Prim woke up in Dante’s bed alone. It was bigger than she would have imagined. It was more comfortable, too, with nice, clean sheets and fluffy pillows. He must do well for himself as an assassin. Sitting up, she took in his room in the daylight as she’d been unable to do last night. In addition to the bed, there was a small table with a single chair and a clothing chest. She saw no weapons, though his boots sat next to their traveling pack on the floor, and she knew her dagger was in one. She supposed he didn’t need weapons with his gift.
The beauty of Pregg was a surprise, too. Yesterday, the women had taken her to a lovely spring and let their dragons heat the water before dipping in. As it turned out, all three were dragon whisperers. Prim had joyfully greeted Gordy with loving words and scratches before meeting Delle’s red dragon, Bern, and Zulas.
She’d understood immediately why the cottages were spaced so far apart and what the large field was for. The dragons needed space to land. Especially Zulas. The dark green beast glimmered like emeralds and was nearly twice the size of the other two, likely why Dante had seemed shocked that he’d claimed Marnie. But Zulas seemed just as sweet as Gordy. Bern, too. It was a shame dragons were banned from Hogard.
The city proper where they’d taken her to get new clothes and have dinner was beautiful, too. The cobblestone streets and stone buildings and shops filled with anything you’d ever want rivaled those of Hogard, especially with the view of the mountains rising in the distance. The skies were nearly as bustling as the streets themselves, not only with fae and birds as in the South, but with dragons, too. Prim had even seen a baby dragon and hadn’t contained her squeals of joy, much to her companions amusement.
She’d missed Dante, though. It felt wrong to experience his hometown without him. She’d been thinking about him when she’d picked out the nightdress precisely because of how sheer it was, laughing to herself that she was hardly better than what’s-his-name. But now that she had to walk through the house in the daylight in front of Dante’s family to get to her clothes she’d left in the common room, she regretted it.
Prim rose from the bed and padded around the room, taking a moment to steel herself before parading practically nude in front of everyone. Then she flicked her eyes to the chest, and decided to just cover herself in Dante's clothes instead. Just as she was about to rummage through it, the door opened and Dante came in, his arms full of her old clothes as well as her new ones. He dumped them into his clothing chest, not bothering to try to keep them separate from his own.
Of course he would have heard her rouse, and of course he would come to her rescue. It melted her heart. Warmed other parts of her, too.
Dante, shirtless but in his leather pants, looked very intently at a spot just over her head. “Good morning, Princess.”
She smiled deviously at him. “You won’t even look at me? I picked this nightdress out because I thought you’d like it.”
Dante clenched his jaw, but his gaze did lower to her face. Then to her chest. Then lower still. He swallowed. “It’s very nice, Bear.”
Prim took the few steps that separated them, placing her hands on his chest. “Thank you,” she purred, looking up at him.
His mouth twitched. “You’re worse than half the men in the Cavs.”
Prim let her fingers flow over his chest hair and brush his nipple. She pressed a kiss to his chest. When he didn’t recoil, she pressed another. “I hope you don’t count yourself among that half. I’d hate to think you can’t keep up with me.”
She moved her mouth to his other nipple and let her tongue flick over it before sucking. Dante released a soft groan, spearing his hands into her unbound hair. He said her name, begging her for something. Prim wasn’t sure if it was a request to stop or continue. So she pulled away.
“Yes, Dante?” Prim dragged her fingertips lightly down his torso until they reached his waistband, then tucked them over the fabric.
He swallowed again. “Get dressed.”
Prim withdrew her hands, her seductive smile wiped away.
Dante’s hands in her hair gripped and pulled gently, forcing her head back and face up. “Before I do something stupid like show you how much I like your little dress. How much more I’d like it on the floor.”
Gods, he was perfection. “Do it,” she breathed.
Dante stared at her. He was finally starting to understand that he wasn’t her captor. He was her companion. Her protector. Her friend. More.
She stretched up as he bowed down, but their lips didn’t connect. “Show me, Dante.”
He hesitated a moment more, scanning her face. Then his eyes widened like he’d discovered something new and he released a grunt. As if the last thread holding him back was cleaved by an ax, he quickly released his grip on her hair only to drop his hands to her ass, hoisting her up. Prim sucked in a surprised breath at the movement, but wrapped her legs around his waist, the nightdress bunching over her thighs. In this position, her face was over his, and she looked down at him, finding his gaze full of hunger. She lowered her mouth to his, but still didn’t connect. She would let him make the final call.
Dante kept one arm under her to hold Prim up as the other moved to grip her neck, pressing her into him as he took her mouth, his lips and tongue just as good as they were the other night. Prim moaned in delight, then he pulled her neck back so she was arching her breasts into his face. He welcomed one with his mouth.
Prim could easily feel the movement and pressure of his licking and sucking through the thin fabric, and she gasped his name as she squeezed his shoulders for leverage. Her legs tightened their grip on him, and she could feel his hard stomach against her already-wet cunt. He must feel it, too, as he groaned without removing his mouth from around her nipple.
Dante continued licking and sucking her breast through her dress a moment more before he stilled as if he’d once again realized where this was heading and he was still trying to prevent it. Trying to deny what they both felt for one another.
“Don’t you dare stop,” she breathed as he pulled away to look up at her, the hunger in his eyes replaced with something else.
“Does the shifter have other gifts besides scenting?”
Prim blinked. “Why are you thinking about that right—”
The door burst open and Marnie walked in, loudly announcing, “Zulas said a leopard—”
The girl looked wide-eyed at Prim in Dante’s arms, the sheer dress made completely transparent by saliva as it clung to her breast, Dante spinning her around to conceal the scene.
“Sorry!” The red-faced girl immediately ducked back out, closing the door behind her.
“I heard you tell Delle. Knock next time, would you?” Dante called after her as he set Prim down, then immediately put a hand to his cock, adjusting himself. She would have laughed if she wasn’t worried about what it meant if Roan found them. Knowing what Dante was capable of, she was more worried for the guard than Dante or his family, but still. She didn’t want any of them hurt.
“What’re his gifts?” Dante asked again.
Prim hesitated. “He’s my friend, Dante. You can’t hurt him.”
Dante tightened his features. “I won’t if it can be avoided. But if he tries to hurt my family…”
“I just need to talk to him. To explain.”
Dante shook his head. “I can’t let you explain I kidnapped you. I’d be thrown in the dungeons, then Sol would send his minions after Delle to get that money.”
Prim wrapped a hand around his wrist. “That’s not what I’m going to explain. Trust me.”
Marnie’s voice came through the door, “Why don’t we just leave before he gets here? Also, you kidnapped Bear? Also, who’s Sol? Also, whoever he is, Zulas can torch him and his minions.”
Dante cursed. “Go to your room!” He shook his head, sighing, before turning to Prim. “Get dressed in your new flight leathers.” He collected his own before walking out the door and closing it behind him.
When Prim emerged, Dante and Delle were sitting on the sofa, Marnie on the floor in front of him as he braided her hair, all three already dressed in their leathers. Marnie rose as soon as Dante finished, taking a seat in one of the chairs instead. Dante motioned for Prim to take the spot between his legs that the girl had just vacated, and she obliged.
Delle disappeared into the kitchen, returning with food and water for Prim. “Eat. Drink.”
Prim smiled to herself, realizing this is where Dante picked up his habit.
As Dante braided her hair, he explained a leopard had been spotted in the mountains that morning, but the dragons had lost him. If the shifter picked up her scent, he could be here anytime. “I need to know if he has other gifts.”
She swallowed. “He can cause pain just by touching you. If he lays a finger on you, you’ll be in such excruciating pain that you can’t move, can’t think, can’t even use your own magic.”
Dante paused his fingers working her hair. “Every time he touches someone?”
“No. Only when he calls on it.” Prim recalled every time Roan had touched her in gentle, loving, pleasurable ways. Her stomach twisted with guilt. “He’s a good man, Dante. Just like you. He only uses it when he has to.”
Dante resumed fixing her hair and explained they’d all be leaving once Tamar arrived, attempting to evade the guard. Delle and Marnie had already packed, their dragons were circling nearby. Dante had ignored Prim’s question about where the dragon whisperers would be laying low for the next couple months.
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Prim rose from her seat on the floor, her hair nothing but a crown and a contained coil along her nape, to take her dishes to the kitchen and wash them. But she paused at Dante’s cocked head. “Someone’s out back.”
“Tamar?” Delle asked, rising.
Dante shook his head.
Prim rushed to the kitchen, throwing the dishes on the counter, then ran out the back door. A giant phantom hand gripped her, halting her just outside.
Then Dante was next to her, his wings gone, his face morphed back into his doll form. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I need to talk to him. I can get him off our trail. I can get all the royal guards off our trail.”
Dante’s magic kept her in place, but still he put a hand on her waist. “Are you mad? They’re not just going to let the princess run off with someone like me even if you told them you wanted to!”
Prim didn’t have time to respond as Roan emerged from the firs in his leopard form, easily jumping the fence and galloping across the grassy field, the thickly muscled feline body moving swift as the wind. He only made it halfway before Dante’s magic gripped him.
A ferocious roar ripped from his maw, then he shifted into his humanoid form, his red locks disheveled. He wore his navy guard uniform with his sword strapped over his back, shifters being able to retain anything attached to their body during shifts. “Get your hands off her!”
Dante did remove his hand from Prim’s waist, but she remained contained by his phantom one. “How many guards are with you?” he asked.
Prim didn’t wait for Roan to respond. “Roan, I’m okay. I’m on a mission.”
Roan was heaving from the effort of trying to break free of Dante’s magic, but he paused his struggling to look at her. Dante turned his attention to her, too.
“Release me,” she said quietly. “I can take care of all of this.”
Dante stared at her, clenching his jaw.
“Trust me,” she breathed.
The phantom hand faded away. Prim nodded her thanks and walked purposefully across the field to Roan.
“Prim,” Roan breathed as she approached, his voice full of relief. Her chest tightened and she looked back at Dante, but he didn’t seem concerned with how Roan had greeted her, so she returned her attention to the shifter.
Prim smiled warmly, putting a hand around his immobilized wrist. “Hello, Roan.”
That set Dante in motion and when he reached the two, he asked the shifter again about the number of guards.
The guard turned his attention to the assassin, his nose flared and voice hard. “Just me.”
Prim knew it for the truth it was, and was relieved, if not a bit hurt, that only one guard had been dispatched for her. But Dante didn’t accept Roan’s claim. “You expect me to believe only a single guard was sent after her?”
“Queen Mallis knew I would stop at nothing to return her and no other guard would be needed,” Roan snarled, showing his elongated canines.
Prim removed her hand, standing up straight. “There has been a misunderstanding. I’m here on the queen’s orders.”
Roan narrowed his eyes at her. “They waited two days to tell me you were missing. They pretended you were ill and confined to your room, thinking you’d turn up. When they finally told me you’d gone outside the complex and didn’t come back, I went straight to the queen. She told me to find you, telling me to keep it quiet so the Lanhami didn’t catch wind of it. She certainly didn’t mention any orders or mission.” Roan continued his ragged breathing, sucking air deeply through his nose.
Until he suddenly stopped, and those frenzied breaths were replaced by investigating sniffs. His eyes widened--then darkened--as he looked at Dante.
“I will kill you,” he said softly. It was somehow more terrifying than his roar had been.
Dante remained perfectly still, his face a mask of neutrality. He made no response at all to the threat.
“He’s assisting me with my mission. He’s not an enemy of Wassalia,” Prim explained.
Roan dragged his death glare off Dante to find Prim. “I can smell you on each other.”
Prim kept her voice calm and gentle. “I’m sure you can. We’ve been traveling together. We’ve had to sleep together for warmth for weeks.”
“I can smell your cunt on him.” Roan’s voice held a deadly promise she’d never heard before. “He took you against your will, didn’t he?”
Prim cupped the shifter’s face. She had to calm him down or he was going to get himself killed—either by Dante or the dragons now circling above. “No, Roan. Of course not. We didn’t sleep together in that sense. I had to wear his clothes for a while. You could just be smelling me on his pants from when I wore them.” She chose her words carefully, letting him see the truth of them.
Roan stared Dante down again before his shoulders sagged slightly, and Prim knew he had accepted her explanation. He returned his focus to her. “What are you doing here? She didn’t mention a mission, Prim.” His voice was nearly back to normal. Thank Solin.
“Do you remember when you took me to her chambers?”
Roan looked to Dante before answering. “When you asked me to take you to your chamber instead so I could fuck you ragged?”
Prim pressed her eyes closed. “I don’t quite recall using those exact words—”
“The sentiment was the same,” the shifter insisted. Prim opened her eyes to find him still staring at Dante.
Who was staring at the shifter in turn. “I’m sure it was,” Dante said coolly.
Prim shook her head, forcing Roan’s face back to her with the hands she still had on his cheeks. “When I spoke with her that day, she told me to be on the lookout for threats to the future of Wassalia. Well, I found one. And I’ve been following a lead to discover the mastermind behind it.”
Roan scoffed. “There is no fucking way she meant for you to leave Hogard in the middle of the night without telling anyone and travel all the way across Wassalia by yourself.”
Prim stroked a calming thumb on his cheek. “No, I know that. But that’s what happened. The opportunity presented itself and I felt it was my duty to pursue it.” She glanced at Dante, who was still showing no emotion at all. “This man recognized me when I went to deliver a letter to Maria and told me about an assassination plot. I haven’t been alone. He’s been with me the whole time. As you can see, he provides excellent protection. We’re heading to Farren to find one of the conspirators. You should go back to Hogard--”
Roan shook his head. “Absolutely not!”
“Roan, listen to me. Along the way, I learned about another conspirator. This one in Hogard.” Prim glanced at Dante, wanting permission to reveal information about his master, but the assassin remained blank faced, staring at Roan. Whatever. “In the Cavs, there is a man named Lord Sol Somanti. He is involved. He is a threat to Wassalia. And, I think he might know the identity of the person orchestrating the assassination plot. Between us looking for a lead in Farren and you looking for one Hogard, I know we’ll figure it out.”
Roan almost looked like he pitied her. “Somanti isn’t a Lord. He’s just a creep--a perfect human who runs a fighting pit. He’s only a threat to the poor orphans he collects to do his bidding that always ends up with them dead.”
Prim narrowed her brows, shaking her head. He didn’t understand. “He is the one offering three hundred thousand golds to end the Orlana bloodline!” Prim knew that wasn’t technically correct, but she wanted to make a point. And avoid mentioning the kidnapping. “Which means he’s in contact with whoever really wants it.”
Then Prim dropped her hands from Roan’s face, realizing something. “If you know of a man who collects orphans and gets them killed, why are you not doing anything about it?”
Dante finally moved. He just straightened slightly, but Prim could sense the change.
Roan blinked. “The Cavs have their own laws. They enforce it well enough we just let them be. If the kids didn’t want to be there, they could leave.”
Everything he just said was problematic, but she focused on the last. “If they’re orphans, where are they going to go?”
Roan’s eyes softened. “You can’t save everyone, Prim.”
She scoffed. “No, but if putting one man in the dungeons saved a bunch of kids, I’d sure as hell save them.”
Roan’s features remained soft, but he didn’t back down. “Then what? Like you said, if they’re orphans, where are they going to go?”
She stared at him, too shocked to speak for a moment. Then her shock turned to anger. “So orphans are expendable?”
Roan was well aware that the royal handmaidens were orphans. It was a Wassalian custom that once a prince or princess reached age ten, two companions were selected for them from orphanages across the kingdom based on three qualifications. It was a great honor and--while they were technically released from their duty once the royal reached age eighteen--nearly all remained as lifetime appointments in their courts. Prim expected that she, Bristol, and Kallia would be together forever.
“You know that’s not what I meant.” Roan’s arm twitched as if he forgot he was bound and tried to reach for her.
Prim turned to Dante. “How long can you keep him bound?”
He looked Roan up and down before answering. “It doesn’t take much out of me. Two, three weeks.”
“Weeks?” Roan choked.
"Do you have to stay with him for your gift to remain in effect?" she asked, ignoring Roan's outburst.
"No," Dante answered, shaking his head. "I have to be present and able to see where to aim, but once in place, it'll stay until I release it or my cache runs out."
Prim focused again on Roan. “I’m following the queen’s orders whether she realizes it or not, and your orders to find me do not supersede those. I will request your release when you agree and are willing to listen and return to Hogard to take care of Somanti. That is our duty.”
Roan shook his head, his eyes full of sorrow. “It’s not your duty to put yourself in danger like this, just like it wasn’t your duty to run from me that night. You shouldn’t have left me then, and I’m not leaving you now.”
Prim’s heart ached. She loved Roan. Not in the way he loved her, but it was still there. She likely would have even loved him in that way if she’d let herself over the years they’d known one another. But she hadn’t, and now it was too late.
“Let me know when you are willing to return to Hogard to take care of Somanti.” She turned and walked back to the cottage, leaving the two men in the field and the two dragons in the sky.