Chapter 16
The next morning, a sharp boot nudged Amos’ back. “Get up before everyone gets here,” Sariah said, nudging him again. He swatted at her leg, but she kicked his hand away. “Unless you want everyone to see your mate in a ripped dress.”
Amos pushed up and glanced down at Clover’s sleeping form, her destroyed dress doing nothing to hide her bare chest.
A shirt and pair of trousers smacked him in the face. “These might be a bit tight, but they should work well enough for you to get her home to change.” Sariah looked him up and down. “You need to change too. Were you two attacked by a mountain lion?”
Ignoring her, Amos shook Clover gently and leaned down to kiss her, unable to get enough. “Wake up, wife. People will be arriving soon, and you need to change.”
She shoved at him, grumbling, “I’m not your wife.”
He grinned, and Sariah snorted. Clover’s eyes popped open, and she jerked her head toward Sariah. “Oh my gods!”
Sariah chuckled. “Relax. I’m the only one here. Your mate has clothes for you, and then you two need to get cleaned up.”
Clover’s face flamed, and she glared at Amos when his smile widened. “Stop smiling, or this time my dagger won’t miss.”
His cock hardened instantly. Gods, I hope so.
Reluctantly, he pushed to his feet and helped her up, motioning for Sariah to turn around. The woman rolled her eyes and walked toward the cave entrance. “I’ll make sure no one comes in.”
“Thank you, Sariah,” Clover threw over her shoulder, and quickly shimmied out of the pathetic remains of her dress. “Did you have to tear it in half?”
Amos reached out and grazed a thumb over the swell of her breast, unable to resist. “Yes, and you loved it.”
Ignoring his declaration, she shoved the fabric into his hands. “Make yourself useful and get rid of this.” He started to walk off, but she caught his shirt and yanked him back to press a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you.”
The warmth in her eyes sent a ripple through him, and he leaned down to kiss her. It took all his willpower to pull away before he did something reckless—like try to fuck her with Sariah right outside.
Discarding the tattered dress in a trash bin, Amos returned and glanced at her pants hovering a good four inches off the ground. “Did those belong to a child?”
Clover sighed and tugged on her boots. “Not everyone is tall like us.”
She pushed him toward the exit, and he glanced at her over his shoulder. “You’re not that tall.”
Clover moved to his side as they approached the cave’s opening, a tiny trench forming between her brows. “What are you talking about? I’m five-foot-ten.”
He looked at her skeptically. “If you say so.” She didn’t seem very tall to him.
“Just because you’re half a foot taller than I am doesn’t mean I’m short,” she grumbled. “Sariah, explain to him that I’m tall.”
Amos waved them off impatiently. The others would be there soon and they needed to leave before Thomas arrived and saw Clover looking freshly fucked.
“We don’t have time to redefine the word tall.
” He tried not to laugh at Clover’s indignant gasp.
“Sariah, do you mind telling the others we’ll be a little late? ” he asked. “We both need to change.”
“And bathe,” Sariah added dryly, and plucked a branch out of Clover’s hair. “Badly.”
Clover made a strangled sound and reached for her hair. “Oh my gods, I didn’t know it was this bad,” she wailed, plucking at the debris.
Amos reached over, plucking a pebble from her hair. “I think you look beautiful.”
It took a lot of convincing, but eventually Amos left Clover at her family’s house and went to change at the estate. He’d insisted on borrowing something of her father’s, but Marcus was twice as stout and five inches shorter than the prince.
On the bed sat the book bag Amelia gifted her a couple of years ago, and Clover peeked inside. There were a couple of her winter dresses along with her undergarments and toiletries. That meant Rainer had gone into her room and through her things. How far in advance had Amos planned this?
Sighing, she pulled out one of the dresses and grabbed a pair of scissors from her old sewing kit, making quick work of cutting off the sleeves, removing layers of the skirt and chopping off the length.
It was hideous, but she had nothing suitable for the desert that fit.
Everything here was from four years ago.
Grabbing her leather boots, she hurried downstairs, coming face-to-face with her sister and father.
She practically flew across the room and into her sister’s arms. “I missed you too,” her sister laughed, squeezing her tight.
Their father waited patiently for the girls to separate and tugged Clover into a hug. “You didn’t tell us you were coming.” He let her go and stepped back, taking in her mangled outfit. “We could have had new clothes made for you.”
Clover pressed her lips together and shrugged. She didn’t know what her father and sister would do if they knew the royal cousins conspired to kidnap her. Her eyes slid to Ruth, who was biting back a smile. Clover’s eyes slitted. Or maybe my dear sister already knew.
“You can’t wear that to the market,” Ruth said, barely containing a grin. “I’ll give you something of mine to wear long enough to buy your own. You can go while we’re at the Hydra meeting.”
Clover’s spine snapped straight. “And why would I miss this meeting?”
Marcus and Ruth looked at each other. “You haven’t been here,” Ruth said carefully. “You’re welcome to come, but you don’t need to.”
Either the house had no airflow, or Clover was boiling from the inside out, her anger a tangible thing. “I am the future queen, and you think it’s acceptable for me to miss a meeting while I’m here?”
“Now, little mouse,” her father began, but before Clover could tell him to shove that nickname up his ass, the front door exploded inward.
Amos stepped through like something carved from violence, searching until his gaze found Clover. After looking her over, he turned to Marcus and Ruth. “What the fuck did you do to her?”
Clover couldn’t decide if feeling each other’s emotions through the bond was a blessing or a curse. “I’m handling it,” she interjected, daring him to undermine her.
Amos ground his teeth together and walked to stand behind her. “Then handle it, little viper.”
With renewed indignation, she turned a stern glare on her father. “I will be at every Hydra meeting held while I’m in Dragon Village. If I’m to run this kingdom, I need to be informed.”
Amos shifted behind her, and she felt his potent desire through the bond. She twisted to look at him. “Really?”
He winked. “I like it when you yell.” His eyes trailed down her body, the easy smile on his face falling away. “Why aren’t you wearing clothes?”
“Unless you had clothes made for me that won’t bake me alive, this is what I’m wearing,” she informed him. “Now that we’ve established I’ll be attending the meeting in my pretty new dress, can we go?”
“I don’t think we can call you mouse anymore,” her father laughed. “You speak too much now.”
Ruth smiled knowingly and motioned to Amos. “Someone has to shut the prince up.”
Walking into the Hydra meeting, Clover felt a sense of pride as she looked at the new and old faces around the room. She’d attended these before as a child, but today, she attended as an equal. As their future queen.
Sariah glanced at Clover’s dress. “You should have kept my clothes on.”
Clover looked down at her dress, and a small voice said, “I think it looks cute with the boots.”
She looked around until she spotted a young girl around ten years old grinning at her. The little girl’s beige skin had a pink tint from the sun, and the sprinkle of freckles on her nose matched her light brown hair perfectly.
“Thank you,” Clover said, walking over. “I’m Clover.”
She held her hand out and the girl shook it without hesitation. “I’m Marjorie Rose Bennett, but you can call me Marjorie.”
Clover’s eyes bulged. “Baby Marge?” Her eyes searched the room until they landed on Trinity.
Marjorie’s mother had been a sacrifice. No one had known she was pregnant when they sacrificed her, not even her.
Unfortunately, Marjorie’s mother died in childbirth, and the other sacrifices had raised the baby in the den without letting the crown know she existed.
“I’ve known you since you were born,” Clover told her with a wide smile. “The last time I saw you, you were only this tall.” She held her hand down near her knee. “You’re practically grown now.”
Marjorie pulled her little shoulders back and lifted her chin. “I bested Thomas in a spar,” she said proudly.
“Thomas?” Clover echoed, and looked around for her old friend. When she found him across the room, he did a small salute.
“That’s right,” he said. “Little bit took me out at the knees.”
Thomas had always been handsome, even as a boy. He stood around six feet with light brown skin, black hair, and golden eyes. As a girl, she’d thought they would get married. Now she simply saw a friend she’d grown up with.
A hand clamped over her eyes, and Amos’ lips grazed her ear. “If you keep staring at him, I will kill him.”
She harrumphed and tried to pry his hand away from her face. “You’re ridiculous,” she whispered back.
He released her, pressed his chest to her back, and settled a hand possessively on her hip. “And stop glaring at him,” she hissed over her shoulder.
“You can’t even see my face,” Amos argued.
“Don’t you have a mate?” Thomas asked, silencing the entire room.
Oh, fucking hell. Amos had briefed her on the way over. Apparently, no one knew about Amelia or that Clover was his mate. Had she known he would act like a territorial beast in front of everyone, she would have told him to stay outside.
“Actually,” Amos started, and Clover elbowed him in the gut before he could continue. His hand moved from her hip to band around her middle, pinning her arms to her sides. “Clover is my true mate. Jennifer is only a cover.”