Chapter 23 #2
I did a slow circuit of the camp, eyeing the darkness between the unnatural palms which somehow existed all the way out here in the middle of the Lyrian.
The air was moist and the chirrup of cicadas filled the air, alongside the grunt and croak of other small animals hiding away in the vegetation.
The magic in this place made me uncomfortable, but as I turned my thoughts to Princess Austyn, I found an inch of calm to hold onto.
I pictured her face, knowing it was a crime in itself that I hadn’t tried to forget her features the moment I’d cast my eyes upon them, but I would no sooner let that vision go than allow an enemy army through the palace gates.
It was mine, and a dark part of me was growing angrier and angrier about the fact that she would be Unveiled soon.
That the men in the pageant would be able to feast their eyes on her, stash memories of her in their wicked minds to do whatever they pleased with.
It made me want to cut out all of their eyes, so they never got the chance to behold her, and as my gaze slid to Drake across the camp, I felt a shudder of apprehension over him vying for her hand.
Would she be taken with him? Fall for his charm and let him touch her the way he’d touched a hundred women.
My grip tightened on the hilt of my sword and for a moment it was if the blade was humming in my grip, buzzing with power. But I was pretty sure it was just how hard I was holding onto it.
“Why’s he walking in a big circle?” Kyra whispered to herself, as she bent over backwards and placed her hands on the ground while looking directly at me.
“I’m checking for signs of danger,” I told her. “I’m a royal guard, it’s a habit I guess.”
“Ooh,” Kyra cooed, kicking her legs up and somehow moving into a handstand which caused her dress to tumble down her thighs then whispered to herself. “Habits are so cuddly and fluffy.”
I was pretty sure she’d gotten her habits mixed up with her rabbits, but as I opened my mouth to say it, Drake piped up.
“Was,” he said, his eyes catching on the exposed skin of Kyra’s legs before she thankfully dropped them to the ground once more and flipped herself upright again. “You was a royal guard.”
“You were a royal guard,” I corrected him with a tut. “If you speak like that in front of high-born Fae, they’ll catch on to you in no time.”
He shrugged, turning his attention to his coins again, making sure every single one was back in his pile before he acknowledged me, raising his chin and holding my eye as a decision shone in his dark gaze.
“Alright. Teach me to be a poncey twat,” he commanded, and it was only for my love of my kingdom that I decided to try.
Kyra looked between us, biting her lip and I stiffened as she cast a fluffy pink cloud out of nothing to sit cross-legged on, floating closer to see better.
Drake and I shared a nervous glance, the sight of this magic clearly setting him on edge too though he seemed to be adjusting to it far faster than I was.
I swear my heart still leapt at every display of her power and despite her almost innocent seeming disposition, I half expected her to turn this power on us at any moment just for the hell of it.
“What are you waiting for? Make him into a poncey twat!” Kyra urged excitedly as she floated closer.
I cleared my throat, nodding and beckoning Drake to his feet. “Get up,” I encouraged, and he did so, his cocky swagger already dripping from him.
“Shoulders back. You slouch.” I moved behind him and straightened out his spine. “Like this.” I strode away from him with my head held tall, showing him how the noblemen walked.
He watched me for a moment then strutted forward like a peacock, pushing his fingers into his hair, and smirking like he owned the whole world.
“Yeah...that'll pass,” I snorted, and he gave me a slanted grin.
“That was too easy. What’s next?” he asked.
“I can't teach you all the customs of the nobles in one night. And for you I’d need a decade.”
He raised a brow. “Well, how long do we have ‘til the pageant starts?”
I looked up to the moon. It seemed almost as if an entire lifetime had passed since I'd first been imprisoned and as I worked to count the days that had actually passed, shock jarred through me.
“It’s in less than a week,” I announced in concern and Drake suddenly looked half a fraction less confident than usual.
“Teach me then, mate,” he urged.
I had more on the line than he did, so I had to give it my all, but as he casually rearranged his cock in his britches like it was nothing, I sighed.
“You can’t touch yourself like that in front of the nobles. Ever.”
“What? Not even if my balls are itching?” he gasped.
“I could scratch them for you if you command it. Would that be okay in front of the noble people, Cassius?” Kyra asked brightly.
“No,” I balked as Drake barked a laugh.
“So what am I supposed to do? Just let my balls itch?” Drake asked seriously and I sighed. This was going to be a long fucking night.
“Yes, Drake,” I growled. “You let them itch until they fall off for all I care, because I swear on the Fallen if you scratch them in front of the princess, I will cut them off.”
“Hang on a second, so you’re telling me that while you were on duty, you had to stand there with your balls itching up a storm, and you couldn’t even do a little wall grind to alleviate them?
“What’s a wall grind?” I demanded and Kyra flicked a finger, creating a small wall in front of Drake as she rolled onto her front on the cloud and cupped her head in her hands to watch.
“Thanks, little goddess,” he said, giving her a smile, which was all too flirtatious in my opinion, before he started grinding his crotch on the wall, tossing me an overly sexualised look as I clenched my teeth and fought to hold back my irritation.
“Right, it was precisely as it sounded then,” I deadpanned, swiping a hand down my face. “And no, we cannot do a fucking wall grind in the palace. No one should ever do that in the palace. Or anywhere for that matter. It’s unseemly.”
“Even if no one is around?” he asked in a mocking act of dismay, this entire thing clearly some joke to him, still grinding his junk on the wall like some sort of wild animal marking its scent.
“Of course not, we are taught perfect restraint,” I said, lifting my chin and he finally stopped grinding, turning to me with a pitying frown.
“Fuck me, you had it even worse than I thought, mate. They cut the man right out of you, didn’t they?”
My lips pressed hard together at those words, the truth of them cutting far deeper than I liked even as he sniggered at what had clearly been a joke.
And though he might not have seriously gone around grinding against walls, I could tell his last words held a bite of truth to them when it came to his opinion of me.
He might have been poor and hungry and fighting for his survival every day, but he had at least been himself during that time.
I on the other hand, had become a creature of the crown and any semblance of the man I might have been outside of that was a hard thing to be certain of.
I didn’t answer him, instead stowing my sword away and paying far too much attention to the act.
Yes, there was an impenetrable box within me built of self-control and a thousand orders drummed into my being.
The beast within it may have broken out on occasion, but it was always dragged back in again, collared and leashed.
I was both the prisoner and the prison. This flesh was owned by the emperor, I’d handed it over the day I’d signed the contract given to me by Captain Marik.
It had been my choice to make, so I wasn’t going to pity myself of that choice.
Especially not when it had saved my mother and sisters from losing their home.
I wouldn’t even regret that it had landed me here, preparing to take on the cuckoo in my kingdom’s nest, because I had vowed I’d do anything for an opportunity to do just that for years.
I couldn’t go complaining about the way it had been presented to me.
“You’ll need to learn to bow,” I told Drake, changing the subject.
I curled my right hand into a fist, laid it over my heart then bowed at a forty-five-degree angle. He picked it up straight away and as we continued on with our training and Kyra circled us, clapping and laughing or sometimes just mumbling to herself, I had to admit Drake was a quick study.
I tried to improve his speech and the way he should address other nobles, but one evening wasn't enough for all of it, though he had made vast improvements by the time we sank down to the ground around the fire and called it a night.
At least the dog was teachable. He actually listened when I spoke, which was something I had only experienced in the company of my family. Royal guards weren’t meant to voice their opinions or speak their minds.
Drake’s comments about this not being the first con he’d ever run set me on edge more than they reassured me.
He was a master of manipulation and a con man well practiced in getting what he wanted.
Was I a fool for aiming this charlatan at the princess of our kingdom?
Was I an even bigger fool to believe she wouldn’t fall for his false charm?
My throat thickened and the tightness in my chest became almost unbearable as I pictured her laughing at his jokes, letting him draw her closer, seeking a kiss from his mouth.
“I need a drink,” Drake muttered, looking to Kyra and I was jolted out of the darkness seeping over me as my attention was drawn to them.
I had tried to encourage him to be careful when asking for her gifts, to treat them with respect, and be wary before wishing for anything, thinking long and hard on each request. But he took advantage of her abilities as if he had owned them his entire life, no longer seeming the least bit concerned about the magic.