by Kamryn Hart
When I turned around to put the jars back in their proper places, the princess had dropped all her clothes onto the tiled floor. Once again, she was bare-ass naked in front of me without a fucking care, perky breasts, full hips, and perfect legs spread in an elegant and strong stance. I nearly dropped all the jars onto the floor. Thankfully, I avoided that disaster, gathering my wits about me in time to shove them back onto the shelves. I stayed facing the wall, allowing myself a moment to breathe. I couldn’t turn back around. I couldn’t see her like this again. My body was already burning at the thought.
“We really need to have a talk,” I said.
“About what?”
I closed my eyes as water splashed. I could imagine her sinking into the bath. I could see every curve of her as if I was looking. So much for avoiding this hard-on. I opened my eyes again to stare at the shelves.
“Modesty,” I gritted out.
“Okay, what about it?”
“You should have waited to undress until after I left.”
“Why? Babaga and I bathed together in the woods.”
I pressed my fist to my forehead and turned around. I kept my eyes grounded, but I really needed to turn off the water before it overflowed.
“That’s different,” I told her. “You and Babaga are both females.” I reached the faucet and turned off the water all without looking at the princess. It was one of the hardest things I had ever done. I turned back away from her so I wouldn’t be tempted to look and ended up staring at the pile of clothes on the floor. That book she was so attached to was sitting on top of them.
“So?” the princess asked.
“The only werewolf you should ever be naked in front of is the one who becomes your mate.”
“I should only ever be naked in front of a male if my hypothetical mate is putting a baby inside of me,” she said bluntly.
“Something like that.” This conversation was unbelievably awkward. I wanted to say this was all common sense. It was for every werewolf raised by werewolves and not some backwater witch. That was the worst part. The princess wasn’t trying to play games. She just didn’t know these things. She didn’t get hot and bothered at all when I was naked in front of her, as far as I could tell, but I was losing control. I was losing control again in this stupid bathroom. I adjusted my pants to relieve some of the discomfort, but it didn’t help the ache. Gods, I ached in a way I didn’t even understand.
“What about my moonlight form then?” she asked. “I’m never supposed to shift?”
I wasn’t sure how to answer that. Wereas were never encouraged to fight or do anything that would require them to shift from what I knew. They were kept safe. “I guess not,” I finally replied. “Let’s stop talking about this. I’m not explaining well.”
“The bath is really nice. Thank you, Caspian. Your herbs are magical, just like the herbs Babaga used back in the woods.” She let out a contented sigh.
“Glad to hear it.”
I stared at that book sitting on top of her clothes. It had gold writing on the cover. “What’s this?” I asked as I read: To my pride and joy, the Moonlight Child blessed by Lureine, Princess Sorissa va Lupin of Howling Sky. There was more written below that. With the greatest love, High Queen Alana va Lupin of Howling Sky.
“A gift from Babaga. I’m going to read it later. I was going to read it in the bath, but I don’t want to ruin it by getting it wet.”
“May I take a look?”
“Since you asked so nicely.”
I picked up the journal and flipped through a couple pages. High Queen Alana va Lupin of Howling Sky was a memory, but she left a never-before-seen record in these pages. It wasn’t burned with the rest of Howling Sky. She truly did manage to escape and presented her daughter to the Witch of Witch Woods. I knew the cost of asking that witch for a favor. It was obvious to me that the High Queen paid with her life.
What last words did she leave her daughter?
“I guess those are the words of my mother,” the princess said. “It’s weird to think of some queen as my mother. Babaga never told me anything about her or this journal until she decided to give me away yesterday. She didn’t bother telling me anything useful about the world outside of the woods either. I feel so stupid out here.”
“You are smart and brave.” I placed the journal back down on the pile of clothes. It didn’t feel right to pry. The High Queen’s words weren’t for my eyes. “I should get going.”
“Will I see you again?”
“Most definitely, along with the rest of Phantom Fangs. In the meantime, I’ll send you a maid.”
“Promise.”
“I promise.” I looked over my shoulder to see the princess resting her elbows on the edge of the bath. Her wet hair cascaded down her front and back, effectively hiding her breasts—but not effectively enough. I couldn’t see past her torso, but that didn’t matter. Her breasts were enough to get me hot. Her nipples were hard, bronze skin taking on a reddish tinge from the warm water.
Fuck, I was weak.
“Later, Sorissa,” I said. “I’ll keep my promise.”
I was rewarded with seeing her face light up in a smile before I made a hasty exit.
What was I doing? Pretending I could be anything other than the princess’s bodyguard was a dangerous game to play. If she was going to mate with any werewolf here, it would be one of my brothers, not me. King Philip would make sure of that, but he’d do it so subtly the princess would think it was her idea. He was good at that: manipulating. One way or another, she would willingly end up on King Philip’s side. I doubted there was anything Phantom Fangs could do about that. I had a growing idea of a world I wanted to see, but Phantom Fangs was under King Philip too. If I never broke away, maybe I’d never see it.
CHAPTER 16
SORISSA
I WAS STILL STARING at the door leading out of the bathroom long after Caspian left. I would have preferred him to stay, but a moment alone wasn’t terrible. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to my new “maid.” I hoped she wouldn’t be like the last one.
Closing my eyes and letting the warm water engulf me all the way up to my chin, I replayed in my head what Caspian told me about modesty. Honestly, whatever he was trying to get at was a bit confusing to me. I didn’t feel like I had done anything wrong, but it was like I had offended him somehow. I remembered him naked after he chased me down when I fled the roader. I wondered if it was okay for males to be naked in front of me as long as I wasn’t naked in front of them.
My mind wandered around in the memory of Caspian naked. His black skin was beautiful in the moonlight. It brought out a blue undertone I hadn’t noticed before. His body was so perfectly sculpted, smooth and hard edges combined to make him so very beautiful. A lump formed in my throat. I tried to swallow it when I thought about his penis, how it was swelling, growing erect. My brain went blank for a moment when that happened, like a snuffed-out candle. Was that his body’s reaction to seeing me naked?
I flushed, heat originating from the base of my stomach. It was a recreation of the blooming feeling I had when I first saw this scene with Caspian. This feeling. Just thinking back on that moment, naked with Caspian, made me feel like this again. But this was stronger. There was no shock or fear to pull me out of it. I didn’t understand. I had never experienced this feeling. My sex tingled, and the bite Charles gave me burned at the same time. It startled me at first, but the burning quickly subsided. The heat, the pleasurable almost humming heat in my core, did not.
My mind drifted to Todd, and I smiled. The memory of my hands on his reddened cheeks was fresh. The cute way he talked so passionately about what he loved was endearing. I thought of Rodrick and his size, the largest of Phantom Fangs. Maybe it would have been prudent to find him intimidating, but he only riled me up. He only made me feel safe. Aerre came to mind next. I thought about how closed off he was, but I remembered his calm and collected attitude when he provided me with decent clothes to stave off the cold. I sa
w through to his kindness. Each one of them had that: kindness. And each one of them was beautiful. I wanted to get to know them better. Phantom Fangs was what I had hoped to find when I left my woods.
A little gasp escaped my lips when that tingling feeling in between my legs got stronger. It built into a surge of pure energy that was too much. It was just sitting there inside of me with nowhere to go, making it painful, making me ache. I had no idea what was happening to me.
I closed my eyes and pictured Phantom Fangs naked. I placed my hands on my tender breasts and tried to massage away the discomfort I felt there first. The ache ran deep into my chest. I ran one hand down my stomach to my sex, the area containing the densest energy. My lips parted softly as I gently explored the sensitive flesh in between my legs, imagining Phantom Fangs doing it instead. The warm water ensured my touch was slick and light. Instinctively, I rocked my hips forward. It ramped up the building sensation in my body, a sensation I was sure couldn’t build any more. Frustrated, I whimpered, but my hips rocked forward against my hand again as if they had a mind of their own and knew how to find some sort of release.
The pressure continued to build as I hit a rhythm that almost felt good, sliding two fingers across my slit and dipping shallowly inside. I had no idea what I was doing, but I was doing it. I moved faster and gripped the edge of the bath with my other hand for stability. I rocked and rocked until the pressure reached its peak, and my body shattered. I breathed heavily as I hunched over the edge of the bath and noticed the pulsing in between my legs. With each tiny pulse, the energy dissipated until I felt mostly normal again, aside from this strange sense of satisfaction.
Finally, my eyes fluttered open, and I wondered what just happened.
I wrapped my arms around myself. I concentrated on my breathing until it returned to a normal flow. The desperation was gone, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Phantom Fangs. I couldn’t stop myself from wondering what each of them looked like naked. I couldn’t stop thinking about the warmth of waking up next to Rodrick, from the feeling of Aerre’s hand clasping mine to Todd’s cheeks, and Caspian’s arm when I allowed him to lead me. I wanted to feel that again.
A knock startled me out of my thoughts. “Princess? I’m Trace, your maid. May I come inside?” The voice belonged to a female, and that meant, according to Caspian, that it was okay for her to see me naked.
“Yes,” I replied.
A lovely blonde emerged. She was human, tall and slender with full breasts. She had sun-kissed skin, and her eyes were the color of a cloudless sky during a summer day. She stood straight with her hands clasped in the front of her floral-patterned skirt. I could sense she was much more confident than my previous maid.
“I’m supposed to assist you in getting ready to see the king. He requests your presence at your earliest convenience,” she informed.
“What about Phantom Fangs?” I asked.
“I’m afraid they won’t be accompanying you for this. The king wants only you.”
I didn’t want to see Philip. I wanted to see Phantom Fangs, but I didn’t say that. Caspian said I would see them again. He promised, and I wanted to believe him.
“You told me your name,” I said. “The maid I had in Paws Peak wouldn’t.”
“Should I not have?”
I shook my head and smiled. “No, I’m glad you did, Trace. I hope we can become friends.”
Her eyes shifted like she was uncertain about that, but then she returned my smile. “I would like that.”
“You can tell me when I’m doing something wrong.”
“I-I couldn’t.”
“Why not?”
“There is nothing you could ever do wrong, Princess.”
“Caspian seemed to think so when I took off my clothes to get into this bath before he left the room.”
I thought Trace might laugh. Her eyes were twinkling, and she was definitely holding back a much wider smile. “Shall we get you ready, Princess?”
“Why not?”
It wasn’t like I had a choice. Wolf Bridge was a werewolf kingdom like Paws Peak. They weren’t copies, but there were still plenty of similarities. I had to be ready for whatever Philip would throw at me because I wasn’t naive enough—not anymore—to assume it’d end well.
The bath really did soothe my cuts. I hardly hurt at all anymore, and I didn’t look like I had just gone through a rather stressful ordeal. Caspian knew what he was doing. His herbal blend worked almost as well as Babaga’s.
By the time Trace was done with me, I was once again wearing a dress. However, Trace didn’t bring up corsets once. I wondered if that was because of what I told Caspian. Then again, this dress was quite different from the one I wore in Paws Peak. This one was simpler, similar to Trace’s. She said it was a spring dress. It had a flower pattern and the skirt cut off just above my knees. Since it was still chilly, I wore solid-colored tights and a solid-colored jacket, both a dark blue. I didn’t feel trapped in this dress. I actually felt quite free and found myself liking it. She even left my hair down after drying it with a handy hairdryer.
“Your hair is beautiful,” she told me. “It curls perfectly on its own when it dries.”
The last thing she did was paint my face with makeup. This time it felt less like painting and more like powdering. I didn’t mind it.
I found talking to Trace easy, too. At least she would talk. I doubted she would ever tell me anything even slightly negative, but she talked. Everything she said seemed sincere enough, so I wasn’t really complaining. We didn’t talk about anything “serious,” but that was fine. I figured I’d save those questions for Phantom Fangs. Trace wasn’t shy like my other maid, but she was still human, still my “maid,” and I didn’t want to cause her trouble even with Caspian’s explanation about Wolf Bridge werewolves being shields. The memory of Paws Peak was too fresh. I was still an outsider, so what did I really know?
“Is the princess ready?” a male’s voice and another knock outside of my room sounded.
“Yes,” Trace called. “I’ll send her out.”
Suddenly, my stomach dropped. “Is there a way out of this?” I asked.
“You’ll do fine,” she assured. She took my hand and squeezed it as she walked me to the door. “Everything is going to be okay.”
She released me and opened the door to a soldier, a werewolf I didn’t recognize.
“Thank you, Trace,” the werewolf said. He wore a grin that lit up his entire face.
Humans and werewolves had much better communication in Wolf Bridge, it seemed. No, it was more than that. This werewolf was beaming at Trace specifically. Trace’s cheeks heated, but they only turned a fraction of the red Todd’s did.
“Take good care of her,” Trace said as she shut the door to my room purposefully slow, locking herself away inside.
The werewolf soldier looked at the door and sighed. He hadn’t looked at me at all yet—which was a nice change. For once, I wasn’t the focal point of a werewolf’s attention. He was a handsome werewolf with straight black hair and wide dark-brown eyes. At this moment, his entire countenance was sunny.
“Nice to meet you, Princess,” he said with a bow. “I’m Koren, and I’ll be your escort to the throne room.”
He held out his arm to me. He was so friendly, it didn’t feel weird to take him up on the offer—not after Caspian had broken through to me.
“Nice to meet you, Koren,” I replied.
I noticed touching his arm was not the same as touching Caspian, Todd, Rodrick, or Aerre. Koren was warm because he was alive, but that was all. There was something magical in the Phantom Fangs’ touch. Even just being near them was magical. They had something no one else had.
Koren was lost in his head the entire time he was escorting me. I was almost positive he was thinking of Trace, so I didn’t bother trying to speak to him. And I found it fascinating. He would keep smiling randomly for no reason. This was the kind of love portrayed in fairytales. Apparently, it was real, becaus
e Trace and Koren’s actions fit line for line. This was the first thing I had seen outside of my woods that was exactly like the fairytales.
Koren brought me back to the throne room. This time, Philip was sitting on his throne, watching as Koren led me down the dark-blue carpet. Five other werewolves stood at either side of him. There was a unity about them, in their faces, their build, and dark skin. They were also dressed similarly, in dark-blue suits decorated with patterns of silver that matched the crowns on their heads, though they were less extravagant. They looked a lot like Caspian, the same age too. Visions of George and his son Charles flashed through my mind with the feeling of deja vu.
When we arrived at the foot of the throne, Koren announced, “Princess Sorissa has arrived.” He tugged away from my hand and bowed down on one knee.
“Thank you, Koren. You are dismissed,” Philip said.
Koren stood up again, pressing his right hand to his heart with another tiny bow of his head. Then he turned on his heels, leaving me alone with Philip and the werewolves who had to be his sons.
Philip rose from his seat while his sons bowed to me, low on one knee. The king descended the few steps separating us and took my hand, kissing the back of it. His long black beard tickled my skin.
“It is good to see you again, Princess. I hope you were able to get some rest. You cleaned up nicely.”
As Philip righted himself, releasing my hand, the princes rose from the ground. I gave them all a quick look. All I could think of was Caspian. I was positive he was somehow related to Philip and these other werewolves, but he wasn’t here. I wondered why that was.
“These are my sons,” Philip explained and pointed out each of them. “Prince Alexander ve Casst of Wolf Bridge, Prince Julius ve Casst of Wolf Bridge, Prince Dominic ve Casst of Wolf Bridge, Prince Edward ve Casst of Wolf Bridge, and Prince Henry ve Casst of Wolf Bridge.”
I wondered if it was really necessary to repeat their titles each time. I also wondered if I would remember their names because I found myself not caring.