Chapter 13 #2
“This one has a name,” Fabia snarls. “And I’m her maid of honour. We swore it to each other years ago.”
“I don’t care what you pinkie swore to each other when you were children. A fairy maid of honour’s duties are too important for you to fuck up.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” She crosses her arms. “I didn’t realise Irin knows Arienna enough to know how to calm her down when she starts panicking and second guessing herself.”
“Why would she second guess herself? It’s between me or death.”
“Well, if it was me, I would’ve chosen death.”
My jaw tics. I glance at Nicholas, but all he does is grin. The bastard.
“Enjoy.” With a short wave, he steps into the hall and closes the door behind him. The click is annoyingly final.
Looking at Jace, I give a sharp nod.
Shooting to his feet, he wraps his arms around Fabia’s waist and hoists her into the air. Shifting with the fluidity of water itself, he grabs her throat with one hand and slams her towards the ground.
Her body bucks. Her legs curl up between them and wrap around his neck. As he leans forward, his momentum unstoppable, she grabs the back of his head with both hands and pulls.
They slam into the ground. Jace grabs one of her legs, twists free, and then rolls her onto her stomach. As soon as he does, he jumps to his feet and steps back. “Gods, you have to marry me.”
Following him, she aims a kick at his balls. Grabbing her ankle, he spins her around and pins her against the wall. “Easy,” he murmurs. “It was just a test.”
“What the fuck?” she seethes.
“You have quite the mouth for a brownie.” Studying her, I walk forward and lean against the wall beside her. Jace nods at me, letting me know he has her, not that I doubted him for a second. I’ve been locked in his grip enough times to know there’s no way she’s getting free.
Her lips purse. Jace cups her mouth with his hand before she can carry through. “I would be honoured if you spit in my palm, my goddess.”
Fabia rolls her eyes. And the way he said “my goddess” brings out a dry glare from me. When he winks, I know he’s taking the piss about how I called Arienna my queen.
I am never going to live that down.
And a part of me doesn’t want to.
Clamping that dangerous thought down, I look into Fabia’s eyes. “A fairy maid of honour needs to be able to protect the groom from being kidnapped. Stay behind Jace and don’t get in his way.”
“What happens if I don’t?” she mumbles against Jace’s palm.
“Arienna dies.” A bit of an exaggeration but not much of one.
The tradition of kidnapping the groom will invite every idiot in Kholar, Raza, to try to grab me given my bride will have to pay to get me back.
And if she can’t, the date of her execution will come well before our wedding because if a woman isn’t strong enough to protect her man, then no priest will marry them.
“Your culture is messed up,” she mutters.
“At least it’s not a cult.”
Her eyes soften the tiniest bit, and I stare at her in surprise. No brownie I’ve ever met has realised their entire kingdom is a cult.
When she pushes against the wall, I nod at Jace to let her go. Stepping back, he pulls out a knife as big as his forearm and offers it to her hilt first. “Don’t do anything stupid,” he says. “I’d hate to have to bury my goddess.”
Her lips move wordlessly before she chokes out, “How serious is this kidnapping business?”
“Normally, not much. Those doing the kidnapping are often friends and family having fun, and if they manage to kidnap the groom, they only ever ask for token payments.” Jace grins. “But Richard has pissed off a lot of people, and weapons aren’t explicitly banned.”
“Shocking.” Grabbing the knife, she swings it around a bit, testing its weight. Her nimble fingers move it in every direction, impressing me more than I’ll ever admit.
“Now where would a good brownie learn that?”
Stilling the blade, she lowers it to her side. Her eyes bouncing between us, her voice grows small. “I taught myself.”
Jace whistles. “I’d like to see you on the training field.”
Her eyes light up as bright as beambugs before dulling into a hard, suspicious line. “You can’t buy me that easily.”
I smile in amusement. “You’re assuming you’re worth buying? Cute.”
Had Jace not stepped between us and grabbed her arm, she would’ve tried to stab me.
“I’ll take that back, thank you very much,” he says, relieving her of her weapon.
Turning to me, he shoves me towards my desk.
“Go get on with your boring paperwork. I’ve a protégé to train and a goddess to convince to marry me. ”
If he was anyone else, I would have fired him a long time ago.
Instead, I do as he requests. Settling in my chair, I watch the door close behind them.
Then I turn my attention to the agreement in front of me.
Picking up the thick stack of paper, I check over all the terms and conditions the Vylian king wants me to agree to.
My mind stays focused. Sharp. It doesn’t wander to a certain brownie getting dressed on the floor below me.
It doesn’t wish I could see through the wood beneath my feet.
And it most certainly doesn’t imagine the dresses sliding down her body, then pooling on the mosaic floor.
Fuck.
As my newest pen snaps, I can almost hear Jace laughing out in the hall.