by Ann Denton
I hoped my honesty counted for something. That I laid everything out on the table and said Wyle was unraveling the spells for us.
Finally, he was ready to take me to the practice yard. We found Ryan running drills with his men. They held staffs and swords and were running, thrusting, sweating, and overall looking very, very sexy. I had to peel my eyes away from the deliciousness. I think my orgasm last night had amped up my sexual awareness.
Ryan smirked at me. “Like what you see?”
“I’d like it better if you were out there shirtless.”
That made his grin wider.
I sighed. “But they’ll do. I’m with Declan this morning. I wanted to see if you wanted to help me out with that little project I mentioned to you.”
Declan looked alarmed. He held up his hands a took a step back “Project? What project? You didn’t say there was a project. I thought this was a handoff. I have work. If you want a solution for Willard—”
I clamped a hand over Declan’s mouth. “That’s confidential. And don’t worry. We’re just going to play with your powers.”
Once Declan was calm, Ryan nodded to me. “I can help. Just let me go tell my captain."
Ryan sprinted off, zigzagging through the lunging, grunting, and groaning men.
You’re randy this morning, Dove. Need me to do something about that?
Can you hear me from across the country?
With that bead, yes. How do you think I built my spy network to be so efficient?
I shoved down how impressed I was by that. Leave me alone. I need to focus.
Quinn sent me an image of a duck trying to mount another duck and continually falling off.
I burst out laughing. "Stop it."
"I'm not doing anything,” Declan stared at me and shook his head.
"Not you. Quinn is in my head. Sending duck sex thoughts."
"Oh. Yeah, he can be a shite."
"Do you have a bead, too?"
"Yep. We all do. Just in case he’s out and needs a contact back here.”
Ryan ran back toward us. This time he didn't have a shirt.
I openly stared at his pecs, ogled his six pack, and let my eyes gaze at his happy trail.
"Did you lose your shirt between your captain and here?" Declan rolled his eyes.
"Nope. Quinn said Bloss was feeling naughty."
"Argh. Quinn, I'm killing you." I covered my face with my hands.
The mental image of Quinn running around me, waving a shirt and whooping like a wild man, appeared.
"What's he sending you?" Ryan leaned close and trailed my hand down his chest.
Oh Lord. I was about to combust from mental dissonance—the ridiculous mental pictures and the roaring lust. "What the sard am I supposed to do when you all gang up on me?”
“Just a little payback, Dearling,” Ryan whispered, dragging my fingers up to his lips and kissing them one by one. He sucked my pinkie into his mouth just as Quinn sent me an image of a firework exploding.
I nearly exploded myself. I turned to Declan and grabbed his vest by the lapels. “Save me, please.”
His eyes popped, and he reached up to pull my arms off of him. “Even if I wanted to help you, which—to be clear—I don’t, what am I supposed to do?”
“Dump water on him, like you did the other day—”
“That will just make his abs glisten in the sunlight,” Declan couldn’t help the shite-eating grin that popped up on his face.
“Mercy!” I cried. “Give me mercy.”
Declan took my arm out of pity and I led him out of the practice yard, glad to escape.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
“The stables,” I replied. “We’re going out for the day.”
He nodded, and we walked in silence for a bit. Then Declan surprised me by saying, “Quinn sent us all an update on what happened last night.”
My body heated up, like I was on a spit, over a fire. No.
“Yes, tonight, when it’s my watch, I can’t wait to see what you’ll dream about,” Ryan murmured.
I couldn’t cover my face with my hands; a group of noblemen walked by just then, on their way to the practice arena. I had to fake a smile and a nod and maintain my composure.
Part of me felt like laughing. But the other part of me felt like crying. Because this either meant that my husbands were on their way to forgiving me, that they were joking with me and including me. Or it meant they truly and completely hated me and were determined to torture me. I wasn’t sure which it was.
Chapter Fifteen
We reached the stables, which housed not only horses, but pegasi, bulls, donkeys, and two ancient horned gargoyles. Noble and servant children alike skittered in and out of the doors of the stable. It was a popular place to visit.
The beast master, Jace, was a grim, dark man with a jagged scar across his chin. He strode out the stable doors to greet us, a bag of apples in hand. He must have been feeding the horses.
He grunted at me. That was as much of a greeting as he ever gave.
Behind him, I saw three servant children pointing and making faces. Jace was both revered for his abilities with animals and feared for the scar on his face. He also had an uncanny sense of his surroundings. Without turning from us, he threw an apple backward, smacking one of the kids in the chest.
“Off with you!” he groused. The children scattered like mice.
"Morning, Jace. May we have three horses please?"
“How long a ride?”
“We’ll be heading to Terra.”
He nodded, gave a perfunctory bow, and disappeared into the stables. I heard another thunk of what could only have been an apple hitting wood.
“Get outta here, you mangy curs!” Jace bellowed.
Another group of giggling kids ran past us, one of them munching on a slightly bruised apple. I wondered then, if the apples really were for the horses or if Jace kept the treats for the children. The old hard-ass would never admit to it but … I bit my lip and resolved to send him a barrel of apples.
I laughed as the children ran down to the paddock and climbed the fence to watch the gargoyles stretch and run; I was as excited for my adventure today as they were for theirs. What I had planned was so much better than being stuck with tutors yet again.
"What exactly are we doing? Declan asked. “Terra’s at least an hour away.”
I shrugged. “Each fall, the farmers near Terra go into the hills and pick berries. Today is the first day of picking. I thought it would be a good opportunity for you to test your magic because it requires precision. And because you couldn’t possibly drown anyone in the process."
“You did not almost drown!” Declan protested.
Meanwhile, Ryan grumbled. "I thought we would do something exciting. I thought we'd have him divide knives in half or something to help fend off an attack."
I rolled my eyes. "I'm pretty sure you think farming is exciting when food’s brought to the table every night."
Declan laughed, "She's got you pinned, Ry!"
Ryan smacked Declan on the back. “Shut it." He turned to me, “What am I here for?"
“Isn’t your family from Terra? I thought you might like the chance to see them.”
Ryan groaned. “This is all a ploy to meet my family?” He pointed a finger. “You’re going to try to get my mother to guilt me back into liking you, aren’t you?”
“You liked me at some point to begin with?”
He bit his lip. “I didn’t say that.”
“Dec, Ryan liked me!” I threw out my arms and spun around. “Oh. Nope. You did not just see that. That was not queenly at all. Do not tell my mother.”
Declan shook his head. “What’s gotten into you?”
“Castle fever. I haven’t been stuck inside this long in forever.”
Declan cocked his head. “Ah. The real reason for this trip is revealed. It’s selfish.”
“No. I’m a political savant. This is a triple win situation. We a
ll get something we want.”
Declan looked at Ryan, “Did I say I wanted to practice my powers?”
Ryan raised his hand. “How am I getting something I want?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Ryan Hale, I’ve heard you rave about your mother’s berry pies since you were in the lower guard. So, stop pretending you aren’t aching to see her.”
“Fine. I could eat.”
I laughed.
Ryan shook his head. “I need to go grab a few guards.”
“Guards? Why?”
“Because a crown princess doesn’t travel unescorted. Unless she’s planning to try to escape.”
Both men stared me down. “I’m not trying to escape. Really,” I sighed. “Fine. Get the guards.”
As Ryan sauntered off to request more guards and horses, I turned to Declan. “This will be fun, don’t you think?”
Declan bit his lip and shook his head. “Did you really think this through? Do you really think the people of Terra want to see the invader knight?”
“Invader?”
“Foreigner, then?”
My blood boiled. “Who called you that?”
He snorted. “It gets whispered nearly every day. Surprised you haven’t heard it since you came back.”
I raised a brow. “Well, it seems I have some work to do on the nobles then. But, let me assure you, the people of Evaness don’t feel the same.”
“What?” Declan’s blue eyes flickered to mine, confused.
I smiled at him. “You’ll see.”
Just then a page approached with a message for me. I stepped away from Declan to read the letter, and then bent and whispered instructions to the boy. He scampered off with a grin. And I couldn’t keep a wide smile off my face.
“Good news?” Declan asked.
“We’ll see.”
Ryan arrived shortly after that and we set off on a winding trail to the northwest. We let the guard spread out around us, so that we had some semblance of privacy.
“Quinn’s pouting that you didn’t invite him,” Ryan gave me a sideways grin.
I rolled my eyes. “Please, he’s probably already snuck down there. Besides, he got ‘alone time’ with me last night.”
Ryan belted out a laugh and Declan shook his head.
I turned to look at Declan as we cantered along. “Have you thought of any possibilities regarding that request I told you about?” I didn’t want to use Willard’s name in front of the guards. Just in case.
Declan shook his head. “Duke Aiden’s about to arrive. Your mother’s having me research Abbas and his father’s holdings before his arrival. She wants to make certain Sultan Raj isn’t hiding anything.”
I grimaced. “I hope you find something.”
“No, you don’t.”
I sighed. “I don’t want her to go.”
Ryan clucked at his horse and then turned to join the conversation. “She’ll have to leave at some point, Bloss. There isn’t a crown here for her. And it’s not like princesses abound, she’s one of what—three eligible in the next decade? There will be a lot of suitors visiting. Hell, she might even start a war.”
The war comment prodded at me and I blurted out without thinking. “I would rather have trusted you all to take care of her.”
Declan stopped his horse. Ryan pulled his horse up beside mine and grabs my reigns. “What’s that mean?”
I stared at Ryan’s deep brown eyes and worded my statement very carefully. “It means my mother went to an awful lot of trouble to ensure she had two female heirs.”
“Why?”
The geas wouldn’t let me answer.
Luckily, Declan stepped in. He wrangled his horse clumsily until it was next to mine and Ryan’s. He waved the guards near us on and waited until they were out of earshot.
Declan grabbed my hand. “She thought she’d need the spare.” His eyes searched mine. I couldn’t respond, couldn’t confirm or deny. I simply squeezed his fingers as tight as I could. It was the best I could do to let him know he was on the right track.
“Is this the riddle, Bloss?” Declan whispered.
I squeezed his hand again.
“Can you squeeze my hand once for yes, twice for no?”
As soon as he asked that, the geas locked my limbs. I couldn’t move. Shite.
“What’s wrong with her?” Ryan reached over and pulled me off my horse, onto his lap. He pulled my stiff limbs into his warm, hard chest and rubbed my back, then gently tried to uncurl my frozen fingers.
Declan held the reigns to my mount, keeping her steady. He looked at me and then met Ryan’s worried gaze. “I think she’s under a spell. And I don’t think she can say what kind.”
The rest of the ride was somber as Ryan and Declan fell back and held a whispered conversation. They refused to let me be part of it.
“You just lock up. You’ll end up falling off your horse,” Declan shushed me and sent me up to the front.
Ryan made several guards ride near me and make small talk. I’m certain it was as uncomfortable for them as it was for me.
I cursed myself for saying anything. My mother had given my husbands an out with the dragon hunting cover story. If something happened to me, nothing had to happen to them. But what if I died publicly? And dragons couldn’t be blamed? Or what if the people waited a decade for me to return from dragon hunting, but grew impatient? What if they rebelled? A million other negative scenarios flooded my head. The last thing in the world I wanted was for my knights to have to follow me into death.
Maybe I should just divorce my husbands, renounce the crown publicly, and then hand them all over to Avia. But Connor’s smile flashed through my mind. Ryan’s dark eyes as he said dirty things. Declan’s thoughtful gaze. And Quinn, on his knees, gripping my ankles, begging me not to go. The last image startled me. It wasn’t what I’d expected.
Are you in my head?
No one answered.
I shook my myself out of my reverie and smiled at one of the younger guards. Shite. I was getting paranoid. Sard that. Today was supposed to be about Declan. Not me or my problems.
“Who wants to race to the first farmhouse?” I called out. I spurred my mare to a gallop before anyone else could respond.
By the time we reached the farmhouse, all serious and somber thoughts were gone. At least from my mind. The guards, Ryan, and Declan seemed to have scolding thoughts on their minds.
I laughed as I dismounted on my own.
“Let’s go talk to Terri, the local burgmaster.”
Ryan stomped next to me, still in a bit of a pout. His horse had lost, by a lot. Of course, it had a lot of extra weight to carry. “You know Terri?”
I grinned. “Spent a whole summer in his corn field.”
“That better not be a metaphor,” Declan added wryly as he joined us.
“It’s not.” I scrambled ahead to shake Terri’s age spotted hand. He didn’t recognize me, of course. I’d been a tall blonde woman when I’d helped him. Not the petite princess his filmy eyes looked at now. He was a bit startled when he heard my plan, but quickly agreed.
We waited in the village square as everyone from town gathered with baskets and curious faces. Terri looked proud when he announced that Ryan and his wife would be joining them for the day. He forgot to mention Declan. I wasn’t sure if it was on purpose or not. Terri was on in years.
The village reaction was mixed. Some people came up to greet us, others stood back and whispered behind their hands.
“It’s because I’m here,” Declan muttered to me.
“Bull. It’s because half the women in the village are secretly wondering if they can smother me in order to get their hands on you.”
He chuckled. “And what would they do if they caught me?”
I shrugged. “All the wrong stuff. They wouldn’t know they need to hold you down and spank you before they rode you hard.”
He laughed and held out his elbow to escort me up the road, but his eyes were alight. Perha
ps even on fire. “Is that what you would do?”
I tilted my head close so I could whisper up at him. “If you’re a good boy and control your magic today, that’s what I will do.”
Declan’s eyes dilated as he looked down at me. “Challenge accepted.”
My heart swelled. Nerdy sweet little Declan was stepping up and teasing me back. I didn’t want to jinx the possibilities by thinking about more. I’d just bask in this … whatever it was. I winked and patted his hand. I gestured up the rocky hill we’d followed the villagers to and he looked at the hundreds of thorny blackberries lining the hill. “Have at it, love. I want you to reduce the thorns and multiply the berries. One berry at a time.”
He groaned.
Ryan, who’d been visiting with locals and friends he’d grown up with, bounded over. “Are we ready to start?”
“Declan’s thrilled,” I said. “Want a first row seat with me?”
Ryan shook his head. “Sorry, promised I’d help my mother—” he hurried off.
“Aren’t you going to introduce—”
But Ryan was gone.
I bit back my disappointment. Of course, he wasn’t going to introduce you, idiot, I told myself. No expectations. I left him. Still, it hurt.
Declan helped me climb a bit of ridge and we selected a bush. I sat beside it, facing him. I tried to wash away all thoughts of Ryan and focus on my sweet, blond scholar, who was already shivering in the brisk fall air. “Alright, have at it.”
“That’s it? You would have made an excellent tutor.”
“Try to send a small burst. To reduce a single branch of thorns and produce berries there instead.”
Declan shook his head but held out his hand. A yellow glow built around his fingertips. And then it zinged toward the bush.
BAM!
The bush exploded in berry juice, splattering both of us with purple liquid.
I wiped my eyes. “Well, that’s one way to do it.” I tried to clean my face with my skirt, but the stain was everywhere.
“Sard!” Declan shook the gooey mess off his hands. “We need to change.”