Prim didn’t care for Adrina.

She didn’t care for the possessive way the dragon whisperer hung on Con and took his drink or spoke to him as if Prim wasn’t even present, especially considering Con had introduced her as his wife—though the woman seemed to know that wasn’t true. Bear. She wanted to ask him how long he’d been referring to her as such in his mind. But perhaps he didn’t. That would imply he thought about her--which he didn’t seem to--outside of thinking about how to keep her alive. He hadn’t thought to bring her chocolates; he’d just been the victim of an aggressive saleswoman.

Prim didn’t care for how Adrina acted as if she was stupid to not assume the woman had a dragon. Who the fuck had a dragon?

Adrina. Adrina had a dragon. And she was offering them a ride.

Prim wasn’t too concerned about where she was going or how long it took to get there. She would escape as soon as it became dangerous regardless. And with Con focused on her, he wasn’t a threat to anyone in Hogard. So there was no reason not to pass up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

She watched as the dragon whisperer ate, sitting so close to Con that her elbow brushed his every time she picked up and sat down her mug. Prim swallowed her irritation and instead plastered a smile on her face. “Yes,” she said. “Can we please have a lift?”

Adrina eyed her just as assessingly, then laughed before turning to Con. “Where are you heading?”

Con looked Bear up and down before answering. No doubt considering how slowly he had to walk to keep her pace comfortable, though he never complained. “North. If you’re offering, that would actually be very helpful. If you can keep it discreet.”

Prim didn’t think discreet seemed to describe the woman who charged in here like a summer storm. But she wasn’t going to argue. Not when she was about to ride a dragon.

“Perfect, I’m heading back to Pregg myself. Is that your destination? Are you taking your lovely bride--”

“Not. Another. Word.” Con cut her off in a dangerous voice that had even Prim balking. It was easy to forget what Con was the way he acted around her, but when he used that voice, she remembered.

Adrina stilled. Her eyes flicked to Prim and back to Con. “Who is she?” she asked again low, her voice full of suspicion.

Con kept his eyes locked with Prim’s as he answered. “Someone who doesn’t need to know our names and doesn’t need to know anything about Pregg.”

Adrina lowered her fork to the stained wooden table, giving her full attention to Con, tension rising like a living beast between them. “I don’t think I want to get involved with whatever it is you’re doing, do I?”

She’s not in the same profession as him, then, despite her nearly identical clothes.

“Take us over the mountains. Please. It’ll cut two weeks off our journey--and the most difficult part at that. We’d be across them in a day or two on Gordy.” Con took the dragon whisperer’s hand, holding it gently and covering it with his other hand. “Please. It’ll be worth it.”

Prim looked away from the intimate scene, instead focusing on her mug and draining the last of her ale. She didn’t think Adrina was the woman she assumed Con was faithful to, despite her comments about having him between her thighs. But the way they were looking at each other had her second-guessing herself. Con and Adrina were definitely close.

Adrina groaned and Prim returned her attention to them in time to see the dragon whisperer pull her hand from Con’s and pick up her fork. “Fine.”

After Adrina finished her meal and Prim finished a third ale, the trio settled into their room. The room all three of them would share for the night, much to Prim’s chagrin. It was small and bare, consisting of two beds and a small table with a pair of chairs.

Adrina took a look at the two beds and asked Con what the sleeping arrangements would be, not hiding her amusement at his discomfort in making that decision. When he claimed he’d sleep on the floor and each woman could have their own bed, she’d laughed and excused herself, saying she had errands to run in town. Leaving Prim and Con alone.

“I can find myself some errands to run if you want some time alone with her,” Prim said as she lounged on a bed. She had changed into the dress Con bought her and had the skirt hitched up. Her legs were so sore from all the walking the past few days, she couldn’t endure having them confined a moment longer. She’d noticed Con looking at her bare legs as soon as she’d revealed them, then quickly averting his gaze.

“No, Princess. You’re staying with me. And I have no desire to be alone with her.” Con stood next to the table with his arms crossed as if he wasn’t at all missing the comforts of furniture after being in the woods, his eyes roving around the room looking for invisible threats.

“What happened to Bear?”

Con paused his useless inspection of the room and closed his eyes, shaking his head.

Prim fingered the soft blanket under her absentmindedly. “She seemed to think you’d want to be alone with her. Or at least with what lies between her legs.” Prim opened her legs a little wider for emphasis--just for her own amusement, as Con’s eyes were still closed.

Con took a deep breath and opened his eyes. “She is confusing the past with the present.” He flicked his gaze to her and his eyes noticeably widened before he looked away.

Prim laughed but closed her legs so as not to make him any more uncomfortable. “So she’s your ex?”

“Is this what you do in the castle all day? Gossip?” He pulled one of the chairs out and twisted it around, dropping onto it backwards and propping his arms on the backrest to face her. Prim noticed the fabric of his pants clung a bit tighter to his thighs in this position.

She looked away before he noticed her gaze had lowered. “You’d be surprised how much of my day is filled with that. That’s often how my friends and I pass the time when we’re not attending our duties.”

Prim’s heart ached thinking about Bristol and Kallia. And Roan. He would chide them for gossiping, yet bend his ear nearer if they ever started to lower their voices. The catty man was just as ravenous for a juicy tidbit than any of them. What were they doing right now? She was sure Roan would be looking for her. But the women…hopefully they were keeping busy. Hopefully they were preparing for the Lanhami royals. Hopefully they weren’t worrying too much over her.

“Princess?” Con’s voice almost sounded concerned.

“So, is she your ex or not?” Prim asked, forcing herself out of her head and the pain of missing her friends.

Con made a noise that sounded dangerously close to a chuckle. “Not. She’s an old friend. We grew up together.”

“You’ve never fucked her?” Prim wasn’t quite sure why she was pressing. She supposed she needed to know how Adrina’s presence might affect her plans. Though their history was likely not that integral in figuring that out. She just wanted to know.

“I didn’t say that.”

Prim pursed her lips and stretched out her legs again, deciding she did want to make him uncomfortable. It’s not like she was being sexy. Her undergarments were filled with menstrual cloth for fuck’s sake, and he was well aware. Maybe that’s why his eyes widened. In disgust. “She does have brown hair and a flat stomach.”

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Con’s mouth twitched. “I beg your pardon?”

“I had a passing thought the other day that you might only be attracted to such people. Though I also considered you only liked fae or men--but apparently I was wrong on those counts.”

Con shook his head. Not a strand of his tightly coiled hair moved with the motion. “You never even considered that I kept my distance because I knew you were trying to manipulate me? Who’s not good at what they do, now?”

Prim had no words. At least he hadn’t seen the truth that mattered despite being able to see right through her. She collected herself, refusing to let him see her unsettled, and put on her sultry smile. “Then you are attracted to me. I suppose you did call me beautiful.”

Con looked as if he was trying very hard not to roll his eyes. “You are beautiful. You know that.”

Prim felt herself stumble, even as she remained on the bed. “You really think that, don’t you?”

“That you’re a conceited little thing? Yes, I think that’s quite apparent to most.”

That’s not what she meant. Con really thought she was beautiful.

He was looking at her again, but at her face. He was definitely not letting his eyes drift down to her bare thighs in plain view. He was searching her. She didn’t like how it felt like he could sense everything she was thinking, everything she was feeling.

Oh, gods. Was that part of his gift? Was he a mindmolder? Could he sense what she thought and felt? Could he control her thoughts and actions?

No, no. She would be dead if he could. Plus, mindmolders couldn’t read your mind simply by looking at you. They had to ingest your blood, given to them willingly. She pushed the disturbing thought away, focusing instead on Con’s intense gaze again.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked.

“You know I can kill you if I wanted to. You know I’m taking you to someone who might just be waiting to do it themselves. Or they might have other plans for you; plans that could be even worse than death.”

“So?” She refrained from rolling her eyes and teasing him--the big, strong assassin--for feeling the need to remind the weak, little princess of his power.

“So why are you being so cavalier? Why are you thinking about my exes and who I find attractive? You should be thinking about how to escape. You should be thinking about how to murder me in my sleep.”

Prim smiled. “The thing about me, Con, is that I’m very good at multitasking.”

Con shook his head again. It was too easy to get under his skin. And too fun.

But Con had said something that gave her a perfect opening. “So, who is the someone you’re taking me to?”

He looked around the room again before answering. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Prim asked, sitting up.

Con tightened his features. His plain, generic features. “No. My instructions are to take you to a location, not a specific person. I suppose we’ll find out together who is waiting for you there.”

Prim scoffed. “You would risk rotting in the dungeons--being tortured--for the rest of your life without even knowing who’s going to pay you? What if there’s no one there? What if it’s some poor schmuck without two golds to rub together? Who’s not thinking things through, now!” Prim couldn’t hide her incredulity. She assumed the man was at the top of his field, but she must be mistaken. Maybe he wasn’t even an assassin. Maybe he had just rolled out of bed that day and decided to kidnap a princess for shits and giggles.

Con shook his head again. As if she was the dumb one. “No, Princess. I know who is paying me. I don’t know who is paying him. I don’t know who the actual client is. But I would be willing to bet my earnings that whoever is waiting for you at the drop-off location is not them. A job like this would have many layers of middlemen to keep the one at the top hidden.”

Prim sank back down in the bed, defeated. She believed him. She came willingly, trudged through the forest willingly, so she could find out who the real threat was. And now she was going to have to continue all the way until she met her next captor, and hope they have more information. Thank Solin for the dragon ride knocking off some of the time that separated her from that eventuality.

She curled into a ball on her side, letting the soft, comfortable bed cradle her. She heard movement and a large body lowering to the floor just in front of the door. A pang of pity ran through her.

“You can share my bed if you want, Con. No tricks, no manipulation. No plans to escape or murder you. Just to sleep in comfort.” Prim slid over a bit on the bed to make room.

“Sleep, Princess.”

Con remained on the floor.

#

Thudding sounds and murmured curses woke Prim up.

“You couldn’t find a less obstructive place to lay down?” Adrina spat in a harsh whisper.

Prim opened her eyes to find the bed across from her still untouched. The voice had come from behind, from the doorway and where Con slept in front of it. She didn’t move, not wanting to alert them of her consciousness.

“You could have slept in the damn bed. Always the martyr,” the dragon whisperer added.

“I didn’t think you'd be gone half the night. What the fuck’s even open this late here?” Con hissed back.

Adrina sighed. “First I had to pick up some supplies. Then I had to go adjust Gordy’s saddle to make room for you and your lady friend. Which broke, so then I had to spend another two hours trying to fix it.”

Con huffed through his nose. “You know I would have done that for you in the morning. And I wouldn’t have broken it in the process.”

There was a pause and Prim was certain Adrina was rolling her eyes or making a rude gesture. “Well, it’s done now. But it’s still a bit fucked. I’ll have to ride bareneck and you and Bear will have to sit close enough that you might want to pick up some fertility suppressants before we leave.”

Con snorted. Snorted. He’d never come close to laughing around her—hadn’t so much as smiled—and Prim was certain she was funnier than Adrina.

“Oh! I have news for you,” Adrina sang teasingly.

“Choose your words carefully.”

Adrina scoffed quietly. “She’s asleep.”

“She’s not.”

How did he know? Prim remained completely still.

“She seems to be sleeping to me,” Adrina protested.

“If she were asleep, she’d be snoring.”

Prim swallowed the noise of indignation she wanted to emit. She did not snore. The motion rustled the sheets slightly, the noise almost imperceptible.

But Con heard it. “Don’t be embarrassed. Everyone has a unique breathing pattern when they sleep. Yours just happens to manifest in cute little snores.”

At least they were cute.

“Anyway,” Adrina continued, her voice less hushed now that she knew Prim was awake. “She’s been claimed since you left.”

Prim didn’t know what that meant. She’d have to ask another time, as she refused to admit she was awake.

“By who?” Con said quietly.

“Zulas.”

“Zulas? He’s…” Con’s tone was unreadable. He was shocked, that was certain, but Prim couldn’t tell if he was pleased or angry. “For fuck’s sake, he’s Zulas.”

Adrina let out a short, breathy laugh.

“How does she feel about it?”

“How do you think?” Adrina answered. After a pause, she added, “She was pissed it happened when you weren’t there.”

Was the she they were talking about Con’s current woman? And she’d been claimed by another man in his absence?

Con sighed. “At me or him?”

Adrina’s voice became gentle. “Not at you. Just at the situation.”

Adrina finally walked around to the empty bed and Prim promptly shut her eyes when she came into view. The bed creaked as the dragon whisperer plopped down. “Come to bed, Con. We’ve shared one often enough that one more night won’t make a difference.”

“Sleep, Adrina.”

Con remained on the floor.