Dante wondered if it had been too easy to settle the Cavs. He and Roan had found all of the potential troublemakers on his mental list and spoke to each. He attuned his gifts to their bodily rhythms. He listened to their hearts, their breathing. He smelled their sweat, their fear. He looked at the nearly invisible twitches of their facial muscles. He knew without a doubt that only three of the men were lying when they insisted they would not attempt to continue Sol’s empire.

Of the three, two were now in the dungeons. The third was in an unmarked grave. When Dante and Roan had made to apprehend him, he’d attempted to use his fire gift to burn everyone in the vicinity. Dante, unfortunately, was left with no choice but to snap his neck.

They had left the Cavs, posting a sign over the fighting pit door that announced the death of the Lord of the Lawless, the closure of the pits, and the cancellation of all pending assignments. It wasn’t really necessary to add that last bit. Dead men don’t pay, after all.

Dante had plans to check in each day to make sure nothing was amiss. In the meantime, however, he didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t assigned a shift for the rest of the day or night, the Cavs trip running far more smoothly and quickly than either man had anticipated. Roan had abandoned him once they returned, telling him he was free to wander the barracks, armory, stables, chapel, and bailey--just not the castle or the gardens. He could even visit the city beyond.

But Dante didn’t want to do anything other than get back to Pregg. In order to do that, he had to figure out who wanted the princess out of the way. So he did the only thing he could think of and leisurely walked around the complex, listening in on conversations in the hopes of overhearing something of note.

Everyone in the castle, it seemed, was either bored, hungry, horny, tired or a combination of the four. Nobody talked about anything of import. Nobody was confessing their secret plot against the princess. Eventually, however, something did pique Dante’s interest: the familiar voices of Blukke and Prim.

He pinpointed the sound coming from the armory, one of the places he was allowed to go when off-duty, and found himself walking toward it. He didn’t enter, though. Not until they started flirting and Blukke complimented her ass, the fucking cad.

He stayed out of sight at first, watching Prim enter the ring and leaving Blukke on the side. But as the trainer greeted Prim with a single nod before attempting to kick her in the face, Dante took off in a run. He stopped just on the edge of the ring as she effectively blocked the kick then threw a punch into the man’s side so fast he hadn’t had time to defend himself.

Dante watched for several minutes, mesmerized by her fluid, powerful movements. He found his mouth had gone dry; he’d been gaping at her. He had no idea she was so skilled. How had he missed so much when they’d been traveling together? He, apparently, was just as shit at his job as Roan was at his.

A hand clapped his shoulder. The fact that it took several minutes for Blukke to notice him told Dante the shifter had been similarly distracted by Prim. He didn’t like that one bit.

“If you don’t marry her, brother, I will.”

Dante liked that even less, though his friend was joking. Hopefully. Blukke would surely win the heart of anyone he set his sights on. “Fuck off.”

Blukke laughed quietly. “I’ve had quite a good time with her.”

“I heard.”

Blukke pulled on Dante’s shoulder to guide him to the wall where he had been standing. Where Dante knew Prim had instructed him to stand. Blukke, apparently, didn’t want to disappoint the woman. Dante clenched his jaw.

“Then you heard me bring her attention right back to you and how smitten you are with her. She’s smitten with you, too. She was gushing to her friends about you and your kisses.”

Dante peeled his eyes from Prim to twist his head toward Blukke. “She was?”

Dante wanted to pinch himself the instant the words were out. He shouldn’t care what she did or did not say about him or his kisses. He didn’t know the woman. He only knew she was a liar. And he’d been planning on killing her--or as good as. She couldn’t possibly care about him.

“She was. And she said that she was sorry for lying, but that she’d hoped you’d understand just like she understood why you kidnapped her. I think she meant because you were both doing it for people you love, eh? Seems like kidnapping and attempted murder might be the more egregious of the two…but what do I know?”

Guilt twisted Dante’s stomach.

“She also said it was real, Dante.”

Pain fisted his heart.

Dante shook his head. “How could it have been?”

Blukke sighed. “Did you only like her because she was the Princess of Wassalia?”

Dante scoffed. “I hated her because she was the Princess of Wassalia.”

Blukke stuck two fingers out, motioning them in a circle in a command to continue that thought process. “Well, now you don’t have to worry about that.”

He didn’t, though he’d come to accept he had no reason to hate the princess--whether Prim or Kallia. Nor did he have to worry about Maria or a betrothed. They belonged to Kallia, not Prim. And she’d made her feelings about Roan perfectly clear.

“So, what do you like about her?”

Everything. The way her fingers interlaced with his whenever he had his arm around her. The way she comforted him after he killed Arnal. The way her voice changed when she was being silly. The way her voice changed when she was being sexy. The easy way she spoke with everyone she met. Her laugh. Her fearlessness. Her tenacity. And, of course, her manners.

He couldn’t deny he also liked how she was moving out there, so strong and powerful and capable. Gods, he was staring again. And she was so professional, so focused, she didn’t even know he was here.

“I suppose the things I liked about her had nothing to do with whether she was Princess Kallia or not,” Dante admitted.

“Like, brother. Not liked. She’s right there, not in the past.” Blukke pointed toward Prim using his entire hand.

So she was.

Dante remained in the armory with Blukke as the two men watched Prim train and Dante updated his friend on what transpired in the Cavs. Blukke had no idea what to make of the empty vial of blood in the locked drawer, either, and only shook his head when he learned one of their peers had gotten himself killed. After they’d finished discussing Dante’s day, Blukke licked his lips, looking at him hesitantly.

Dante didn’t like his friend’s hesitation. Blukke only ever held back when he knew Dante really wouldn’t like what he was about to say. Did he know what the blood was for? “What is it?”

Blukke flicked his eyes to Prim. “There’s something off about her gift.”

Dante followed his gaze, watching Prim take a punch to the side that had him wincing but didn’t slow her down at all. “Her disappearing trick?”

Blukke shook his head. “No.” Then he paused, tilting his head in a frown. “Maybe? They wouldn’t let me see what she was doing, and they told me not to tell anyone what I heard. She was in a locked room and this terrifying woman was making her do things. Things she didn’t want to do.”

Dante’s hands involuntarily clenched into fists. “What kind of things?”

Blukke looked pained. “I don’t know. I told you, they wouldn’t let me watch. But she said they were training her. She said they were trying to get her to do something with her gift that she couldn’t.”

Dante stared at Prim as she did a backbend to avoid a strike. Damn, that was hotter than it had any right to be. “That doesn’t make sense.”

Blukke folded his arms over his chest. “That’s why I said it was off. That’s why I’m telling you. But it better not get back to that woman. There’s something off with her, too, and I don’t want to find out what exactly she’s capable of.”

Dante tucked that away for now. He knew nothing about Prim. What was one more mystery?

Dante watched Prim and the trainer separate and bow, the man complimenting her and telling her he was glad to see her home safe. Prim thanked him, and when she turned around, she had a soft smile on her face. As their eyes met, however, it widened into a full grin. Dante’s heart skipped a beat. In the dungeons when she saw him, she’d been shocked, relieved, and determined. But now she just looked happy.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

Neither Dante nor Blukke removed themselves from the wall as she approached, though Blukke stood up a bit straighter.

“Hi.” Prim directed the greeting at Dante, not even glancing at Blukke, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Some hair had come loose from her long braid and stuck to her sweaty face and neck. Dante resisted the urge to brush it behind her ears. Prim noticed his gaze and did it herself, her smile fading. “No one can tame hair quite like you can.”

“That was really impressive.” Dante knew Blukke was right. What he’d been doing was far worse than what Prim had done. And if she still wanted to talk to him, he supposed there was no reason for him to refuse her. Especially considering he knew he still cared about her, no matter how often he tried to tell himself otherwise.

Prim’s smile returned. “Thank you. It should be. I’ve been training daily since I was thirteen.”

Dante nodded, looking around the arena stiffly, eyeing the other guards performing their own training exercises. “Next year you can claim yourself a master.”

Again, that smile faded into something softer, now apologetic. “Actually that was a couple years ago. I’m twenty-five.”

Right. Kallia is twenty-two, not Prim. Dante cleared his throat.

Prim breathed a nervous laugh. “So, Marnie, Delle and Tamar aren’t in danger anymore. That’s good.”

“Yes. Very good.”

Blukke looked wide-eyed between the two of them, blinking slowly. “Lunin and Solin, you two are awkward. Would it help if I gave you some privacy?”

Prim flicked her eyes to Blukke, but Dante continued looking at her. Her rosy cheeks, her bright golden brown eyes, the darkened fabric around her neck damp from the performance she’d just been putting on.

“You can’t give us privacy. You’re my escort.” She returned her gaze to Dante, her voice lowering to the mischievous tone he liked so much. “Unless you’re here to relieve him? Do I have the pleasure of having you for the night?”

Blukke took a step away, looking too intently at a sparring match between two faes that had taken to the air.

As if the leopard shifter would ever assign him that duty. Dante scoffed derisively. “No.”

Prim’s face fell. Blukke whipped his head back to give him an incredulous look.

Shit. “I didn’t mean I wouldn’t want to pleasure you--”

Prim laughed. Blukke raised his brows.

“I meant, I wasn’t scoffing because I wouldn’t want to be your escort. I just don’t foresee your friend ever giving me that assignment.”

Blukke shook his head, squeezing the bridge of his nose.

But Prim was still laughing. “I need to get back to the castle. Kallia will be getting out of her private lessons soon. I’m going to clean up.”

Blukke and Dante followed her until she disappeared into the changing room, then Blukke turned on him. “What the fuck was that?”

Dante shook his head. “I don’t know.”

Blukke laughed so loudly a passing guard craned her neck to look. He waited until the woman was gone before asking, “Did you act like that the whole time?”

“No,” Dante said gruffly before adding a bit sheepishly, “Not the whole time.”

Blukke laughed again. “But some of the time? And you still got her to like you enough to forget I existed--yeah, I noticed that--while being her captor?”

“Not often,” Dante said defensively. “And I was never her captor, remember? She had the power to leave at any time and chose not to.”

Blukke clapped a hand on his back, still shaking from amusement. “I have never seen you like that. She just keeps getting better and better.”

Dante shrugged his hand off. “I’ll see you later.” As he stalked out of the covered entrance to the armory and into the bright afternoon sun intending to eavesdrop on more random conversations in hopes of finding a lead, he heard Prim emerge and call after him. He stopped immediately.

Prim ran toward him, holding her blue skirts up and away from the dirt path and her feet clad in practical boots and not the silk slippers he’d noticed on other women in the royal complex. Her face was still flushed, but no longer damp. She’d redone her braid, but it was still loose. He’d need to teach her how to do it properly before he went back to Pregg. “Princess Kallia wants to meet you. How do you feel about that?”

Dante scanned her face, trying to read her. “Am I supposed to say that I feel honored?” He ensured his tone didn’t sound sarcastic; he really didn’t understand the question.

Prim smiled sadly. “No. I mean, considering your previous intentions regarding her.”

Dante took a step back. Despite what he’d overheard in the dungeons, Prim still thought of him as an assassin. And she was right. He had killed that man in the Cavs today. But he wouldn’t do anything to the princess. Not just because Roan would punish him and likely his family--no matter what he said to the contrary--but because he knew how much Kallia meant to Prim. “I’m not going to hurt her.”

Prim reached out a hand, placing it on his arm. Dante swallowed at the touch.

“I know that. I meant because of your parents. I know you said you didn’t blame the princess anymore. But you meant me when you said that. I wanted to make sure you still didn’t blame the real Kallia. That it wouldn’t be too painful.” Her thumb brushed along the navy fabric of his sleeve.

Dante knew then without a doubt that she was still the kind, considerate woman he’d come to know. He hadn’t known her name or her age, but he knew who she was. Prim was still his Bear. Even better, she wasn't any of the things that had him hesitating before.

“I’d be honored to meet your friend,” he said decisively. And he would be honored to meet Kallia. Not because she was the Princess of Wassalia, but because she was important to Prim.

Prim’s grip on his arm tightened in excitement, then released. “How about now? We’re free until dinner.”

Dante looked around, avoiding her expectant stare. “I’m not supposed to go in the castle.”

Prim tilted her head. “Why not?”

“Those were my orders from the kern.” Dante had no problem blaming Roan. He meant it when he said he wanted to meet Kallia, but not now. The day wasn’t even over yet and he’d already been tortured, watched Prim being tortured, watched Sol die, cleaned up the Cavs, killed a man, and realized there was still something between him and Prim that he wanted to explore. He couldn’t add meeting the woman he’d considered an enemy for most of his life to that list, even though she must be nice for Prim to have been willing to sacrifice herself for her.

Prim smiled mischievously. “The princess’s wishes trump those of a guard’s. Even a kern’s.” She flicked her eyes to Blukke who had remained several paces behind them. “You two have a lot to learn.”

At the acknowledgement, Blukke sidled up to them. “Come on, brother. I met her and the other handmaiden this morning. They are lovely.”

“I…” Dante hesitated.

Prim raised a brow at him then scanned his face. Her eyes widened in understanding. “What am I thinking? Today’s not good. You’re probably still tired from your trip down, anyway.” She took his hands. “You can just let me know when you’re ready.”

With another soft smile, she released his hands and began to walk away, Blukke following with clap on his friend’s back.

“Prim,” Dante called after her. He wasn’t ready to let her go.

She paused, turning back around, her face twisted in contemplation. “I’m not sure how I feel about that.”

Dante took the few steps to her. “Feel about what?”

She placed a finger on her chin, the other hand on her hip. “You calling me Prim.”

Dante breathed a laugh. “That’s your name, isn’t it?”

She smiled, removing her hands from their overly dramatic positions to drop them to her sides, gripping her skirts instead. “It is. But I liked it when you called me Bear.”

Blukke again found something in the sky very interesting, taking a few steps away, his hands in his pockets.

Dante reached for her hand, and Prim raised it to meet his. “Maybe I can still call you Bear when we’re alone.”

Prim took a step closer, her fingers intertwining with his. “You plan on being alone with me?”

The look in her eyes had Dante wanting nothing more. His voice dropped low. “I’m sorry I said we couldn’t talk when you asked this morning. I would very much like to talk to you.”

Prim’s lips curved into a delicious smile Dante wanted to devour. “I hope that’s not all you’d like to do to me.” Blukke choked and Prim rolled her eyes, the heat in them disappearing as if she just remembered she and Dante weren’t currently alone. “I need to get back to Kallia, but maybe I can find you tonight? Or if you need more time--”

“Tonight’s fine.” Dante wanted to learn everything there was to know about this woman--starting with how she became a royal handmaiden and ending with what noises she makes when she comes--and he didn’t want to wait to get started.

After Prim had Dante explain which room at the barracks was his, she padded back toward the castle with Blukke, throwing a final smile over her shoulder.

Dante watched them go. As they turned a corner, he heard Blukke’s teasing voice. “What is it you hope he’d like to do to you? I can give him some tips.”

“Inappropriate,” Prim chided. “Plus, I think he can manage on his own. And if there is any area he’s lacking in, I’ll be happy to teach him myself.”

Blukke released an amused groan. “I am never going to forgive myself for not accepting his request for help and letting him have you all to himself.”

Dante shook his head, smiling to himself, no longer feeling insecure about his friend's innocent flirting.

Prim laughed. “It wouldn’t have made a difference. You’re not my type.”

Blukke scoffed, Dante barely able to hear it as the two walked out of his extended hearing range. “And what exactly is your type?”

Prim’s answer was faint, but Dante could still make it out clearly. “Him.”