Chapter 11
F or the first time since the princess hurled herself into the carriage like the pouting, petulant child she was, a flicker of fear crossed over her features.
As much as I had wanted her to have the sense to be afraid, or hell, to be scared enough to keep her mouth shut for twelve seconds, it wasn’t nearly as satisfying as I might have hoped.
It was unavoidable, though.
She might have only heard rumors of my reputation at the Summit, but surely, the closer we got to Bear, the more those rumors weighed. And once there, even she would have to face the reality of who I was and the things I had done. The reason my people were rightfully terrified of me.
Kirill rapped on the carriage. I could tell his knock by the weight and the pattern, three raps light enough to let me know my attention was needed but we weren’t in immediate danger.
I took a moment to button my coat. Even amongst the men I trusted, appearances mattered, especially when garnering their respect was the difference in life and death—for the soldiers and the people of Bear, both, once my father was involved.
And the men outside weren’t entirely ones I trusted, though I was fortunate to have at least a few here who I knew were loyal to me rather than the madman who was in charge of our clan. Kirill, Dmitriy, Henrick, and a handful of others.
Once I was sure everything was in place, I exited the carriage, closing the door behind me.
“What is it?” I asked.
“ Besklanovvy ,” Kirill replied. “More than we usually see. It almost looks like a band is tracking us.”
Wonderful.
But also, odd. The Unclanned had to know they were no match for armed soldiers. Perhaps the carriage was too tempting for them.
Or perhaps it was yet another thing brought on by a certain redheaded walking disaster.
“We’ll take a smaller group on horseback, then,” I ordered. “We should have no problem outpacing them.”
A wind blew in, and I remembered I would have the fun of escorting a tiny princess in skirts on one of these massive warhorses. Kirill went to tell the men, and with a sigh, I opened the carriage door.
The princess went rigid in her seat, her eyes widening. Of course she would start being afraid of me just when I needed her to cooperate. I blinked irritably, shoving a spare cloak at her.
“Put this on. We’re switching to horses now.”
Her jade eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Why?”
I had never truly appreciated how much easier it was traveling with soldiers. I released a sharp breath through my nose.
“Because I was desperate to hear you complain about something,” I told her.
Kirill edged in next to me, politely extending a hand to her while he shot me a disapproving glance.
Easy for him. He wasn’t the one who had to deal with both the spoiled princess and the repercussions of bringing her home, which were only marginally better than the repercussions of not bringing her home.
And now this, whatever the hell was going on with the Unclanned. They had attacked Iiro on the road to the Summit, so their presence here couldn’t possibly be a coincidence.
My gaze slid back to the indignant fire haired pixie in question.
Damn her and Iiro both. And Korhonan. Always Korhonan.
“Just for safety, Your Highness,” Kirill explained patiently, like we weren’t both every bit the ruthless killers she thought we were. “The carriage is slower and a bit too obvious, so we will ride ahead with a group of ten or so, and the rest will stay behind with our things.”
“We weren’t worried about that before?”
So she did have a brain, whensoever she chose to use it. Kirill looked at me before responding, and I gave him a subtle nod.
“We’ve spotted some suspicious activity,” he said.
“Thank you…”
“Kirill, Highness,” he supplied his name politely.
“Thank you, Kirill.” She took his arm with all the civility of someone who hadn’t tried to stab me in my sleep earlier.
The rest of the men were busy transferring things from the carriage to the horses. I walked through the men, pointing to a few and then the horses to indicate which ones I wanted to come with us while calculating how quickly we could make it to Wolf Estate.
Though I didn’t love Nils or his family, they were our allies and it was the safest place for us until we crossed the border between our territories. Besides, Wolf Estate was a veritable fortress, and far easier to defend than a random soldier’s inn.
There was some scattered laughter behind me, which I ignored until the princess’s voice rang out.
“Clearly, this is the closest any of you have been to what’s under a woman’s dress, but do try to control yourselves.”
I turned around, crossing my arms as I surveyed the scene. Igor stood dead-still, his lips parted in thinly veiled horror—at the audacity of the tiny woman or the shock of what she said, I wasn’t sure—while my new pet stood in the middle of the soldiers with pink cheeks, her narrow shoulders squared. She looked even tinier surrounded by the soldiers.
Then my gaze landed on her hands, which were clenched around lacy underthings, and suddenly her challenging gaze made sense.
I took in the stunned silence of my men, the embarrassed defiance of the girl who had just called into question all of their manhood, and I felt the most unreasonable urge to laugh. Who was this girl who stood in the middle of a group of enemy soldiers and had the nerve to mock them?
It should have been infuriating, that level of entitlement. And it was. But I couldn’t deny that it was entertaining, when I wasn’t having to directly put up with it. I clenched my jaw, but Kirill saw anyway.
He broke into a laugh of his own, raising a subtle eyebrow at me before turning to Igor.
“She’s got you there, Igor.”
The men took it as permission to join in the laughter, and the girl I wasn’t entirely convinced was a princess sighed in relief. I gestured for Dimitriy to bring over the smallest of our warhorses, and though small by warhorse standards, it still towered over her. He left it in front of me, and Rowan shook her head, several messy curls falling forward in the process.
“I’m not riding with you,” she declared.
There was a subtle intake of breath behind me. My men would be flogged for that level of disrespect, and I didn’t know a single woman who would ever dare to attempt it. But then, I didn’t know a single woman like this one.
Since I wasn’t in the business of flogging tiny princesses, no matter how irritating they were, and was determined to prevent a war if I could, I only shook my head.
“Relax, Princess. No one here has any desire to share a mount with your cursed hair.”
Let alone that Maxim was picky about who rode him. Already, my tempestuous horse was giving her a subtle side eye.
She tilted her head. “You aren’t worried about me running away?”
I studied her.
“Surrounded by ten trained men in an unfamiliar terrain with no food, water, or supplies?” Then again, considering the circumstances that had landed us all in this mess, it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility. “On second thought, it does sound like something you would do. Kirill, tether our horses.”
She fumed, and I smirked in response, deciding that at least if her presence was going to make my life this difficult, I could have the relative entertainment of irritating her as much as she did me.
Kirill brought my horse over while I left the princess to mount hers, which I assumed was in her skillset since she didn’t seem to do anything the way a typical lady did.
But apparently, I had assumed too soon. She made a few valiant attempts, hitching her skirts higher with each one and cursing them under her breath. A few of my men looked a little too invested in how far she might go to climb up without assistance, and something in me reacted viscerally to that.
I crossed the short distance. Her cloak was already pushed behind her, so I got a firm grasp on her waist, lifting her onto the horse in one solid motion. She was tiny enough that my hands almost met around her, and unexpected warmth emanated through me from the thin silk of her ill-fitting gown.
“The goal was actually to get there faster, Lemmikki,” I said, rather than have her question why I bothered to help her when I wasn’t entirely sure myself.
What was it to me if she exposed her entire thigh to the men? Half of them had probably seen her pale, round arse shining in the moonlight just as easily as I had a few nights prior.
Her cheeks went crimson again, the color spreading down to her collarbone.
“You know, it really is hardly fair that I have such a charming nickname and you don’t,” she said with false sweetness. “Tell me, what is the Socairan word for ‘arseling’?”
How very surprising that she was ungrateful for my intervention. Next time, I would just let her moon the entire lot of them. At least none of the other men were within hearing distance, aside from Kirill, who was fighting back a chuckle. I turned to mount my own horse, ignoring her, but my ever so loyal soldier spoke up in my stead.
“I don’t believe there’s a direct translation, Highness, but I think aalio would suit your purposes nicely.”
I glared at Kirill, who only smiled back.
“Excellent. Well, then, Lord Aalio. Off we go.”
Indeed, Princess Pain-in-the-Arse.