Unarmed (Unarmed Trilogy)

by Nina Monroe

“I don’t even want to be King,” Will laughed. “Being King sounds wonderful, but any man that knows the real responsibility never wants it. I don’t want to be a King or a Commander. I want to be normal.”

  Garrett didn’t respond as Kendall returned to him. Will watched as Garrett stood and kissed her passionately, still blinded by the lust in him. Will was unsure about how this marriage would fare, as Kendall was in love and Garrett was merely in intense lust. He didn’t wonder for long as he felt Tamzin run her hand up his arm and to his shoulder.

  “Have you ever officiated a marriage?” She whispered in his ear as Will felt the tension leave his body as she ran her nails over the ridges of his shoulder. “I can’t even comment on them deciding to get married.”

  “If your friend ends up with a broken heart, I cannot get involved. Garrett is my second in command,” Will replied cautiously. In a dream world, Garrett and Kendall would have a similar relationship to him and Tamzin, but Garrett had always been a lady’s man. He may never change.

  “I know,” Tamzin smiled before she placed her lips on his shoulder. “Garrett may be a scoundrel sometimes, but he protects you. He is loyal to no one but you. I could never hate him for that.” Tamzin served him a piece of steak before she served herself.

  “Thank you,” Will murmured as he began to cut into his meat. Tamzin grinned as she followed suit, until she felt Will slide her chair closer to his. “In less than two days, I will be leaving. I want you close until the second I leave.”

  “I can’t argue with that,” Tamzin breathed as he nuzzled her neck lightly. “Let’s not talk about you leaving or the war. Tonight, our friends are marrying and your side is healing. Nothing but happiness now, sweetheart.”

  “Happiness is fleeting,” Will said solemnly as he returned to his meal. “You need to be prepared for the worst.”

  “The only worst is how long is takes you to return. Do you hear what they say about you? Do you know what my father has said about you?” Tamzin asked. “You move like Achilles himself. You’re the fastest man on the field and the most deadly. You don’t need a sword to kill a man. But unlike Achilles, you can’t be killed.”

  “I am human, love. I can be killed,” Will warned lightly before he drank from his goblet. “The scars on my body show how human I am.”

  “They also show how much you can endure,” Tamzin corrected as she finished her meal. “Did your father take you onto the battlefield when you were a boy?”

  “I was born in the castle and three days after my birth and my mother’s death, my father took me into battle. The wet nurse kept me in his tent when my father was in battle. I guess you can say I grew up on the battlefield,” Will frowned as he remembered. “Garrett’s father died on the battlefield. He had been saving my father, which is why Garrett grew up alongside me.”

  “Your father took him in?” Tamzin asked as she looked to Garrett and Kendall laughing together. “That is very generous, indeed,” she said suspiciously.

  “My father hasn’t always been the ideal parent, but I know he is a good man. He loves every man, woman, and child like they were our family. He is tough on me to make me strong,” Will continued as he put the last bite of steak into his mouth. “We will never have a warm relationship, but we will have a respectful one.”

  “It will change when we have our children. Your father will soften then, as I hope you will,” Tamzin ran her hand up his arm, over his shoulder, and up into his hair. Will smiled as he felt her run her nails through his wild curls and run across his scalp.

  “I will not be nearly as good of a parent as you will be. I may not soften, as you want,” Will closed his eyes as her fingers massaged his scalp. Her other hand massaged the base of his neck. “You don’t need to…”

  “I want to. This is how I soften you, as I’ve learned,” Tamzin laughed when she watched Will smile. “I think you will feel differently when you hold our baby for the first time. You will change when you’re in the birthing chambers with me.”

  “You want me to be there?” Will asked as he opened his eyes. He pulled her hand from his hair as his hand held her wrist lightly.

  “The way I see it, you put the baby in my belly and now you must endure it with me as I push it out,” Tamzin laughed again as Will kissed the inside of her wrist. “Don’t you want to see our son being born?”

  “You mean our daughter?”

  “Back to wanting only girls?” Tamzin asked as she watched him stand.

  “I’m a fickle man,” Will kissed her hand as he pulled her up to stand. “You want a son? Don’t all women want daughters?”

  “I do want daughters, but I also want sons. I don’t know what it is like to have sisters, but I know having Thom was great,” Tamzin continued as Will and she followed Garrett and Kendall out of the Throne Room. “I want a son to be first born because while a girl would be accepted as the rightful Queen here, she won’t be everywhere. If our first born child is a boy, I feel like it will solve all of your problems.”

  “Don’t worry about my problems, love,” Will said as he threaded their fingers together. “There are some things you should not worry about.”

  “We are married, Will. This isn’t a political marriage any longer. I want your problems to be mine,” Tamzin smiled bitterly. “Wouldn’t you help me with any problem I may have?”

  “You know I would,” Will replied without missing a beat.

  “Then let me do the same,” she squeezed his hand as the couple ascended the first staircase towards their floor. Garrett and Kendall had disappeared, probably getting ready for their late night nuptials. “I can tell you don’t have high expectations for this wedding.”

  “Garrett isn’t exactly marrying Kendall for the most noble of reasons,” Will said as his voice began to rise from the whisper in the Throne Room. Instead of retiring to their bedroom, the couple decided to visit their private library, which was attached to Will’s study.

  The library wasn’t as large as the main one, but it had everything they needed. Tamzin would sit by the window as she embroidered with another large bear rug in front of the fireplace. An archway showed the entrance to Will’s study, with his large oak desk and a private battle strategy table. Tamzin expected him to immediate go to his study for work, but he joined her in front of the fireplace.

  Will winced lightly as he sat down on the couch, which was lower than the chairs in the Throne Room. He leaned back and felt his body melt into the leather. He felt a pair of feet fall into his lap as Tamzin stretched out on the couch and watched the fire. His hands grasped her feet as he began to massage the balls of her feet.

  “You’re good at that, especially for a Prince,” Tamzin smiled before she giggled as he tickled her feet.

  “You shouldn’t insult the man that holds your feet,” Will continued as his hands drifted up her calf. She moaned as he massaged her calf and felt the soreness leave her legs. “After the wedding, I think I ought to give you a full body massage since you seem to enjoy this so much.”

  “I don’t think I could resist that,” Tamzin moaned as she threw her arm over her eyes. “The next time someone tells me you’re a fierce warlord, I will tell them how you make putty of your wife when you massage her feet.”

  “A fierce warlord and a good husband? You may add to my legend,” Will smiled as he continued to work his fingers into her skin. “It’s my way of saying thank you.”

  “For what?” Tamzin asked as she stretched her leg out fully as he worked out a kink. “I think you could make any man spill his secrets with this.”

  “I’ll be sure to remember that the next time I need to torture a man for answer. Just massage them out. But I wanted to say thank you for putting up with me,” Will leaned down and kissed her kneecap as he pulled her dress up slightly higher.

  “I don’t ‘put up’ with you. Even when I’m angry with you, I still love you. I promise,” Tamzin breathed as Will worked out a final kink. She tilted her head to look at him with a delirious smile
on her face. “How can you treat me so delicately and think you won’t be a wonderful father?”

  “If you think I will be good, then it must be true,” Will said as he gathered her body into his arms. “When I come home, I think you and I should escape for a little while. Find some inn off the beating path. I just want to be with you, without wars and responsibility. Maybe then I can finally get my child in your belly,” Will said as he ran his fingers across her stomach. “Or at least have fun trying.”

  “Don’t worry yourself, darling,” Tamzin said as she pushed his curls out of his face. “I will be here waiting when you come home.” Will embraced her tightly in his arms after she said that. He kept his eyes trained on the door as he breathed in the flowery scent of her hair. If he were to die in battle, this was the memory that would bring him peace.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Tamzin felt a kiss brush across the bridge of her nose before she opened her eyes slowly. She must have fallen asleep after Will massaged her feet and legs. She slowly stretched across the leather couch as she felt Will run his hands down her ribs.

  “Have I missed it?” Tamzin asked as she sat up and watched Will tie up his boots on the floor.

  “No, you haven’t,” Will smiled as he sat on the floor to finish putting on his boots. “We should leave soon, my love,” Will said as he placed a kiss on her exposed leg. “I can’t believe Garrett is getting married.”

  “He’s going off to war. Maybe he wants to leave Kendall as an honest woman?” Tamzin pondered as Will helped her stand. Her boots rested against the couch as she slid them onto her small feet. “I think seeing you marrying me may have changed him.”

  “You clearly don’t know Garrett the way I do,” Will sighed as he watched her slide her hand into his. “I don’t quite understand why Garrett wants to get married, but it isn’t for the good of the Territory or to make an honest woman out of Kendall. I fear that he will have his fill of her and move on.”

  “Garrett isn’t an extension of you,” Tamzin reassured as she squeezed his hand. “Kendall is my best friend, but she’s a big girl. She knows what she is getting herself into,” Tamzin continued as they left the library quietly. The hallway was dimly lit with withering flames as Will walked with stealth. He listened as Tamzin giggled at her clumsy nature when she needed to be quiet as he turned to look at her with a stern but slightly gleeful expression. When he was with her, he didn’t feel like a King; he felt like a normal man in love with an amazing woman.

  “Shh,” Will pressed a finger to his lips as Tamzin returned the gesture with a grin on her face. He didn’t need to feel nervous about coming across his men, but for a soft moment, he was an eighteen year old man looking for a late night escapade with his best friend and their loves. Will stopped around the corner from the staircase as he peered down the steps.

  A soldier was talking to another right in front of the staircase to the stable. It had been agreed that Will and Tamzin would take Angus to the edge of the woods where the road to a small town began. In town was where Garrett and Kendall would be wed, and where Will would sign the documents that a royal had witnessed and consented to the marriage of two nobles. Will believed that Garrett would then get a room in the Inn for his bride.

  Will wasn’t sure if his father would be angry or wouldn’t care about the marriage, not with a war that loomed so closely. The thought didn’t stop Will from creeping down the stairs with Tamzin in tow. The soldier at the bottom of the stairs watched them but didn’t say anything as Will led her towards the second staircase to bring them to the stables. Tamzin felt the chill in the air as they walked down the stone staircase. She felt herself shiver lightly, though Will’s hand kept her warm.

  The stable was still well lit and Angus was awake in the last stall closest to the entrance. He let out a nay when he saw Will, and Tamzin watched him smile.

  “Angus,” Will smiled as his hands reached out to touch his horse’s muzzle. “Are you going to help me break a few rules?”

  “We’re not breaking any rules,” Tamzin laughed as she reached for a carrot in the bucket by the stall. She held the carrot in her palm out to Angus, who ate it greedily. “Have you ever broken a rule, Will?” She asked as Will opened the stall door and slowly led Angus out of the stall.

  “Not really,” Will blushed as he fixed the reins. “I haven’t had a normal childhood, Tam. My life has been about surviving the battlefield and learning to fight. Now my life is about providing an heir and not running this Territory into the ground when I become King. The most un-royal thing I have done in my life is have a pint at the tavern and had a go at the brothel. Exciting life I have lived,” Will frowned before he gripped Tamzin’s waist and lifted her with ease to place her on top of Angus.

  “You’re young, Will,” Tamzin tried to soothe as Will mounted Angus and wrapped an arm around her waist. “We have all the time in the world to break rules.”

  Her stomach tensed as she felt Will splay his hand across her abdomen, over her dress. There wasn’t any time left. She would give birth in another six or seven moons, and she had no idea how long Will would be gone. For all she knew, this may have been their last few nights together as a couple. The thought of having a baby no longer seemed as exciting to Tamzin. She had lived her life and had her fun, but Will didn’t.

  “Do you mind if we trot? My stomach has been feeling uneasy since what happened in the forest,” Tamzin asked softly as Will pulled on the reins and Angus walked out of the stable. Tamzin leaned back into Will’s arms and felt his chest warm her back. It had snowed earlier in the evening and the flakes coated the ground; the brisk wind whipped through her hair. Her teeth chattered furiously as Will directed Angus towards the worn path that led to a nearby town.

  “How long has your stomach been bothering you?” Will asked as he touched her stomach again. “Have you been vomiting?”

  If she admitted to nausea, Will would automatically suspect that she was with child. She could have said it was the stress, which wouldn’t be a total lie.

  “It’s just stress, Will. Nothing to worry about,” Tamzin lied easily as she placed her hand over his. “It’s stressful to be a pampered Princess,” Tamzin laughed almost nervously as the next town came into view. “At least I know Garrett is more nervous than me.”

  “That, I can assure,” Will said as he kissed her cheek. “I was terrified when we got married.”

  “You could have fooled me,” Tamzin said as she felt him tighten his grip around her waist. “I thought you would always hate me.”

  “I didn’t hate you. It was all principle,” Will gently replied. “I hate it when my father is right. He was very right about you.”

  “How?” Tamzin asked. She felt a gust of wind freeze her skin as the Inn and tavern came into view.

  “That you would make me the best King possible. I feel like I look at life differently after you’ve come into my life,” Will nuzzled her neck again as he pulled on the reins for Angus to slow. They came to a stop in front of the Inn, where Will recognized Garrett’s horse, Sadie. His words warmed her like no cloak could and Tamzin turned to look at him.

  “I love you,” Tamzin whispered as Will leaned in and kissed her softly.

  “I love you, too,” Will smiled genuinely before he dismounted from Angus. Tamzin reached out as Will helped her down before he wrapped Angus’ reins around a post. “Ready to see a wedding?”

  “I am just going to let you know that I will flay Garrett if he leaves her at the altar,” Tamzin warned lightly as she felt her stomach become a bit queasy. She found that her stomach became uncomfortable after most meals, especially after stuffing herself with dinner.

  “Warning noted,” Will smiled as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Tamzin watched as the people outside the pub noticed them instantly. Though Will didn’t wear his crown, it was apparent to everyone who he was by the way he carried himself. Royalty didn’t need a crown to show itself. “Do you think they know me?”

 
“Your face is on some of their coins,” Tamzin whispered as she flushed from all the attention. “Of course they know who you are. There is no better way to win your people’s affection than spending time with them.”