Kallia took one look at Prim’s face when she returned from the dungeons and demanded their escorts give the women privacy.
One looked at her apologetically. “We can’t, Princess.”
“You can stand guard in the hall while I speak to my handmaidens about private matters,” Kallia insisted, meeting Prim’s gaze with an intense look Prim knew meant she was about to be grilled.
The three guards lining the walls of Kallia’s entertaining room shuffled nervously.
Kallia stood to her full height, using her most queenly voice. “I can have the servants run me a bath if that’s what it takes, but I’d rather not bother them just to get some privacy.”
Prim saved the guards and the servants the trouble. “My escort will remain so we are not wholly unguarded. Though you are all well aware I myself am bound to protect the princess and am more than capable of serving as her escort.”
Kallia looked consideringly between Prim and Blukke, then the other three guards. “There you have it. I’ll let you know when we’re done.” The guards shared one last look then exited the room.
Bristol sat up straighter on the chaise, eyeing the princess, handmaiden, and guard. “What am I missing?”
Kallia guided Prim to one of the other four chaises and they sat down together, the princess holding her hand. Blukke plopped down on a third chaise, stretching his legs out and smiling at the three women.
Kallia and Bristol gaped at him, but Prim rolled her eyes. “That isn’t how a guard acts, either. If you’re going to be convincing, you’re going to have to be a lot less casual. Stand up straight over there.” She gestured to the wall. Blukke didn’t move.
Kallia turned her attention to Prim. “Is this who you met on your journey that has you rejecting Roan?”
Bristol blinked then smiled, letting her eyes flow over the imposter-guard. “Is that what’s going on? He is very handsome.”
Blukke’s smile grew as Bristol offered a sultry smile of her own. “Thank you, darling, but my beauty is nothing compared to your own.” The bowerbird shifter winked at her before turning his attention to Prim. “So someone you met has you rejecting that kern? I’m sure someone will be interested to hear that.”
Solin help her. “He’s not why I rejected Roan. And he already knows.” Prim had been so caught up in her conversation with Roan, it didn’t even cross her mind that it hadn’t been private. But once she exited the dungeons and heard Blukke run after her, she’d realized Dante had been there the whole time, too, and of course he would have heard. “Wait, you think he’d be interested? I got the impression he was no longer interested in anything having to do with me.”
“Oh, is that the impression you got when he was crawling on that disgusting dungeon floor to get to you after the cat hurt you with his gift?”
Kallia gripped Prim’s leg. “Roan used his gift on you?”
“Not on purpose,” Prim said quickly.
Blukke’s smile faded. “He didn’t stop. I stopped him.”
Prim knew. But she also knew it wasn’t because Roan wanted to hurt her. He’d just been too focused on hurting Dante to realize she was being affected, too. She knew he would have stopped as soon as he realized it--likely only a couple of seconds later. But Solin, a second felt like an eternity under his pain. Her stomach dropped, knowing Dante must not have realized that’s what had happened.
“Don’t tell Dante that.” She didn’t think he would hurt Roan, but he had killed that fae for threatening her, so better safe than sorry.
Blukke shrugged. “As you wish, Lady Primrose.”
Prim offered him a smile. “Better.”
Both of the women were staring at her.
Kallia lowered her eyes, pressed her white skirts down, and laid her hands primly over her lap. “Pardon me, Lady Primrose, but would you kindly explain what the fuck is going on with you? Who is he?” The princess flicked her eyes to Blukke. “Who is Dante? Why did Roan use his gift on you? What happened in the dungeons?”
Prim took a deep breath. “I didn’t leave Hogard alone. I was traveling with a man the entire time, up until I left him to get back to you.”
“Dante,” Bristol offered.
“Dante,” Prim confirmed. “Roan took me to the dungeons to see Sol Somanti, the middle man of the plot against you. We attempted to get him to tell us who the client was, but he died--”
“He died? Just now? Just like that?” Bristol interjected with a gasp. Kallia only watched and listened silently.
Prim nodded “He was poisoned somehow. I guess he must have taken it before we got there and it just happened to take effect then. Roan thought Dante was doing it with his gift--he has a really cool gift that’s like having phantom hands--and used his gift on him to get him to stop. I accidently touched Roan trying to pull him off Dante, which made his gift affect me. Blukke stopped him. His gift incapacitates people. It can take away their powers.”
Blukke wagged his eyebrows, blowing on his fingernails in a cocky move that had Bristol giggling.
Kallia looked at the man. “Again, who is he?”
Prim joined the other two women in staring at him. “I’m not really sure. But Dante said I could trust him.”
Blukke chuckled. “I’m Dante’s oldest friend.” He tilted his head from side to side in consideration. “His only friend.”
“That’s not true,” Prim protested. “He has Tamar. She’s more friend than family. And he has me. If he still wants me.”
Kallia looked over Prim in that assessing way of hers. “Why wouldn’t he want you? Why would he no longer be interested in having anything to do with you?”
Prim swallowed, flicking her eyes to Blukke. She knew anything she said could make its way back to Dante with him listening. She hoped it would. “I wasn’t honest with him about some things, for which I am very sorry. But everything that mattered was real. Everything he said he liked about me was real. And it wasn’t like he was innocent. I didn’t blame him for what he was doing, knowing why he was doing it. I would hope he could accept what I did, knowing why I did it.”
Kallia opened her mouth to ask another question, but Blukke spoke first. “He would never have gone through with it.”
Prim blinked. “Of course he would have. He’d have done it for his family.”
Blukke shook his head. “I know him. He wouldn’t have. He would have figured out another way. He would do anything for you, same as them. I knew as soon as he went to check on you instead of pummeling me after I released him in Pregg.”
Prim knew Dante would have wanted to try to figure out a way not to deliver her, but he wouldn’t have risked it. And she understood. She really did. There was no point arguing about it with Blukke, though.
“What weren’t you honest about?” Kallia asked.
Prim only shook her head.
“What was he doing?” she tried.
Prim shook her head again.
“What did he say he liked about you?” Bristol asked with a smirk.
Prim’s eyes unfocused as she thought about what he’d said to her that night about her manners, her kindness, her humor. A wispy smile formed on her face. But that was their moment, and she didn’t want to share that, either. She flicked her eyes to Bristol with a devilish grin. “My ass.”
The women laughed while Blukke craned his neck as if he’d be able to see it despite Prim’s skirts and seated position.
“Can’t blame him for that,” Bristol teased.
“And it certainly is real,” Kallia added with an elbow nudge.
Bristol smirked again. “So did you and this Dante…” The handmaiden wagged her eyebrows at Prim.
“No,” Prim said quietly, her amusement winking out at the thought that she might never get the chance to see what he’d feel like. “We kissed, though. Twice.”
Blukke straightened at that. “Did you, now?”
The women laughed again at his interest in their girl-talk.
Kallia turned her body to face Prim, her white skirts brushing Prim’s blue ones. “And he’s here? I’m going to need to meet him.”
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
“We’re going to need to meet him,” Bristol corrected.
Prim ignored them, returning her attention to Blukke. “What happened after I left? How did you guys and Roan come to work together?”
Blukke glanced at the princess before answering. “We all wanted Sol handled. We came to an agreement. We help the cat, he helps us.”
“And you’re both free to leave once the threat to Kallia is gone?” That’s how Dante had made it seem in the dungeons. When Blukke nodded, Prim released a relieved breath. Dante was safe. His family was safe. Kallia would be safe.
Because of Roan. Prim’s heart ached in gratitude to the man whose own heart she had just broken. She pressed her lips between her teeth, pushing away her guilt. “So you’ll be investigating the threat against Kallia while posing as royal guards?”
Blukke nodded again. “And using our connection to the Cavs to bring order there to prevent another incident like this.”
“How?” Kallia asked.
Blukke shrugged. “I suppose we’ll have to wait for the avian shifters to get back from following the trail, keeping an eye open for suspicious activity in the meantime.”
Prim smiled. That meant Dante would be in Hogard for quite some time.
A knock sounded at the door, and the three women stared at Blukke. When he didn’t move, Prim rolled her eyes, tilting her head toward the door in command. He pointed at himself, raising his brows in question.
“Yes. You would answer the door to ensure it’s not a threat,” Prim sighed. She’d need to tell Roan that Blukke needed a course on how to act like a guard or their whole plan was going to turn to shit.
Blukke stood and walked to the door, turning back to the women to straighten his uniform jacket with a wink at Bristol before opening the door. Soft words were exchanged and a letter was handed to Blukke from someone beyond the threshold that Prim couldn’t see. Blukke accepted and bowed before closing the door. Prim cringed. There’s no way whoever delivered the letter was high-ranking enough for a bow to be appropriate.
“For you, Lady Primrose.” Blukke bowed to her as he held out the letter, using an overly dramatic twirl of his hand.
Prim snatched it, pushing him away gently with a foot to his thigh. “Oldest friend you say? How has Dante put up with you all this time?”
Blukke laughed. “I’d ask you the same thing, but I’m well aware of the power a nice ass has over my brother.”
Prim pushed her toes into his leg harder, and Blukke retook his seat on the chaise, throwing an arm casually over the back and crossing an ankle over his knee. Prim watched the handsome man run his fingers over his mustache as if to fix it, though not a hair had been out of place. She smiled to herself thinking about the adventures Dante and Blukke must have shared together. She hoped to get to see them interact more. To watch Blukke annoy Dante.
Prim was still smiling when she opened the letter, but her mouth twisted in resignation as she read the three words on the page, written in Helena’s hand: Lessons resume today.
#
Prim took a deep breath as she waited for Helena in the locked room where they always held their lessons. The windowless space was completely empty save for the candles on the walls and a bit of straw scattered over the stone floor. Blukke leaned against the wall by the door, but Prim stood in the center, her hands folded over her stomach. She stood tall, but straightened even more as the jingle of keys on the other side of the door indicated her mentor had arrived. Prim didn’t turn to watch Helena enter, rather kept her eyes focused on the wall adjacent to the door.
Helena didn’t say anything as she strode across the room, the sound of the guard posted outside relocking the door filling the large room instead. The woman stopped in front of Prim, dropping the two large baskets she held with either hand to the floor.
Helena’s straight black hair dropped in a curtain to her shoulders, swaying as she looked from Prim to Blukke. The woman pursed her heart shaped lips painted a dark blush that stood out against her pale skin. “No.”
Prim furrowed her brows. “No, what?”
Helena placed a hand on her waist, jutting out a slim hip easily visible under her tight fitting dark tunic and pants. “No visitors.”
“He’s not a visitor, he’s my escort. It’s my understanding the king and queen have assigned a guard to escort members of the court at all times.” Prim looked at Blukke to see him aiming that charming smile of his at Helena.
The mentor dragged her tongue over her teeth, staring at him menacingly enough that Blukke’s smile wavered. “Turn around to face the wall and do not move from that spot. Do not speak. Do not repeat anything you may hear.”
Blukke glanced at Prim before slowly shuffling around to put his back to them. Prim smiled at Helena’s innately intimidating presence despite the woman’s small size. At her mentor’s raised brow and straight face, Prim forced her expression back to neutral.
“I expect a notice when you won’t be at your lessons.” Helena’s fresh-face belied her decades as a master of magic, likely because she hardly ever seemed to move her face, so no wrinkles ever formed.
“Of course, ma’am,” Prim murmured. “In this case, it couldn’t be helped.”
“No excuses.”
Prim only nodded, casting her eyes down. Helena was silent long enough Prim offered, “I loped halfway from Pregg to Hogard.”
Helena remained silent.
Prim raised her eyes to find the woman studying her. “Come on, you have to admit that’s impressive.”
“It would be,” Helena conceded. “If true.”
Prim held back her eye roll. “I wouldn’t have said it if it weren’t true.”
She hadn’t expected Helena to actually lose her mind, but she’d thought the accomplishment might’ve at least earned a smile or a congratulations or some kind of praise. What a fool’s hope that was.
The mentor crossed her arms behind her back. “Did you continue your lessons when you were away from the castle?”
Prim reigned in her snort. Of course she hadn’t; what kind of stupid question was that? “No, ma’am. I was a little preoccupied.”
The woman’s lips pursed almost imperceptibly. “Did you use your magic at all?”
“No, ma'am,” Prim answered obediently, though she didn’t know what Helena was getting at.
“Not even accidentally?”
Prim rolled her eyes. “That happened one time!”
That was when she was a child, before she’d even been selected as a royal handmaiden. She’d accidentally sent one of the other orphan’s toys into the void after the girl had been mean to her. Her lessons with Helena had begun shortly after.
Helena reached into a basket and extracted an orange. She handed it to Prim and stepped back. “Begin.”
Prim gripped the orange in her hand, bringing it to her nose to breathe in the fresh citrus scent still emitting from the non-molded end. Then she brought it down, rolling it between her palms before holding it out on one open palm. With a thought, she used her gift to make it disappear.
That was the easy part.
Helena watched as Prim focused on her power, feeling it writhe within her, deep within her bones. She held out her hand, calling on her gift to return the orange. She felt her energy depleting, but her palm remained empty. After a few minutes, she began to feel lightheaded and knew nothing was going to happen. She dropped her hand, defeated.
Helena extracted another fruit, this one a rotten apple, handing it to Prim. “Try again.”
Again, the apple disappeared from Prim’s palm and again Prim tried and failed to bring it back.
Her gift was a one way ticket into the void, as it always was. The only thing she’d ever been able to retrieve was herself and whatever was on her person at the time. That’s what loping was, after all.
Helena dipped her hand into the other basket to pull a brown mouse out by the tail, offering it to Prim.
“No,” Prim whined. “Please don’t make me do that.” She hated when Helena had her test her gift on animals, though her mentor was convinced one day it would make a difference in her abilities. She thought Prim’s desire to save them would finally invoke the ability to retrieve them, and made a point to have her dispel one at least a few times per week.
Prim heard Blukke shuffle, and she glanced toward him to see him still facing the wall.
Helena barked at him to keep his eyes forward before shoving the mouse into Prim’s hand. “I’ll make you do a horse the next time you talk back.”
“You know I can’t do a horse. They’re too big.” Prim kept her eyes on the mouse, gently petting its head.
“If you loped halfway across the country, a horse should be no problem.”
Prim scrunched her nose. “I didn’t say halfway across the country.”
“I’ll make you do a dog then,” Helena spat, exasperated. “Get on with it.”
Looking at the poor mouse twitching its whiskers in her palm, Prim sighed. Then it was gone.
And remained gone, no matter how hard Prim tried to bring it back.
Over and over, Helena extracted items from the baskets and Prim sent them to the void. Over and over, Prim attempted to bring them back without success. Just as she always did.
At the end of the lesson, Helena picked up the empty baskets by the handle and walked to the door, knocking once. Blukke started to turn around, but the woman barked at him to keep his eyes on the wall, and the shifter quickly obeyed. Helena caught Prim’s eye before slipping out the now unlocked door, and Prim saw a mischievous twinkle in it.
Prim laughed. “She’s just fucking with you. You can turn around now.”
Blukke slowly turned around, glancing out the cracked door as if to make sure the mentor was gone. “She seemed pretty serious.”
“She was during the lesson. Just that last time at the end was for fun.” Prim exited the room, thanking the guard posted at the door.
Blukke followed as she made her way to her next lesson in the armory.“What did she want you to do to a horse that you couldn’t because it was too big?”
Prim laughed to herself, giving him a sidelong glance. “What were you thinking she wanted me to do to a horse that I couldn't because it was too big?”
Blukke looked at her with narrowed eyes, though his pushed out lips were attempting--and failing--to conceal a smile. “What were you doing in there, really?”
“Training my gift, obviously.”
He cocked his head to the side. “Gifts are innate. They don’t need to be trained.”
Prim sighed. “Apparently when you’re expected to be able to do something you can’t, they do.”
“Gifts are random and can be unique. Why would they expect you to be able to do something you’ve never done?”
Prim just shrugged. She had no idea. She just knew she was expected to attend those lessons every damn day with that impossible-to-please woman.
Prim reached a changing room situated at the entrance to the armory and commanded Blukke to wait outside. He didn’t object. When she emerged in pants and a shirt, she brushed past him to enter the open-air dirt sparring arena further inside. Looking over her shoulder to instruct him where to go, she found the shifter checking out her backside. “Like what you see?”
Blukke’s startled eyes shot to her face, but he recovered with an easy smile. “I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about.”
“And?”
“And I can see why Dante lost all his senses over you.”
Prim rolled her eyes. “It’s just a butt, for fuck’s sake. Everyone has one.”
Blukke raised his brows as he released a breath, shaking his head to the side. “Not like that, they don’t.”
“Again--not appropriate guard behavior. Now stand up straight over there and be quiet, please.” Prim gestured to the side of the arena and the shifter planted himself there as she walked to the other end, passing several guards in the middle of their own sparring or target practice, most of whom waved or smiled at her. She stopped at the end in front of her trainer, a perfect snake shifter named Jacques. A minute later, she was lost in a dance of wasters, blocks, jabs, and kicks.