by Frost Kay
Her eyes popped open, and she grinned at him. She arched an eyebrow at him and howled with laughter. What was so funny? Was it the blow to the head affecting her? Was she touched in the head?
“What’s wrong with you?” he asked perplexed.
“Why wouldn’t I bite you is the question.”
He was not going there; he deserved it. Her information would be worth all the pain. Tehl eyed his feisty captive, they had wasted enough time and needed to leave. The mutinous look on her face promised a fight. He needed to take her by surprise. Tehl struck and slung her over his shoulder before she knew what happened. He grunted as a sharp pain shot through it and down his arm, making his hand tingle. When had he injured it?
From her new position, she let out an undignified little shriek that gave way to cursing. His lips curled at her creative verbiage.
She thrashed, making it difficult to keep a hold on her. Nothing about today would be easy. He lifted a hand and swatted her on the butt. “Knock it off, or I will end up dropping you on your head. If you hadn’t tried to escape, I would’ve let you walk. You and I both know you won’t be reasonable.” More curses floated his way. Guess that was his answer.
He gingerly picked his way to the entrance of the alley, keeping his eyes on the treacherous cobbles beneath his feet. A burning pain in the middle of his back jerked him from his thoughts. He’d only experienced pain like that once before in his life, and it came from a very nasty horse.
“Did you just bite me?” he growled, incredulous.
“You took all my weapons and tied my hands. What was I supposed to do?” she mumbled into his back.
The bloody woman had bitten him.
“Lord, you’re more harpy than woman!”
“If you let me go you’d never have to deal with me again,” she reasoned, her tone syrupy sweet though she was anything but.
“I thought women were sweet and gentle.” He wondered out loud. “What kind of woman are you, anyway? Running around in trousers? What ever happened to being a lady?”
“Never said I was a lady.”
He snickered. She was right there. “Well, with a vocabulary like yours you could make sailors blush.”
Having reached the end of the alley he scanned the busy intersection, searching for his men. A familiar laugh drew his attention to a group sitting on barrels, playing dice. His brother’s blue eyes met his. Tehl jerked his chin, signaling it was time to go.
Sam stood with a flourish, tipping his hat to his dice buddies, and meandered over to them.
“Did you get what we came for?” Sam assessed the bundle draped over Tehl’s shoulder and glanced back at him with confusion. “It’s smaller than I expected.”
“I assure you we got more than we bargained for.” He said wryly. “Look for yourself.”
Sam walked around and lifted the woman’s face and then bit out an oath.
“My God, Tehl, what are you doing with a woman?! Did you do that to her face?” Then in a soft tone he added, “Are you all right, sweetheart?”
Tehl felt her shake her head: no. Ah, here comes the sob story.
“That precious woman,” Tehl interjected, “is the rebel you sent me after, and she gave as good as she got.”
“No, I am not all right,” she cried over him. “This man has threatened to hurt my family or torture me if I don’t give him information. But I don’t know what he is talking about,” she sobbed into his back. “I want to go home! Please help me! Don’t let him take me.” She pleaded rather loudly.
What a world class performance.
Sam walked back around and eyed her hog-tied hands, then lifted his gaze to Tehl’s. “What’s your name sweetheart?” Sam asked.
“It’s…it’s Ruby,” she stammered out.
He had broken her nose, threatened her, and had basically accosted her yet she didn’t shed a blooming tear until the end, and he suspected it was more from anger than pain. Now she was a completely different creature. Apparently, besides fighting like a she-demon and cursing like a sailor, she was also an actress.
He opened his mouth in defense, but closed it as he caught sight of Sam’s face. His brother was not buying it. Sam quirked up one side of his mouth and raised an eyebrow. There was no fooling Sam. An amazing actor she may be, but he was sure his brother was an even better one. He was not the spymaster for nothing.
Sam made a show of studying her bound wrists. “What happened to your hands, darling? They have cuts all over them!” he probed as he ran a finger over her bloody knuckles.
“I was trying to protect myself from him.” She sniffed.
Tehl distinctly remembered it was she who had first attacked. He had done everything in his power to keep them from fighting.
Sam lingered on her hands a moment longer and then continued to investigate. “Did you not have a weapon to protect yourself?”
“I did! But he disarmed me,” she wailed, her whole-body shuddering with her cries.
Unbelievable. “Her blade is in my belt.”
Sam reached into his cloak and plucked her dagger from his waist, inspecting it. He ran his finger along the detail of the worn hilt and circled back to her, remarking on the blade. “What a unique dagger. It’s well made. Why, the attention to detail is stunning! How did you come by it?”
She sucked in a breath, trying to control her crying. “I took it from someone.”
“Now, I don’t believe that.” Tehl heard the triumph in Sam’s voice. “Because I have also seen daggers like this on all the other rebels I’ve come across. You are not what you seem darling. Only one thing’s certain: you are a traitor to the Crown and dangerous.”
The wailing and sobbing stopped. “You learn to be tough when you live on the streets. Why don’t you come closer and I will show you how dangerous I can be?”
“No thank you. I like all my body parts just the way they are. Now that’s all squared away, Ruby, we can get you settled in your new abode!”
“Hell no!” she screeched at Sam, struggling again.
“Would you please do something about that?” Tehl complained, trying to keep the bothersome wench in his arms. “My ears are about to bleed from all this shrieking.”
The girl sneezed and then demanded, “What did you blow in my face?”
Sam ignored her question and sauntered back into view, brushing his hands off. His brother winked at him and patted one of the many pouches he always carried at his waist. Tehl would bet his next pair of boots it was Ashwanganda powder.
“How much longer does she have?” he asked in a low voice.
“What! What was that? Did you poison me? Put me down!” Even as her yelling continued, her body went limp. “Oh God, you drugged me. You are both going to regret…” she trailed off like she’d forgotten what she was talking about.
And she probably had, courtesy of the Ashwanganda.
She pressed her face into his back and rubbed her cheek against it. “You have hard muscles, like a rock,” she said in a sing-song voice.
Sam smirked at him. “Not one word, Sam. Not one word.”
“Sam. What a nice name,” she chirped. “Is it short for Samuel? That is a strong handsome name,” she slurred while poking him in the back with her nose. “I want a nap; I am so tired.”
She would give him whiplash with her quick subject changes. Her body finally succumbed to the sedative and went limp against him. For someone so tiny she had weight to her. Tehl carefully pulled her off his shoulder and into his arms, tucking one arm beneath her knees and one around her shoulders.
Sam stepped closer, inspecting her face. “She is a beauty underneath all the blood, bruises, and grime.”
Tehl’s stomach soured. He was the cause of each cut and bruise marring her relaxed features. His brother cleared his throat, and Tehl raised his eyes to Sam’s face. He lifted an eyebrow in question and, after a beat, asked, “Well, what is it? Why are you staring?”
Sam flashed a blinding grin, “Seems you’re studying he
r a little closely, brother,” he drawled. “Me thinks you might like her.”
Tehl scoffed at this ridiculous accusation. He’d only just met the woman. Pretty she may be, but she was also a criminal.
“You know me better than that Sam. The fairer sex only cause trouble.” His gaze bounced to her, then settled back on his brother. “I feel bad I hurt her. Look at her bloody face. No woman, no matter how trying they are, deserves the beating she received.”
“Why is she so battered?”
He cleared his throat. “I thought she was a man.”
Sam scoffed. “She doesn’t look like a man. Your eyesight needs checking.”
“She disguised herself,” Tehl defended.
Sam studied her face first, then his. “She isn’t the only one with a few marks. She put up a hell of a fight.”
“That she did.” His eyebrows furrowed. “The moves she executed weren’t anything she’d have learned on the street. She had training. I’ve never come across her fighting style before. If she’d had her blade, I’m sure I’d have come out of this with a stab wound or two.”
“I thought only men did the stabbing,” his brother deadpanned.
Of course, Sam would make an inappropriate joke right now.
Tehl grunted and shot his brother a crooked grin. “There’s something wrong with your mind.
Sam’s serious face shifted to a mischievous grin. “What can I say? It’s a gift.”
“Not a gift I want.” It still boggled his mind that they were from the same parents when they were so different. “I still say you were adopted.”
“Oh! You always say the nicest things,” Sam tittered, sending him a coy smile that disturbed him.
Gavriel approached them, tipping his straw hat back to reveal an amused grin. “You never cease to surprise me Sam.”
“Whatever do you mean, cousin?”
Gav rolled his eyes at Sam’s innocent expression. “I hate to break up this entertaining exchange but people are getting restless.” Gav nodded toward the girl. “We need to leave before the urchin wakes up.”
Tehl surveyed the people surrounding them. Most were casting scared and nervous glances in their direction. A few young men stood grouped together, glaring their way. The last thing they needed was the hotheads starting a fight.
“Lead on, then.”
Sam slapped him on the shoulder, gave a short nod to Gavriel who turned, making eye contact with their men among the crowd. Simultaneously the Elite gathered in loose formation around them. Gav nodded once more, and they began their journey home. Although Tehl noted several concerned looks thrown at the unconscious girl carried like a sack of potatoes, no one dared approach.
Tehl turned his attention to the man at his side. Gavriel’s eyes never stayed in one place. They were always sharp, ever alert to potential dangers. Gav was an interesting study in contradictions. He was a soldier through and through, but he also had immense talents in healing and the sciences. There was none more fierce on the battlefield, yet he never lost his temper and had a compassionate heart.
Tehl considered Gav a brother, for his cousin had been raised with them since childhood. Gav also favored his mother’s side of the family so the black hair, straight nose, and wide shoulders meant he resembled Tehl more than his actual brother. But Gav inherited what he didn’t: the amethyst colored eyes that ran in his mum’s side of the family.
Tehl squinted at the ridiculous thing atop his cousin’s head. Gav had yet to rid himself of the absurd straw hat adorning his head like a giant bird’s nest. He couldn’t help but stare. His cousin’s unusual-colored eyes flickered over to him, and a small smile touched Gav’s mouth.
“Staring into my eyes, cousin?” Gav teased. “And so intense… If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were mooning over me.”
Sam sniggered at this comment.
“Have you ever seen me moon over someone?” Tehl asked with a grin, only half serious, scouting the area, noting anyone who looked suspicious. You could never be too careful.
“Honestly? You don’t know how to moon, neither can you woo, seduce, nor charm anyone.”
Tehl considered that for a moment. There was truth to that. His people skills were abhorrent. He didn’t know whether he was insulted or impressed his cousin knew him so well, so Tehl settled on narrowing his eyes and glaring. Gav shrugged a shoulder and continued his survey of their surroundings.
“Hey now,” Sam broke in, “no need to point out the obvious. He needs a little training from yours truly.” Sam pointed to himself.
Now they were ganging up on him.
Tehl glanced at the Elite who were pretending they weren’t listening in. Nosy bastards. He shifted the girl in his arms. “I am the only one with a woman in his arms.”
Sam choked out a laugh and held up a finger. “But you had to render her unconscious to get her to stay with you so…she doesn’t count. If you would listen to my advice more women would stick around.”
Tehl attempted to infuse some of Sam’s attitude in his voice and failed. “I don’t need any of that. All I have to do is snap my fingers and they come running.” He sounded like an idiot.
“Right,” Sam drew the word out. “Because that’s how women desire to be spoken to: I am man, I drag you by hair to cave, you like.” Sam dropped his shoulders like a wild man grunting.
A short laugh burst out of Gav. “That doesn’t work in real life, although if it did, it would be heaven, pure heaven,” Gav replied with a twinkle in his eye. “Life would be so much simpler.”
“Ah don’t lie, you haven’t taken a woman to bed since your wife passed,” Tehl stated, looking down at the sleeping woman in his arms. Silence greeted him. He whipped his head up, eyes darting between Sam and Gav.
Both his brother and cousin were looking at him, silent. His eyes continued to bounce back and forth between them as he tried to figure out what he’d said wrong. He’d stated the absolute truth. Gavriel didn’t care about women anymore. After his wife died, it was like the fairer sex didn’t even exist to him. They might flirt and smile, but he never noticed. When propositioned, it seemed to shock him, almost like he had no clue why they would be interested.
Tehl opened his mouth, preparing to ask what he had done, when Sam cut in.
“Are you incapable of watching what comes out of your mouth? Why would you say that to Gav?” Sam hissed, anger evident. “You will have some serious issues as king if you can’t learn to be more diplomatic and at least a little sensitive.”
Tehl grimaced as he took in the pain Gav was trying, but failing, to hide. It clicked then why his words upset his cousin. He cursed his ignorance. Gavriel still missed Emma, so the subject was a painful wound which his words had scraped open again.
“I’m sorry Gav,” he offered, remorse coloring the words. “I know how much you loved Emma. We all miss her and wish she was still here.” Tehl cleared his throat to get rid of the large lump lodged there.
All three of them grew up with Emma and loved her dearly. They all met her one day as children. She was working in the stables at the time, and he remembered how she threatened each one of them with the loss of a limb if they ever hurt one of ‘her’ horses. After that, they’d grown attached to the fiery girl. She may have been plain in appearance, but the light she had inside shone so bright that all who knew her thought her lovely. It was Gavriel she had adored though, from the very moment she laid eyes on him. The law for royalty to marry common blood had worked out for them. Everything had been right…until her accident. It broke them all when she died. It was devastating to lose Queen Ivy and Emma so close together.
Gav gave him a sad smile, which spoke in itself of his immense loss. The hurt his friend was experiencing pained him, adding to the weight he already bore.
“I miss her Tehl. She was it for me. And you’re right, there are no other women and there won’t ever be.” He took a deep breath and glared at the cobbles beneath their feet. “I can’t believe Emma left me alon
e to care for the child. A little girl no less! I know nothing about her care. She…she needs her mother. And so do I.” All three fell silent when Gav’s voice broke.
Isa. Gavriel’s child. He couldn’t remember the last time he saw the little girl. Tehl sent Gav a curious look. “When did you see Isa last?”
Gav tilted his head back, staring at the sky. “It’s been six months since I’ve been to my keep.” He paused. “I need to take a leave soon and go visit.”
“Six months, Gav? You haven’t seen Isa in six months?” Tehl asked, shifting the unconscious woman in his arms. If it had been him he was sure he wouldn’t want to miss a single moment with his daughter, all the more so had she lost her mother.
“You’re missing everything! Your keep is only a two-hour ride from here.” Sam’s censure was loud and clear.
Gav turned back to them. “Don’t judge me, Sam,” he said evenly. “You don’t understand how hard it is to go back there. It kills me. Everything there reminds me of Emma, most of all Isa.”
That Tehl related to. Didn’t the palace feel empty and desolate without his mum? He couldn’t imagine losing a spouse. An idea then struck Tehl. Why none of them had considered it baffled him.
“You could bring her here to live. Then you could spend time with her without all the haunting memories of your home.” The more he pondered it, the more Tehl liked that idea. He would love to have his little cousin close by, perhaps it would even sooth his own heart’s wounds.
Gav looked at him thoughtfully. “That’s a good suggestion; I will consider it. My only worry is removing her from somewhere she’s already familiar with. Her mum’s death has confused her enough as it is.”
Sam speared Gavriel with a serious look. “I bet she is more confused that she’s lost you as well as her mum.”
Gavriel’s shoulders slumped, and silence descended on them as they each drifted off into their own thoughts. Just thinking about sweet little Isa made him feel lighter, more buoyant. She had been a precious baby girl with big violet eyes like her papa and unruly red hair like her mum. He didn’t want a wife but he liked children. Would they look like him? He shook his head at the thoughts he had no time for and headed toward the dungeon on the west side of his castle.