitting room that overlooked a pretty pond and some blooming willow trees, drinking cider. He’d looked at her with such bright eyes that still kept sparkling every once in a while, making her wonder. His smirk now seemed like a sweet smile more than something smug and she couldn’t think when that had changed.
“What if something happens to me?” he’d asked.
He was appealing to her sense of duty and she cast him an irritated look. “Nothing’s happened for a week. I won’t be gone long.”
With that she’d risen, smiling to herself.
“Miss me!” he called after her.
She bit her lip to keep from laughing.
It was strange that as she made her way up the front walk to the doors of Brunswick just a couple hours later, she felt as if it had been a long time since she’d been there. It had only been a week after all. But the fae realm, even if it was instantly accessible, seemed like a far away place now. And having embarked on her first mission after completing her training, Brunswick even seemed a little smaller already.
Cara made her way to Benjamin’s office. That seemed like an easier route to try. She was hesitant to go asking Ms. Friar for advice. That was far too intimidating unless she got desperate.
But Benjamin...well, he was just a little weirdo who saw visions. His classes were just as tough as everyone else’s but he wasn’t difficult to talk to. Not like Ms. Friar who, if Cara was honest with herself, she worshipped a little bit.
The door to Benjamin’
s office was open and she found him sitting in his beanbag chair, staring into a peach-colored crystal.
He didn’t look up and she hadn’t spoken before he said, “Hello, Cara. I’ve been expecting you. Please come in and have a seat.”
Cara heaved a sigh and squeezed between Benjamin’s desk and a stack of crates of black tea. She plopped down into the beanbag chair opposite him and squirmed a little before giving up. There was really no dignified way to sit in a beanbag chair.
“You’re having trouble with your mission,” Benjamin declared.
“Well, sort of,” Cara mumbled. “It’s just that nothing has happened. I don’t see any threat. I’m looking, I’m talking to people, I’m trying to investigate but there’s just...bleeeaaah.” Cara stuck out her tongue, spreading her hands to make her point.
“Have you asked him about how his parents died?” Benjamin inquired. He was still staring at his crystal but abruptly he looked up and said, “How rude of me. Please have some tea.”
“I-”
A cup of tea came floating over to her from the desk. She grabbed it gently. Benjamin had strong casting powers. Most humans didn’t bother with that kind of casual magic for no reason. She smiled tightly and took a sip. The tea was the perfect temperature and made just how she liked it, because of course he’d been expecting her.
“And?” he said.
“I haven’t,” she said, sighing. “Every time I bring it up, he gets all mopey and shuts down. I think it’s painful for him.”
“You need to get him to speak about it,” Benjamin said darkly.
“Well…I mean his uncle Cade seems to know everything,” Cara pointed out. “Can’t I just talk to him?”
“It would be better if it was coming from Prince Dayen,” Benjamin said. “Ask him. He’ll tell you. I’m sure of it.”
“You seeing that in a vision?” Cara asked.
“No… I just have a good feeling.”
“Alright,” Cara said, rubbing her eyes. “Anything else I should know?”
Royal Fae Bodyguard (Brunswick Academy for Gifted Girls Book 1) Page 6