Her fingers twitched, a slight pressure against his arm, and then her body jerked.
Not too long ago, there’d been an incident in one of the human settlements founded near the base of the Floraivel mountain range. Muir had been visiting to discuss hunting matters with their chief when one of the men collapsed in a fit of convulsions. He’d never seen it again until now.
Rapunzel’s eyes rolled back until a sliver of white showed, and she groaned, stiff as a board on one side, shaking on the other. Muir gathered her loosely in his arms, afraid to restrain her and afraid to let her go, lest she thrash and strike her head on the stone. Or worse, snap her neck. If an honest healer had seen this woman, then Muir was the goddess of the skies herself.
“My lord, please step away.” One of the two guards stepped forward with a hand on his sword hilt. He licked his lips and cast a nervous glance at the princess. “We should take her back to her tower.”
Disgust raised bile in Muir’s throat. “Remove your hand from your sword before I do it for you,” he said in a quiet voice. “She’s only a small woman, a small woman in distress, mind you. What do you have to fear?”
“Please, Lord Muir, it’s a precaution for your safety only.” He released his weapon and dropped his gaze. “Forgive me. I shouldn’t speak of it, but she injured several guards years ago. One man nearly died from his injuries. The accidents have been fewer since, but we all take caution.”
Nearly killed? His gaze returned to Rapunzel. She had a small frame and lacked a warrior’s breadth in the shoulders. He’d never known an Oclander woman with such a slim and fragile physique. Deducing it must have been magic, he shook his head at the guard and feigned ignorance.
“Are your men so weak such a delicate woman poses that much of a threat? She’s clearly harmless and trapped within her own mind. Kindly take caution without touching your weapon in my presence.”
“Of course.”
When the initial speaker stepped back, head dropped in shame, his companion spoke in a gentler voice. “If I may, milord, I advise moving her to the bench over yonder. She always preferred the wild rapunzel flowers.”
“Thank you.”
Instead of guiding Rapunzel by a hand, he swept her into his arms and carried her. “Ah, there are flowers named after you, and I see they’re as lovely as their namesake.”
She turned her head to look at him. “T—” Words failed her, coming out as garbled mush.
“It’s all right.” He took a seat and settled her beside him with one arm behind her back in the event she seized again. The other was on his own lap while he gazed at the castle grounds around them. The garden was at the edge of the grounds and in an ideal place for looking at the city below.
“This is a fine view. Not nearly as fine as the view of the sea from my homeland, but it’ll do.” He grinned, positive she understood him when one of her blue eyes twitched and a flicker of coherence returned to her gaze. “My people live in the mountains, so I’ve known this kind of beauty my entire life. It’s not as cold as Eisland, but close during the winters. When the snowfall comes, it’s beautiful. Blankets the peaks in white as far as we can see. You’d like it, I think.”
In the distance, an Eisland ship sailed into the bay, bearing a standard of a sword on a cobalt field. Rapunzel suddenly leapt up from beside him, but her legs crumpled beneath her own weight.
Muir lunged for her, shifter reflexes preventing the princess from landing in an undignified heap on the snow-dusted cobblestones. He dragged her against his chest and held her upright.
“Jor-ehhhn.”
The guards flooded forward, moving as one to help, but Muir shook his head. “I have her.” It rumbled out of him in a protective growl.
He had both arms around her, Rapunzel’s back against his chest in the most inappropriate position for a princess to be seen with a man. He winced a bit and ignored it in favor of acknowledging the single word she’d spoken. Had that been her brother’s name?
“Is that your brother’s ship?”
She mewled and made another garbled noise, then her head thrashed from side to side with a straining, awful sound that clenched an iron fist around his heart. If he ever had the opportunity to gut King Harold, he would. And he’d enjoy it.
“Shhh, he’ll be here soon, and I’m certain he’s eager to see you too. Conserve your strength, Princess. You mustn’t seem tired, or you’ll be sent off to bed. You don’t want that, do you?”
She trembled in his hold, and a warm flush crept up her neck until her cheeks pinkened. The nearest guards watched with distinct discomfort, but none of them stepped forward to defend their princess’s virtue or admonish him.
With Rapunzel on his lap, Muir whispered in her left ear, “I know you’ve been poisoned, Princess. I came here to investigate your kingdom, but I need your aid. Help me, and I’ll do whatever is within my power to rescue you. Leave your window open tonight. Can you do that? Squeeze my hand if you understand.”
Trembling fingers squeezed his in return.
Good. At last, he may have the proof he needed. If he rescued the princess, would her testimony alone be enough to convince King Morgan and the other members of the compact to take action against Eisland?
Better yet, could they convince Joren to join their side? United, they could force Creag Morden to act alongside Cairn Ocland.
Confident in his plan, he rose and carried Rapunzel back to the tower without any pretense of helping her walk now that he had seen the weakness in her legs.
Guards met him at the tower door and would not allow him to enter. He passed the princess into the care of a healer who appeared to check her over. Then the door shut, and he saw no more of her.
It would be easier to get Joren alone at least. The greater question was whether or not the prince would believe a single word he had to offer.
Chapter
Home. The moment Eisland’s snowcapped peaks came into view, Joren rushed to the bow. Four years had passed since his last visit home. For the past ten years, his life had been nothing but courses at the Collegium of Arthras and diplomatic ventures in Creag Morden.
While his search abroad for a wife had gone poorly, he’d been secretly relieved. As beautiful as Princess Anastasia and Lady Victoria had been, he hadn’t felt a true spark between them. Aside from questions about his magical prowess, the former hadn’t engaged him in conversation at all, and the latter had done nothing but smile at him from across the dining table. She’d been truly empty and void of any personality.
He needed more than that. He wanted a woman with fire and liveliness, a vivacity that would turn Eisland on its ear the moment they ascended to the throne together. Not that he wanted the throne.
It should have been Rapunzel’s inheritance, damn it all.
With the ship’s crew working together, they pulled into the harbor within the hour. Horns trumpeted his arrival, but no royal entourage awaited him. Instead, Steward Fillian stood on the docks.
“Welcome home, my prince.”
“Fillian, good to see you, old man, though I had expected my father to be here.”
“He is entertaining a foreign guest.” Fillian gestured to a ship moored on the next pier.
Joren twisted around to look, gaze finally honing in on the unbelievable sight ahead of him. In his eagerness to be home, he hadn’t paid attention to the other ships moored to the multiple docks, used to bustling trade being conducted every day of the year. “Cairn Ocland? I didn’t know they had ships.”
“A recent development, Your Highness. Surely you’ve heard the news regarding several pirates receiving amnesty from the kingdom? Their king and queen required your father to accept their terms before sending a diplomat to our shores.”
“Word reached the collegium, yes. Do you mean that… is he…?”
Anger coursed through Joren and propelled him down the pier at a fast pace Fillian couldn’t hope to match. Would James be so bold as to deliver such a proclamation himself? Would he b
e that foolish? Joren would risk war itself if he could dispense the justice his sister deserved.
In fact, there was nothing Joren wanted more than to punch James Hook square in his nose for what he’d done to Rapunzel.
No, James wouldn’t be here. He wasn’t that foolish; there was no way the big coward would be manning the Oclandic ship in their port, no matter how much Joren wished for the opportunity. It was an older woman who met him at the gangway instead with russet skin and a single violet eye. The other had been concealed behind a patch.
She bowed to him. “Greetings. I take it you’re Prince Joren.”
Joren tried to place a name to her face and his knowledge of the pirates plaguing the Viridian Sea. There were only a handful of female captains sailing those waters, and he’d heard the leader of the Scarlet Brigade—and every sailor aboard the ship—was a glorious, red-haired warrior. The sun had bleached this captain’s dark hair. The strands of silver shone like silver tinsel, and it was all bound in red and purple ribbons accented with gold beads.
“You must be Captain Vandry.”
The woman chuckled. “I am. Welcome aboard the Twilight Witch, Your Highness. To what do I owe this visit?”
“I desire a discussion about the state of our seas. It’s been brought to my attention that many of your ilk have decided to refrain from further acts of piracy now that you serve under Cairn Ocland’s banner.”
“It is true for the wisest of us, but I can’t say we’ve all agreed.” She raised her chin and met his gaze unflinching. “We have no responsibility for those of our former pirate kin who chose not to accept Queen Anastasia’s offer. She made us a good deal, that one.”
“So, I suppose this means your people shall be helping us to rid the Viridian Sea of criminal mischief.”
The woman raised one brow, and then a sly smile spread over her mouth. “I suppose it does, Your Highness. Whether it is our former brethren or your kingdom’s current allies. Now, may I answer any other questions, or shall that be all? I daresay Lord Muir would be quite thrilled to answer any inquiries.”
Had she… had this obstinate woman just dismissed him from her ship?
He flushed, but there was nothing he could do or say. She’d been the very model of civility and respect while putting him in his place. “As I shall. Good day to you, Captain.”
Fillian waited for him on the dock, the man’s powdered cheeks damp with perspiration. He twisted his hands together in a nervous manner but straightened when he caught sight of Joren.
“Please, my prince, there is a carriage waiting to bring you to the castle.”
“Good gods, man, you’re sweating as if I intended to provoke a war.”
Fillian stared at him. “Didn’t you?”
“Possibly.”
“If you’d cared to ask, I would have gladly informed you Hook was not aboard the ship.”
Joren grunted and strode past him. “Who is this Lord Muir that pirate speaks of?”
“His letter of introduction from the royal family of Cairn Ocland claim him as Lord Muir of Clan Leomlaire. King Alistair and Queen Anastasia sent him to act as their envoy.”
He climbed into the waiting carriage and took a seat. “I look forward to meeting with him. Now then, tell me, what of Rapunzel? I haven’t had a letter in months.”
“Oh, well….”
“What? Is she unwell? Worse than the last time I saw her?”
“I’m afraid so, my prince. Your father has done all he can, but even your collegium healer could do nothing for her.”
He leaned forward. “Wait, repeat that.”
“You father requested the collegium’s finest healer a few months ago. Master Veritan spent a week with your sister.”
“I see.” A deep frown furrowed his brow. Master Veritan hadn’t left the collegium in years. “I’ll see her immediately then.”
“Your father has requested—”
“I’ll see Rapunzel first, Fillian. Tell my father I’ll join him and anyone else he’d like me to meet afterward.”
“Your Highness—”
“My mind is made.”
“As you wish.”
Joren didn’t wait for attendants to see to the carriage. He hopped out himself without need for a stepstool and headed inside. Panicked staff bowed and moved out of his way while offering cordial but hasty greetings. He must have muttered “good day” and “so glad to be back” two dozen times before he reached the door to his sister’s tower.
Her guarded door.
“Good day, Prince Joren. Your sister can’t receive visitors this day.”
“And why not?” he asked. Rapunzel had never turned aside a visit before, though she’d ceased speaking a long time ago, always still, like a marble figure sculpted in the image of the sister he loved.
“She’s a bit under the weather this day.”
Joren stared at the two armed men barring his entrance. Then he lowered a hand to his hilt. They were only following their duties, but he couldn’t allow sympathy for their plight to interfere with seeing his twin. “You will allow me inside to see my sister, or you can fight me right now.”
“My prince, we have orders to allow no one inside.”
“I am her brother, and I am the prince. So I order you to stand aside. I’ll take full responsibility should my father have something to say about it.”
The men looked at one another with indecision. After a moment, one stepped aside and the other unlocked the door.
“Thank you.”
“The court physician is with her now, Your Highness.”
And yet there were two armed men outside her door as well. How were things so bad that his sister was put under lock and guard? He dipped his chin in a curt nod then pulled the door shut behind him. Nothing around her receiving chamber appeared out of place, though it also seemed little used. He remembered his sister as rather cluttered, with books and sketches always laid out around the place.
“Rapunzel?” He took the winding stairs upwards, bypassing the second level altogether to head to her bedchamber at the top. He paused on the final step, struck dumb by the sight of his sister lying pale and feeble on the bed with the court physician perched beside her with his satchel full of tonics open on the floor at his feet.
“Prince Joren, what an unexpected surprise.”
“What is this? What’s happened to her?” He crossed the room and took a seat on the other side. Rapunzel’s glazed eyes stared up at the canopy over her bed.
The physician wiped his brow with a lace handkerchief. “A beast manhandled her this day. Put her in quite a state. It took all of my strength to restrain your poor sister and place her in bed to rest.”
“Manhandled?” The question boomed out of him, sending the healer scurrying back several steps with a hand clutched to his narrow chest.
“Yes, manhandled. Your benevolent father allowed our guest from Cairn Ocland to escort your sister to the gardens, and while there, he apparently took some… liberties with her.” His voice dripped with disdain. “According to the guards who witnessed, it’s only by the grace of the gods and their own presence that I shall not have to administer a contraceptive as well.”
When Joren took Rapunzel’s hand between his palms, her insensible gaze didn’t move. “Is that so?”
“Quite so.”
“And is nothing being done?”
“Beg your pardon, sir?”
“Has our guest faced any repercussions for his behavior?”
“Afraid not. Relations between our kingdoms have been tense these past months. You cannot blame your father for taking precaution, Your Highness.”
“If Father won’t defend her, then I will. I won’t allow these… these animals to come and molest my sister for the sake of fostering agreements between our nations.” He’d never been so angry, not since the day he’d received Rapunzel’s letter and heard of her illness. Her hand had shaken so much while writing it that his twin’s penmanship was no longer legible. No lo
nger recognizable as hers.
There’d been so much fury and anger in him then, and he’d have given anything, anything at all, to bring that ruffian to justice. The man had called him friend. Been a brother to him, and then he’d hurt Rapunzel not once but twice, first abandoning her to pursue a criminal career, and then murdering the only man who may have taken his place.
That was unforgivable—the final straw, as it had been the one to break the Samaharan camel’s back so to speak.
Gods, she was so fragile, which meant she had to be protected no matter what. His sister was no bargaining chip or currency to use, and he didn’t care what the beastmen claimed they could offer Eisland.
First, he’d deal with the brute. Then he’d go and have a word with their father.
Despite the years away from the castle between his visits, Joren knew the way to their extensive guest quarters. He flew to them with murder on his mind, blind to any castle servant in his path.
Such an insult couldn’t be abided, no matter the origin of their guest.
Joren pushed open the doors and strode through without invitation. With righteous fury burning through his veins, not even the sight of the giant of a man rising to his feet made him pause. It should have. On another day, over any other woman, he might have halted in his tracks and stared at the enormous figure.
“How dare you force yourself upon my sister?” thundered out of him instead.
“What?”
“The utter cheek, coming to our lands as an honored guest and manhandling a woman of royalty. Did you think no one would speak of your egregious behavior with Princess Rapunzel?”
“I didn’t think—”
“I will see you at dawn tomorrow for this insult. If you call yourself any kind of man, you’ll have your second prepared and ready at the southern palace gardens.”
While the mighty lord from Cairn Ocland stared at him, Joren spun and swept out of the room. Now he’d have to take up his grievance with his father. Rapunzel was no courtesan to be given on a whim, no matter how much it would further relations between the different kingdoms.
Rapunzel and the Griffin Prince Page 8