Ruthless Knight

by Liza Street

  “We have to keep going.”

  Beyond her, inside the tent, Tamryn was sitting cross-legged, looking past Nolan to the lake. Nolan jerked his chin toward her. “The queen is tired. We walked all afternoon.”

  “We have to find her betrothed,” Illary said.

  “Look,” Nolan said, standing up. The fire had finally taken, and he was going to catch a couple of fish to cook over it. Provide a warm meal for Tamryn. “You wanted me here to protect the queen. That’s what I’m doing. She needs to rest, I’m making sure that happens. She needs to eat, I’ll make sure she gets food. She needs a big guy to help fight a battle, that’s also me. So let me do my job.”

  Illary blinked at him before smiling beatifically. “I had my doubts about you at first, but you’re the perfect knight.”

  He didn’t know about that. “I’ll be back with some fish.”

  THE DINNER OF FISH cooked over the fire had been small, but Tamryn seemed filled. Illary, too, although Nolan didn’t care quite as much about her comfort. He didn’t trust her. What kind of witch could put a person in a sphere? Tamryn seemed to both admire and be wary of the witch. Illary seemed in control of Tamryn somehow, yet she also deferred to her on several things. Their relationship puzzled him.

  “How do you two know each other?” he asked them.

  “I served the king and queen,” Illary said. “I knew the danger dragonkind faced, and I had to help.”

  Tamryn nodded. “I was still a girl when you came to us. Father was ecstatic. He thought you could magic away the scar on my face.”

  “But I refused,” Illary said. “Did that bother you?”

  “Not at all,” Tamryn said simply. “The scar made my father sad, but it has never bothered me.”

  Nolan wondered what had happened to cause the scar, and why it made her father sad, but he was afraid to pry too much about her past. Still, there was one other thing he needed to know. “How about your fiancé?” he said. “Can you tell me about Charles? I should know what he looks like.”

  “He has brown hair, green eyes,” Tamryn said. She sat back on her heels and looked to the other woman. “That’s all I recall. Illary knows him better than I do. I’ve only met him once, and very briefly.”

  “Your description is apt,” Illary said. “He’s descended from the Vinsalia line, a clan renowned for its strength of character. The king and queen chose him for you, and the betrothal had the approval and blessing of both the Estrayla and the Vinsalia clans.”

  Tamryn nodded, but a faint wrinkle appeared between her eyebrows.

  “Come, Your Majesty—”

  “Please,” Tamryn said. “Please call me Tamryn.”

  She stared up at Illary, who stared back at her. Finally, Illary’s shoulders slumped.

  “I will try, but I make no promises, Your Majesty. Tamryn. Come, we shall work on clearing your mind.”

  While the two of them practiced meditation or whatever it was they were doing, Nolan took his bag with toothbrush and toothpaste over to the lake’s shore to brush his teeth. Pulling open the zipper, he saw several condoms stuffed in the pouch next to his toothbrush. He snorted, wondering who’d stashed them there. If he had to guess, he’d say Ian.

  Didn’t matter, either way. The queen would never let him touch her. She held herself apart and spoke to him only when absolutely necessary.

  As he brushed his teeth, he reminded himself that he wasn’t supposed to care.

  Chapter Six

  Tamryn increased her pace to catch up with Illary and walk alongside her. As he had yesterday, Nolan walked behind them unless they needed help with something. While he trailed behind, she’d more than once sneaked a glance at him to see what he was doing. Each time she looked, his pale gray eyes had been scanning the forest around them. He was alert for danger, yet considerate and courteous. More than once, he’d anticipated trouble with an overgrown patch of forest and he’d held aside branches for her and Illary. He was a perfect knight and guardian.

  The lake was far behind them. They’d reached the opposite shore, but instead of saying they’d arrived, Illary had pointed ahead.

  Tamryn’s feet ached, but she imagined it was nothing to whatever Charles might be going through. He was alone in the forest, without Illary to guide him. Tamryn’s material discomforts paled in comparison to his trials.

  As Tamryn scrambled over a giant fallen tree, Nolan said, “Where are we going, exactly?”

  “I will take you there,” Illary said.

  Nolan shook his head. “That isn’t good enough. All three of us need to know. I was just thinking, what if something happens to you? Tamryn and I’ll be stuck wandering around, or we’ll have to give up and go home.”

  “I’m not giving up on Charles,” Tamryn said, surprised at the ferocity in her voice.

  “Right,” Nolan said. “Illary, can you point to our destination on a map or anything?”

  Sighing, Illary finished climbing over the massive trunk of the fallen tree and unbuckled her hiking pack. She set it on the ground in front of her feet and unzipped the smaller pouch. She pulled out a folded piece of paper and opened it up to reveal a vibrantly colored map. After studying it a moment, she pointed to a spot and said, “We’re here.”

  Tamryn recognized the lake they’d just passed. Nolan nodded.

  “This low range of mountains is where we’re heading. At the height of them is the place where Charles’s spell broke. I can’t sense his precise location, but I will assume he has remained close to the place where he awakened. Before I put him in the spell, I told him I would come for him and awaken him. He’s awoken without my help, likely because the princess awoke. I linked all of the spells to hers.”

  “Okay,” Nolan said, studying the map as if committing it to memory. “Got it. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” Illary folded the map and returned it to her pack. “If we are separated, you will find me after you find Charles. Understand?”

  “Yes,” Nolan and Tamryn said at the same time.

  She felt rather like she was repeating something back for a governess, or from one of her father’s lessons about dragon battle strategy.

  Without delay, Illary shouldered the pack once more and began walking.

  Tamryn held back a grin at the woman’s determination. When she looked over at Nolan, he also seemed to be fighting amusement. Their eyes locked for a long moment. Finally, Tamryn looked away. Illary was ahead a few paces, and they shouldn’t let too much distance grow between them.

  Nolan started off behind Tamryn, as usual, but he soon caught up to keep pace with her, shoving aside branches that got in his way so they could walk abreast.

  “What do you want?” Nolan asked in a quiet voice.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, you want to find your fiancé.”

  Was it Tamryn’s imagination, or had the word fiancé come out on a growl?

  He continued, “But beyond that, what do you want?”

  “I said it earlier, when we were with your alpha. I will gather the dragons and we will rise.”

  “I got that,” he said. “Fiancé, dragons, rise. But what do you want?”

  Tamryn didn’t know. She hadn’t given it much thought. She’d just lost her parents, her home, her legacy. Rebuilding was the logical goal. Being strong had been her instruction, although she felt anything but strong.

  Nolan was still waiting for her answer, and their footsteps sounded louder than ever.

  “I want to not talk about this anymore,” she said.

  “Fair enough,” he said, dropping back.

  It didn’t take long for Tamryn to catch up with Illary so that she was only a couple of paces behind her. When they reached a stream, they paused. The stream spanned several yards across, but it was shallow. Tamryn took inventory of the large, rounded rocks that jutted up.

  “We’ll need to cross it,” Illary said.

  “Easy enough,” Tamryn said. “We can hop across on the rocks.”


  “We should walk in the water for a ways,” Nolan suggested. “Hide our scent.”

  The idea did not appeal to Tamryn. Wade through cold water? She didn’t mind being outdoors, but she hated being cold. “Is someone after us?” she asked.

  “No,” Nolan said. “But would you want to make it easier, or harder for someone to find you? Bronson—the leader of the Bitterroot Pack—seemed pretty intent on getting that spell. Nearly killed my man Ian and his mate to get it.”

  She took off her boots and socks, then rolled up her pant legs to her knees. At home, this would have been considered scandalous for any woman not immediately shifting into her dragon form. Nolan looked at her, but he didn’t gawk.

  The world had changed quite a lot from the early eighteen-hundreds. She remembered seeing a woman at the airport wearing a gown so short, her knees were on display.

  “One more roll up should do it,” Nolan said, then turned to take off his own boots and socks and roll up his pants.

  By the time Nolan said they could get out of the stream, Tamryn was shivering and she could barely feel her feet. Illary seemed unaffected, which made Tamryn despise her just a little bit.

  Nolan looked at Tamryn, surprised. “Doesn’t your shifter blood protect you from the cold?”

  She could only shake her head. Dragons were reptiles. The mammalian shifters had an advantage in being better able to regulate their body temperature. Dragons were hardy, but being cold was extremely unpleasant.

  Without a word, he picked her up and set her on a sunny rock. He pulled a shirt from his pack and dried off her legs and feet before wrapping her feet in the shirt and holding the fabric close to her skin.

  He was hugging her feet.

  She felt vaguely embarrassed by the gesture, yet warmth bloomed in her chest at the same time. He was caring for her; he was a protective knight through and through.

  His confusion and tenderness bled through his aura and she sensed those feelings as if he were confessing them with words. He was a complicated man, that much she could tell. He’d been touched by loss, as she’d sensed before, and that loss had stayed with him as though it had happened yesterday.

  Talking about it would help him, but he didn’t want to talk. She tried to take some of the feelings into herself to mitigate his pain, but he’d wrapped them tightly around his heart.

  He was holding on to the pain.

  She wondered why, before remembering there was really only one reason to do such a thing. Guilt. Whatever had happened, he felt he was to blame in some way.

  The poor, gruff, tender man.

  “Thank you,” she said, staring down at where he knelt before her.

  He nodded. “Are your feet warm now?”

  “Yes.”

  “Wait here.” He retrieved her boots and socks from where she’d fastened them to her pack, then set them next to her on the rock.

  Illary stood not far away, patiently waiting for them. If she was bothered by Tamryn’s perceived closeness to the knight, she gave no indication.

  Tamryn was bothered, however. She shouldn’t be feeling this way about another man while she was supposed to be searching for her fiancé.

  A FEW DAYS PASSED, with more walking. Every time they passed a stream, Nolan instructed them to walk through it, but their time in the freezing water never lasted as long as it had the first time. He often looked as if he was about to hoist her over his shoulder and carry her through it. She could sense his indecision and his frustration, but she didn’t say anything about it or invite the physical contact. Touching him when she was already so fascinated by him seemed incredibly unwise.

  Still, she found herself watching him more and more, sneaking glances when Illary was preoccupied. Nearly every time she looked at him, he was staring right back at her.

  They’d been tromping through the forest for nearly a week when they reached another lake. They hadn’t bathed in several days. The few times Illary had insisted Tamryn sit down with her to practice calming her mind for shifting into her dragon, Tamryn had felt itchy and stinky.

  “Let’s stop here,” Illary said, gesturing to the pebbled shore of the lake. “We’ll set up camp early, and the queen and I can meditate.”

  Nolan nodded.

  “Baths first,” Tamryn said. “I’ll heat up some water in the cooking pot to warm a washcloth.”

  Illary nodded. “I could also do with a scrub.”

  “I’ll be in the lake,” Nolan said.

  “Won’t you be cold?” Tamryn asked.

  He pointed to his chest. “Polar bear. It’s going to take a lot more than a Canadian lake to make me uncomfortable.”

  Tamryn grabbed the cooking pot while Nolan took off along the edge of the lake. She filled it with water. Illary made a fire. Tamryn wished the cooking pot was bigger—much bigger—big enough to sit in. It was only August, but she felt like she’d never feel warm to the bone again.

  “After you, Your Majesty,” Illary said when the water was steaming.

  “Thank you,” Tamryn said.

  She quickly undressed, scrubbed her body with a quick-drying travel washcloth, and then dressed again. The water in the pot didn’t look too dirty, but she suspected Illary would appreciate clean water to wash with, so she dumped the old and went to the lake to refill the pot.

  Bending down, she dipped the pot into the chilly water and started to bring it up. Her gaze caught on movement to the side. Half-hidden by a rock, Nolan stood in the water. As she watched, he dipped beneath the surface and swam out a little way before standing again. He was in full view. His back and shoulders were covered in spiraling designs. As Tamryn watched, he scrubbed his hands through his hair, and his arms and shoulders flexed. Tamryn couldn’t stop staring. The water level was just even with the top of his buttocks. His tan skin rippled with the muscles beneath.

  “Queen Tamryn.” Illary’s voice was sharp.

  Tamryn gave a little yelp and dropped the pot in the lake. Nolan turned at the sound. His eyes, which had been wide with surprise, softened at the sight of Tamryn.

  Face flaming, she gathered the pot and made sure there was water in it before scurrying back to the fire. Illary was already undressed, waiting, and she didn’t wait for the water to heat before she began washing.

  Tamryn couldn’t believe Nolan had caught her staring at him in such a manner. What had she been thinking? She hadn’t been thinking. She’d been transfixed by the vision, entranced as with some kind of spell.

  Well, she could hardly be to blame if his body was magic.

  “You’d better be careful, Your Majes—Tamryn,” Illary said.

  Tamryn nodded. No more needed to be said. Tamryn’s duties lay with someone else. Her parents had arranged the betrothal to Charles for a reason. Growing attached to Nolan would complicate everything and destroy her parents’ plan.

  It would have been so much easier if she actually knew Charles, if she’d been allowed to fall in love with him. But they’d barely spoken to each other. In his absence, she was starting to yearn for another man.

  She was glad Illary was here as a chaperone.

  Chapter Seven

  As far as Nolan was concerned, the best thing about the lake was he could catch fish for dinner.

  That was a lie, though. Because the best thing about the lake was the way Tamryn had stared at him.

  She seemed more reluctant than usual to meet his gaze while they ate the fish he’d seasoned and cooked. Her cheeks were a faint shade of pink. Fuckin’ adorable. He didn’t even try not to stare at her. She wanted to feast her eyes on him? Well, he wanted the same damn thing, and he was going to take advantage of it.

  And Illary could take her disapproving looks and send them elsewhere.

  The past few days, Tamryn had been wearing her hair up in a ponytail, probably because it had kept tangling in her backpack straps. Her long-sleeved shirt covered a lot of her skin, but as she leaned over to keep juice from the fish from dripping down her chin, he caug
ht a glimpse of her cleavage. When she sat up straight again, she raised her eyebrows at Nolan.

  Was that a challenge? Had she tempted him on purpose? From the spark of playfulness in her eyes, he had to think she was teasing him.

  Impossible. Teasing wasn’t like her. But she’d definitely noticed his appreciative glance.

  And she hadn’t minded.

  “Tell me about where you’re from,” he said. He wanted to know everything about her, and she never seemed to want to talk. He allowed himself one question every night, and up until now, he’d kept them short and more or less impersonal—favorite color (red), favorite flower (freesia), favorite treat (marzipan cakes). Those were just the warm-ups, though. Now he wanted to know if she’d open up to him more.

  “England,” she said.

  He could’ve guessed that much from her accent.

  It seemed that was all she was going to tell him, and he wasn’t sure whether to sigh with disappointment, or be grateful that he could try again tomorrow.

  But then she went on. “The Estrayla castle of the dragons was on an island in the north-east. It’s windy, and the air smells of the ocean. There’s a quaint village down the hill from the castle. And many sheep.”

  Her violet eyes took on a faraway expression, as if she was seeing the land somewhere beyond him, re-imagining it as she spoke of it. Then her expression changed.

  “I don’t know if the village or the castle are even there anymore.”

  Nolan looked to Illary. “Do you know?”

  Illary sat still, her gaze on the piece of fish in her hand, but Nolan wasn’t fooled. The witch’s attention was on his conversation with Tamryn. “About what?”

  “About the village and castle where Tamryn lived,” he said, impatient. “Is it still there?”

  Illary shook her head. “I’m not sure.”

  “When we get back to Idaho, we’ll find out,” Nolan said.

  Nodding, she looked down at the crumpled paper napkin she held. He wanted to reach out to her, reassure her that everything would be fine.