by James Tate
“Holy gods of sexy men!”
For a quick moment, I thought I had blurted out my own thoughts, but no. It was just Jules seeing the princes without their masks for the first time.
Tension stiffened my body, and I waited for her to make the connection between our royal companions and the tutors I’d been so obviously involved with in a romantic way.
She stood there in the doorway of the inn, her jaw practically on the ground as she gawked at all three princes, then finally turned to me and waggled her eyebrows. My heart sank, and I braced myself for what she was about to say next. This was the sort of information she was being paid for, after all.
Throwing her bags into the wagon, she hurried across to me and smacked me on the thigh, as if she didn’t already have my full attention.
“Ry,” she hissed, looking over her shoulder at Zan, then back to me with wide eyes. “Have you noticed how fucking sexy the princes are? Oh my goddess, if you get to marry one of those three…” She trailed off with an oversexualised groan, and the tension sagged out of my frame.
She hadn’t recognized them. Of course not. It must have just been a case of different clothes, different expectations, and for that I was exceptionally thankful.
“Jules,” I scolded. “You’re being rude. They’re still the royal princes of Teich, not pieces of sexy man-meat for you to drool over.” I needed to bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from laughing as I said this. Lee met my gaze over Jules’s oblivious head and just shook his head with an amused grin. “Come on, we need to get moving.”
My fake maid grumbled something under her breath but climbed up onto the wooden wagon seat and grabbed the reins.
As we rode out of Wakefield, she could barely keep her eyes off Zan, and I needed to swallow the burning acid of possessive jealousy rising in my throat.
The prince in question slowed his horse a bit so that he was riding beside me, and a cocky, self-assured grin sat lazily on his lips as he gazed at me.
“What?” I demanded, narrowing my eyes in suspicion.
“You,” he replied, smug. “I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but I just got a strong impression that you were jealous of Jules ogling me right then.”
My brows dropped into a scowl. “About that. What the hell is going on there?”
He gave me a side glance, still grinning. “Nice evasion.”
“I try,” I replied with a shrug. “So?”
Zan sucked in a deep breath, then let it out in a gust—like he was trying to find the right words for what was going on. “It sounds insane, even to me—which is silly considering my brothers and I are a few of the last magic users alive, so why should something like this seem so crazy, right?”
My sleep-deprived brain was struggling to read between the lines, so I shook my head. “Just spit it out, Zan. You said you knew I was drowning last night, then earlier, you caught me before I fell and just now… well, you know.”
“I felt your jealousy when your maid checked out my ass?” He was teasing, but I glared at him anyway. “I don’t know how to explain it, Luna. Ever since this”—he touched his fingertips to his chest where I knew there was a silver mark all too similar to the two marks I now wore—“it’s like I keep getting random spikes of insight where you’re concerned. Just every now and then, it’s like I’m inside your head or something, and it’s driving me a bit crazy. I can feel what you feel when you’re with me… but I can also feel it when you’re looking at my brothers. It’s a lot to process.” He grimaced, and I just gaped at him.
“Zan,” I breathed in a horrified whisper. “I had no idea. That’s…” I struggled to find the right words to express my shock and discomfort. He was inside my head? That was more than disturbing.
“Yeah,” he said, looking just as weirded out as I was feeling. “Anyway, that’s all I know about it, but I figured you should know. It’s influencing my moods, and as much as I’m really trying to ignore it, it’s not easy.”
I nodded, speechless. I couldn’t even fathom what that would be like, but at least—like he said—it was only random and not all the time.
We rode in silence for a bit. We’d dropped to the back of our little convoy, and there was a decent gap between the two of us and everyone else. Still, I didn’t miss the fact that Jules kept craning her neck to peer at Zan. Thirsty bitch.
Just as we were passing a swampy area, a strange noise reached my ears, like a bleating or a baby crying. Startled, I pulled Cat to a stop so I could listen better.
“What’s up?” Zan asked, and I held up a hand to shush him.
The sound came again and I peered into the undergrowth.
“Did you hear that?” I asked Zan, nudging Cat over to the swamp trees so I could get a better look. “Something is distressed in there.”
Zan arched a brow at me. “How do you know it’s in distress?” he challenged. “What if that’s its normal noise?”
I shrugged, swinging my stiff leg over Cat’s saddle and scrambling down onto the dusty road. “I don’t know; it just sounds distressed, don’t you think?”
Zan let out a loud whistle and gave a hand signal to his brothers, which I assumed conveyed some sort of message that we were stopping but would catch up soon. But maybe it was something else entirely; I was just guessing.
“Let me go first,” he suggested, placing a warm hand on my waist and stepping past me as I started picking my way through the boggy ground. “It could be something dangerous. Need I remind you of the mutant thing that tried to eat you in Wakefield?”
I grimaced at the memory. “No, that one is still fresh in my mind. All yours.” I indicated for him to lead the way, and he gave me a quick grin.
It was only a short distance off the road that we located the source of the noise. Seemingly stuck in a patch of reddish-brown mud, a thrashing, spineback piglet squalled and brayed for help. Its mother stood some distance away, pawing the ground and looking distressed but clearly at a loss for how she could help her young.
“Liquid bronze,” I murmured, hovering behind Zan and keeping a wary eye on the mama spineback. “Poor baby will never get out on its own.”
Zan stared at the thrashing creature a moment longer, not speaking, then removed his shirt.
“Uh, Zan? Now probably isn’t the time to show off the goods,” I exlaimed, trying—and failing—not to look at his rippling muscles and smooth tan.
He flicked an amused look at me, then rolled his eyes. “I’m not risking my hands grabbing that thing,” he explained, indicating to the razor-sharp spines all over the piglet’s body. “Keep an eye on the mother for me, Luna?”
“You got it,” I agreed.
Zan took a couple of shuffling steps closer to the piglet, checking the ground with every step to avoid landing in liquid bronze himself, then reached out and wrapped his shirt around the panicked baby.
“Come on, you heavy bastard,” he grunted, gripping the shirt-covered animal and hauling with all his might. Liquid bronze was horrible stuff, and the piglet had been thrashing, which would have stuck it even harder. For a moment, I worried he wasn’t going to get it out and the mama would fly into a rage—not something anyone wanted to be faced with—but after a few moments of tugging, the piglet popped free with a sticky sound.
Zan immediately tossed it to the other side of the liquid bronze, closer to its mother.
“Nice work!” I beamed at him as he straightened and shook out his shirt.
The mama spineback licked her baby all over, and the piglet began bleating with excitement. It was such a touching moment that I couldn’t stop fucking smiling.
“No big deal,” Zan shrugged, inspecting his shirt and sighing. It was shredded in several places where the piglet’s spines had sliced through and covered in globs of liquid bronze. “I think I need a new shirt.”
Still beaming, I stepped in closer to him, tilting my face up to his. “Or you could just leave it off. I wouldn’t object.” I trailed a finger down his sweaty
torso from neck to waist and was pleased to see a shiver chase across his skin.
A cocky smile pulled at his lips, and he bent slightly to press a light, teasing kiss to my lips. It was infuriating and only stoked the fire of my arousal even higher.
“You’re right; I bet Jules would be okay with it too,” he teased in a whisper, his breath feathering my ear. The reminder of my fake maid’s lusty stares was an ice water bucket all over my desire.
“I’ll get you a shirt,” I muttered, turning and stomping back to our horses.
15
So far, I’d been doing a really good job of filtering out Jules’s complaints about her discomforts riding in the wagon we’d brought to carry our things, but they were just starting to grind on my patience.
“Jules,” I snapped, pulling Cat up beside her seat on the wagon. “You’re driving me insane. If we stop for a break, will you shut up for the rest of the journey?”
She pouted and folded her arms but gave me a small nod of acceptance. The whole thing would have been easier if she could have just ridden a horse, but Master Bloodeye hadn’t seen any need to teach his whores how to ride and we didn’t need to be answering question about why my maid couldn’t ride.
I let out a heavy, frustrated sigh. “Fine,” I said between gritted teeth, “but stop acting like such a prissy bitch. The guards are noticing your less than maid-like behavior.” I glanced pointedly at Lieutenant Greenjoy, who was watching our exchange a bit too closely for my liking.
Jules followed my line of sight and blushed. “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about John.”
I couldn’t resist the teasing grin when I clicked that this was John, whom she’d been expecting in her room last night while wearing sexy lingerie. “Well, damn girl, you work fast. I was only gone three days.”
This time when she flushed, it was with indignation, and she scowled at me. “What’s that supposed to mean? Just because I make money spreading my legs, I can’t have a meaningful relationship?”
“Jules, that’s not what I meant, and you know it.” I sighed and shook my head, too tired to deal with her mood swings. “I’ll tell Ty—uh, Prince Thibault that we need to take a break.”
Jules really hadn’t even batted an eyelid when she’d seen the princes sans-disguise outside the inn. Or rather, she’d batted her eyelashes plenty—lusty bitch—but at no point during the day did she seem to make the connection between Princes Alexander, Thibault, and Louis to the tutors Zan, Ty, and Lee.
Wow, I really was being dense to have missed that connection. Then again, Jules hasn’t recognized them at all.
Still, that was no reason to go clueing her in now. Not waiting around to see if she’d noticed my slipup, I kicked Cat a little faster to catch up to the guys and tell them we needed to stop.
“Really?” Ty wrinkled his nose in a stupidly sexy sort of way when I delivered the news. “But we’re probably only an hour or so from Ironforge now.”
I arched a brow at him. “Do you want to deal with Jules complaining for the next hour or so?” Ty grimaced. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Let’s just stop for long enough to shut her up. Surely it won’t make that much difference?”
He rubbed at the back of his neck and squinted up at the sun. “Yeah, we have been making good time so far. Okay, just up ahead there’s a clearing with a stream where the horses can get a drink.” He paused, giving me a serious look. “If you’re okay with that?”
I smiled at him. “With us stopping at a stream after I almost drowned in one? Yeah, Ty, it’ll be fine. I don’t hold all water accountable for a deranged, psychotic goddess’s actions.” I shuddered at the memory of Aana’s blacked-out eyes and sharp teeth as she spat insults at me.
He gave me a nod and went to pass on the message about our rest break to the rest of our travel companions. Since the other ladies had all split up, it was just the seven of us: me, my three persistent princes, Captain Jefferson, Lieutenant Greenjoy—John—and Jules.
Once our horses were all cared for, either happily drinking from the creek or munching grass on the banks, Ty grabbed my hand and tugged me away from everyone else.
“Where are we going?” I asked him, lifting my ridiculously long green skirts with my free hand. I’d run out of clean pants and hadn’t had the time or energy to fight with Jules when she presented me this “riding dress” when we woke. On the upside, though, I was fairly sure I looked great in it, and it did amazing things for my cleavage.
Ty glanced over his shoulder at me with a half smile. “I wanted some alone time with you while everyone else was distracted. Is that okay?”
I looked over to where Zan was deep in conversation with Captain Jefferson and Lee seemed to be having a conversation with his horse. Or at least chatting to the animal. Whether he was getting a response was yet to be determined.
“Always okay with me,” I replied, hurrying my pace to keep up with him as he led the way out of the clearing. He reached a narrow part of the creek and gallantly lifted me over the water to keep my feet dry, then grabbed my hand again on the other side.
“How do you know where you’re going?” I asked him as we continued through the trees. “Have you been here before?”
“Yes and no,” he replied with a shrug of his broad shoulders. “I haven’t been to this exact location before, but I knew that there would be a clearing with a creek back there.” He nodded his head in the direction we’d just come. “Same as how I know there should be a meadow coming up over this next rise.”
I gave him a small, skeptical frown but kept my mouth shut until we reached the top of the little incline and found that there was, indeed, a meadow beyond it. Full of delicate purple flowers, which swayed gently in a breeze, it looked like something straight out of a fairytale. How terribly appropriate that I was there was my Prince Charming. Or one of them, at least.
“How?” I asked him, bemused and curious.
He lifted his brows and gave me a small smirk as his arms encircled my waist. “Magic, little one. Walk with me?”
Nodding, I let him tuck me into his side, and we made our way down to the ethereal-looking meadow of flowers.
As strange as it seemed, as we drew closer, the flowers seemed to become more beautiful—more delicate, more vibrant—and the fragrance was like nothing I’d ever smelled before. Fascinated, I plucked one of the lilac blooms and brought it to my face, inhaling deeply.
“These are incredible,” I murmured as my head spun with the burst of aroma. “Do you know what they’re called?”
Ty shook his head, picking a few himself and smelling them. “No idea. Lee would probably know.” He picked a few more with longer stalks and wove them into my hair with gentle fingers that made me want to groan. I’d always been a sucker for having my hair played with. “We’ll bring some back for him to identify.”
I hummed my agreement and trailed my fingers through the velvety-soft flowers while we walked. “You don’t think they’re poisonous or anything, do you?” I asked suddenly, pausing mid-step as the thought crossed my mind. As soon as the words left my mouth, though, I felt silly. Of course they weren’t poisonous. How could anything so beautiful be dangerous?
“I doubt it.” Ty shrugged, sitting down in a soft patch of moss and coaxing me to join him. “Even if they were, it’s not like we’re eating them, right?”
I nodded hesitantly, then took another long inhale of the floral fragrance. It was crazy how relaxing a simple meadow of flowers could be. I could practically feel the tension of near-death experiences dropping away as we sat there.
Ty’s fingertips danced over the exposed skin of my neck above the low neckline of my dress, and tingles of desire zapped through me with every touch, pooling in my belly and making me lean into him as I sought more.
“I love this color on you, Lo,” Ty murmured, trailing his fingertip along the line of my dress.
Grinning, I shifted until I was sitting between his outstretched legs as he leaned against a tree trunk. Which was somew
hat odd in that I didn’t remember seeing a tree there a moment ago.
“I love this meadow,” I sighed, and a warm, tingling wave of pure bliss rolled through me. I couldn’t have picked a more perfect place to rest if I’d been given the choice of anywhere in Teich. Not that I’d really been anywhere outside Lakehaven before.
Ty crept his fingers into my hair, and he slowly pulled out the pins holding my blond curls up into a high bun. Weirdly, it was like each hair had its own nerve endings, and I could feel the slide and release of each pin as it departed my hairdo. I’d always been a fan of getting my hair played with, but this was just a whole other level.
Throwing dignity to the wind, I groaned with pleasure and tipped my head back to rest on Ty’s chest as his fingers stroked down the lengths of my loosened curls, over my shoulders, and past my breasts. Everywhere that he touched me, my skin tingled and hummed with energy.
Just as the light, innocent caresses were becoming too much, I turned around to face him, kneeling awkwardly on the mossy ground between his legs and feeling the damp of the earth soak through my dress.
“Do we have time to be doing this?” I breathed out, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling myself closer to him like I was an overgrown, sexed-up moth and he was a hot, hot flame. Holy, sweet goddesses, he was so handsome it was almost hard to breathe sometimes.
His emerald eyes met my heavy gaze; his own dark lashes drooped low into sexy bedroom eyes. “Where else would we need to be?” he asked me with a sensual smile.
I frowned a little, considering his question. Where else would we need to be? I couldn’t think of anything more important than what we were doing. Or about to do, if Ty was on the same wavelength as me.
As if he could read my mind, he scooped his strong arms around me, twisting us until I lay flat on my back in a bed of fragrant, lilac flowers. His weight rested halfway on top of me, just enough to remind me how solid and real he was, but not enough to crush me.