18 #2
That had been my inquiry as well. “Nature rarely sees fit to justify itself. That aside, I’ve scoured every brook, glade, village, city, and landmark in this kingdom. That terrain yielded nothing.”
“Ever lost the key to your chamber, searched for it everywhere, and suddenly found it in plain sight?” she countered. “How close did you and your superstitious inclinations get to treehouses?”
A valid point. Briar, Eliot, and Cadence had braved the enclave and been permitted to reside there with nature’s blessing.
However, that environment accommodated as many grim and sinister hazards as it did enchantments.
During my mission, I had sensed no one occupying that region and took my leave.
Admittedly, I neglected to inspect the neighboring vicinity, finding it hard to believe the traitors would install themselves there.
Last, I’d been functioning on the theory that no permanent encampment hub existed.
“I’m giving you ten seconds to explain how you know this,” I prompted.
Aspen fluttered her eyelashes. “Can I negotiate for eleven seconds?”
My nostrils broadened. “Aspen—”
“My markings. They hurt when I’m fighting, but also whenever their origins are mentioned.” At my befuddled expression, she elaborated. “I know why I was born with the markings, but I never knew the source’s whereabouts until the revels.”
She annotated the tale. Her mother’s encounter with the oak tree, its subsequent punishment, and the resulting penalty. As lovely as they appeared, the motifs caused Aspen physical torment. From combat to references concerning that tree, the symbols reacted in an afflicting manner.
Briar’s recitation triggered the pain in Aspen’s skin, confirming it to be the same oak. This led to thoughts of the treehouse enclave.
“You’re following a hypothesis,” I concluded.
Aspen tossed that notion around in her mind. “Tell me you’ve never done that.”
I could not. My motivations relied on faith and philosophy as much as instinct. To that end, I left scientific facts to Jeryn.
If Aspen were lying, the falsehood would be extensive. Rather, her simple deduction smacked of authenticity. And it was a solid theory.
I deliberated. “Have you ever traveled that deep into Autumn?”
“There’s a first for everything. You did your part in full view of Autumn’s knights, but I know how to sneak past them undetected,” she advocated.
“My stunt with the Masters proved as much. And in case things go awry, and one of us gets caught, I know how to flirt, sweet talk, and bend the truth. Whereas you can’t tell a decent lie to a brick wall. ”
Turning, I fisted my hands on my hips. Distress for the affliction she weathered jabbed needles into my flesh. For I did not like to think of this woman being hurt.
This twist of fate changed things. My foolish attempt to safeguard her future had been misguided. Selfishly, I’d taken the responsibility of this woman’s destiny on my shoulders.
I veered back around. “I’ve been dishonest.”
Aspen gawked. “Come again?”
Three words I had never uttered to a soul. A transgression I never committed until her. Naturally, it would flabbergast this woman.
She listened as I cited the premonition.
How it surfaced the moment we met in the courtyard battle with the Masters.
How it forecast my inability to protect her.
That I had no idea of the context, no matter how often I tried to perceive its meaning and whether it implied a specific danger or event.
And that I conveyed the premonition to the clan prior to hunting for Aspen.
The number of times this prediction bedeviled me had no place in the confession. I would not make this about myself, nor excuse my secrecy.
Dishonor frayed the edges of my voice. “I have no justification. I should have told you long ago.”
Aspen’s nostrils broadened. “You damn well should have.”
“And I’m sorry for it.”
Despite the urge to draw out this apology, it would be unwise. Like Jeryn, this woman would consider it dramatic and an insult. Instead, every drop of sincerity and regret leaked from my words, and then I waited for her verdict.
In the festering silence, some obscure thought passed through Aspen’s mind, contesting her anger. At length, she sighed. “Danger and death come to us all. You can’t protect everyone, even as a soldier.” Because I winced, Aspen slanted her head. “That’s your greatest fear.”
I swallowed. “It is.”
“Did you ever stop to think this isn’t a premonition? That it might be your fear projecting itself?”
“It was no such thing. It carried to me on a gale.”
“Oh.” Aspen weighed the odds, then defied the notion with a sensible grunt.
“Well then, I’ll have to be extra careful.
And you’ll have to fight as my comrade, not as my bodyguard.
Otherwise, it might backfire.” She pondered, her fingers landing on the axe.
“This explains a lot over the past years. And how the kiss ended.”
My lips tingled. Yearning coiled through my chest like a vine, untamed and likely to grow wild if not pruned. “Forming a romantic attachment might compromise my ability to keep you safe.”
“I know two pairings who would argue that it strengthens them.”
“Neither Poet and Briar, nor Jeryn and Flare were the focus of a premonition. I must stay level-headed. Getting too close may be the impetus that places you in jeopardy.”
“Vulnerability,” she interpreted. “I understand that.”
As did I. Though, accepting it was another matter. And if I lost someone I cared for again, I might not survive it.
“For my part, it’s best not to revisit old heartbreaks when I’ve already moved past them,” Aspen summarized, the words pinching me when they truly shouldn’t.
“The mission relies on us staying focused, without any complications. So apology accepted and strictly business. We’ll keep our hands off each other. Now as for Nicu—”
Barely recovering from her proposal, I tensed. “He will go home.”
“Correction,” Aspen stated. “We’re leaving that decision up to him.”
“He’s the Royal Son. His family is in a panic, I’ve sworn my fealty to them, and he still requires the ribbons for guidance.”
“Listen, I want nothing more than to reunite Nicu with Poet and Briar. Any one of us would throw ourselves into a tiger’s path to protect him, so it’s not just you under fire.
” Aspen lowered her voice to a hush. “But the clan also promised never to underestimate Nicu like the rest of this shallow world.
“And remember the castle blackout? Like I said, danger is everywhere, and he’s shown he’s capable of growth beyond his condition.
But for him to reach that full potential, he needs to go farther.
It’s his life and his right. If you return Nicu like some helpless juvenile instead of an adult, you’ll belittle our friend and steal an important choice from him.
” She raised an eyebrow. “I think he’s had enough freedom taken away, don’t you? ”
Quicker than a swipe of her hatchet, Aspen’s appeal cleaved my loyalty in half.
The Royal family were an inseparable force of nature, a union of equals in dedication, strength, and love.
While Poet and Briar grew into a power couple, Nicu and his father had become an unstoppable tag-team.
The jester and princess would never deny their son the chance to evolve.
They’d been lobbying for that fate since his childhood.
But they also paced themselves, advising Nicu to do the same. And although Poet and Briar had been preparing for this stage of Nicu’s life, it came earlier than expected, with the young Royal taking destiny into his own hands.
Aspen made an indisputable case. Nicu may not reach his capacity without a leap of faith.
I might not have an offspring of my own, but I once had a brother. I would have given my life for him. I’d have wished for the boy to thrive, as I wished for Nicu.
Unable to refute Aspen’s point, I grumbled, “I have rules. You will agree to them.”
Her mouth twitched, the gesture reminding me of how those lips had trembled around my tongue. “What a coincidence. I have rules too.”
“Such as?”
“Nicu comes first in every decision.”
“Agreed. Next?”
“Aside from the obvious logistics, no impulsive stops along the way unless the decision is unanimous. And no arguing over who gets to protect whom.”
In concession, I folded my arms. “No actions will be taken until the three of us consult one another. That is, unless someone in this group is under duress, has no other choice, and must act quickly.”
The intrepid woman raised her hand. “Define ‘under duress,’ ‘no other choice,’ and ‘must act quickly.’”
“No, no, and no,” I enunciated, because this female was hardly daft. “We operate as a single unit.”
“Works for me. Also, keep your grunts to a minimum.”
“I might oblige, if you keep your crudities to an equal standard.”
Aspen pretended to balk. “How am I supposed to do that when you keep leaving yourself open to them?”
Fuck it all. Whoever had discovered sarcasm, I hope they suffered in the afterlife.
On the way back to the cottage, we debated.
As much as we wanted to preserve the fellowship, we couldn’t inform the clan of this plot.
Not if we intended to succeed. Working alone and reporting my progress over the years had been one thing.
But with two more conspirators adding to this quest, the greater number of outside allies that got involved, the harder it would be to stay inconspicuous.
Nonetheless, the clan knew Nicu left with Aspen, albeit to inconclusive ends.
The second our fellowship registered my prolonged absence, they would conclude I had either set out to find our quarry or joined them.
Such a discovery would give our friends some measure of relief, even if they couldn’t say where we had gone.
In any event, time was of the essence. The members of our clan were cunning, intelligent, and tactical. Eventually, they would gauge our location, provided we didn’t return before then.
In the retreat, Nicu and Aspen claimed the guest rooms upstairs while I stood post at the cottage’s entrance. Sleep rarely came easily, and the night watch rotation had trained me to grab rest at intervals rather than over the course of full nights.
By dawn, I swapped my military coat for a leather vestment from Poet’s wardrobe. The garment fit somewhat tight in the hips, but it would suffice. I dared not brandish my insignia.
After tucking the coat into a saddle pack, I traveled to a neighboring village and purchased a second horse, then returned as Aspen stepped from the threshold.
Standing in a beam of sunlight, she extended her arms and stretched like a feline, the pose elevating her breasts from under the cloak.
Tendrils of hair trickled down her bodice, her rosy lips puckered, and my misbehaving cock woke up.
I averted my gaze, counted to ten—better yet, twenty—then stalked in Aspen’s direction and thrust a pear toward her, if only to stop the woman from contorting her figure into another agile position. “Eat this or I shall use it to gag you.”
No excuse. I had no fathomable excuse for this threat, let alone a motive. For whatever outrageous reason, my tongue simply went rogue in her presence.
Aspen smirked. “That’s the sexiest thing you’ve said all morning.”
I scowled. “It is the only thing I’ve said all morning.”
“The day is young.”
My grunt hit the back of my throat. Saucy female. She had gotten over me, but that didn’t mean she would stop teasing at my expense, the same way Poet diverted himself by baiting Jeryn.
We told Nicu the news once he awakened. His face lit the whole cottage, and he threw his arms around me, his joy wringing a reluctant smile from my lips.
After breaking our fast with salted pork, aged cheddar, and a dense loaf of barley, we restored the house to its original state and concealed our tracks.
The courser’s ears perked as we reached the stable, then expelled an irate grunt when a blast of cool air entered his stall. It appeared, a night of dining on hay and apples hadn’t improved the male’s disposition.
As Nicu took the second horse, I hitched the palfrey to my stallion. A precaution against my liege’s sense of direction, though I left enough slack to avoid offending him.
The stallion was not impressed, nor amused by this arrangement. In the manner of a sassy aristocrat, he tossed his head and snorted, patently communicating his upper-class arrogance. I gave him a look, insisting I’d taught him better.
Of course, the creature rebuffed this. He had a mind, and a patrician attitude, of his own.
This had nothing to do with Nicu. Born and bred for combat, accustomed to equine hierarchy, and expensive as hell, the stallion curled his lip in disdainful proximity to the palfrey.
He might as well have declared, “I’m a first-rate commander of Autumn. And you expect me to babysit a fucking show horse?”
Oblivious, the palfrey ignored this prestigious display. Meanwhile, the courser’s annoyance increased tenfold, his tail flicking like a whip when I halted beside him and offered Aspen my hand.
“So now I’m a pony sitter and a romantic buffer?”
No, I did not hear this animal pouting. His mannerisms made these objections clear.
I refrained from rolling my eyes. Instead, I focused on Aspen.
After casting a wary glance to Nicu’s palfrey, she placed her fingers in my calloused ones.
At the contact, bolts of lightning struck across my flesh.
My jaw rolled as the female mounted the saddle, her thighs splaying wide and hugging the seat, her voluptuous ass chafing my dick once I followed her lead.
Fuck it all. Extending my arms on either side of Aspen’s ribs, I suffocated the reins. Her heavy tits made this a challenge, forcing me to lean forward if I wished to avoid a graphic encounter. This drew her back up against the plane of my torso, our hips locking together.
Despite her cooperation, Aspen must have expected to walk. As if I would permit such a discourteous thing.
Her voice lowered. “This wasn’t what I had in mind.”
My breath scraped across her earlobe. “Nor I.”
Then I prompted the horse into motion.