Prim and her friends shut themselves in the princess’s bathing room after servants brought in scalding water, Kallia’s two escorts standing just outside the inner door. Dante stood against the wall of the entertaining suite between Blukke and a brunette fae woman, another guard on her other side. It’d been nearly an hour, and he wondered how long it took a princess to bathe, though he knew nothing was wrong. The women’s bright voices and laughter filtered through the door loudly enough that they could all hear, though Dante was certain only his hearing could make out the exact words.
And the exact words Kallia said as soon as the door was shut were, “So you fucked your mystery man?”
Dante had choked, eliciting a clap on the back from a befuddled Blukke. Prim attempted to avoid the subject, but her friends were even more ruthless than Delle and Tamar, and she eventually admitted it was true. He knew Prim was well aware he could hear everything she said, but he still thought she meant it when she told her friends he was the best lay she’d ever had. He hoped so, anyway, even if he hadn’t had the time to show her what he was really capable of.
Prim’s friends were lovely. Kallia seemed genuine and nice--despite her assignment of Blukke to escort Prim instead of Dante. That familiar feeling of shame washed over him thinking about how he had wanted to kill her only a month ago.
“So you’re Dante?” the fae woman beside him asked, pulling him from his thoughts. It was the first time any of them had spoken since the women disappeared, other than Blukke asking if he was okay when Kallia’s bluntness caught him off guard.
Dante turned to look at her. She had the same coloring as Tamar and Delle, but he knew she wasn’t from the North by her odd accent. “I am.”
She nodded. “Sarasha,” she offered, holding out her hand.
Dante didn’t take it and she let it drop awkwardly.
Blukke leaned past him to look at her. “Blukke, not that you asked.” He flashed his panty-dropping smile, but the woman only offered a polite, closed-mouth one in return. He leaned back against the wall, nudging Dante. “What is the spell you have over women in this castle? Or have I developed some rotting stench you’re not telling me about?”
“The other handmaiden had her eyes on you often enough.” Dante couldn’t tell him why the fae was interested in him. But she hadn’t asked his name. She already knew it. He turned his attention back to the woman. “What did you mean by that? You’ve heard of me?”
The woman smiled coyly. “I’ve heard your name thrown around.”
Shit. That can’t be good. “By who? What were they saying?”
She chuckled quietly. “Don’t worry, the context was good. And the person wasn’t talking to anyone. They were all alone.”
Dante didn’t understand what the fuck she was talking about, but before he could ask her to explain, the guard on her other side leaned over. “We’re not really supposed to talk,” he said apologetically.
Dante had been impressed with the skill he saw the guards exhibit in the armory yesterday, but he was not impressed with their attitudes. This woman was talking in teasing riddles and this man didn’t seem to have a spine. Good thing he now knew Prim could take care of herself. He would be knocking some heads together if these people were her only means of protection.
The women stayed in the bathing chamber for hours, even having their lunch delivered in there. Kallia had extra food brought in for the guards, and Dante ate his fill listening to Blukke praise the princess for feeding them.
Another hour or two passed in silence until the bathing room door opened just enough for Prim to stick her head through. “Dante, we need you.”
He shrugged at the other guards’ questioning looks; the women hadn’t said anything to one another requesting his presence. Slipping inside the bathing chamber that was bigger than Prim’s entire room, he saw a bath in the center still filled with the now cold floral-scented water and various benches and chairs. Dante wondered how many people regularly sat and watched the princess bathe.
Princess Kallia herself sat upon one of the chairs, this one in front of a looking glass. She no longer wore a white dress, but a pink robe that clung to her body revealing a figure that was a bit slimmer than Prim’s, but still nicely curved. All three of them had nicely curved bodies, if he was being honest.
Kallia’s long blond hair cascaded down her back, but Dante could now see the difference between her’s and Prim’s. Kallia’s was even longer than Prim’s and just a shade darker. Now that he’d seen them both unbound, he could tell that the princess’s also had a bit of a curl to it, unlike Prim’s. Bristol was standing next to her, some damp spots on her blue dress, her hair still in the usual long, loose braid they all wore. Neither woman looked up as he entered. Bristol continued whatever it was she was doing to the princess’s fingernails.
Prim, however, was watching him take them in. “I share everything with them.”
Dante turned his attention to her, seeing her dress spotted with water droplets just as Bristol’s was. “I understand.” He wasn’t upset that she’d shared what they did this morning with her friends. He was certain Blukke knew, though he hadn’t explicitly told him. He’d only shared his Sol was secretly gifted and could read and control minds hypothesis on their walk over.
“So I’m thinking if Bristol lays face down and Kallia lays on top of her, and I stand off to the side…You could fuck Bristol while eating Kallia and use your fingers on me.”
Dante stared at her, but Prim couldn’t keep her face straight for more than two seconds before that mischievous grin spread across her lips.
“Can I kiss you?” He had to. He couldn’t be around her with her making those stupid jokes that he loved and that infuriatingly sexy grin on her face and not have his mouth on her. Not anymore.
Prim flicked her eyes to her friends, Dante following her gaze to see they had both turned their attention fully away from them. “I don’t see why not. They already know what else you’ve been doing to me.”
Dante wrapped his arms around her low and she grabbed onto them as he kissed her soundly, but without tongue. He didn’t need to be thinking too hard about her tongue in a room with other people. When he finished, he sighed with satisfaction. “I wouldn’t have done it even if you weren’t joking, by the way. I really--” He kissed her neck. “Just--” He kissed the other side of her neck. “Want--” He kissed her lips. “You.” He kissed her nose. “Though I’m sure Blukke could be persuaded.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Prim purred. She looked into his eyes a moment longer, her mouth holding back a smile, then she turned on her heels to stalk across the room and take a seat next to Kallia. Looking over her shoulder at him, she asked, “Will you braid my hair?”
She’d really asked him to come in here just to do their hair. He was an assassin, now a guard on a secret mission. He was a man to be feared. And she wanted him to do her hair.
Dante obediently walked across the bathing chamber and fixed Prim’s hair the way he had when they’d been traveling, bending down to kiss her just behind her ear when he finished. Bristol and Kallia looked over it.
“No,” Bristol said. “He’s right--that’s for function, not fashion.”
Prim looked at herself in the mirror. “If he does this--” She pointed to two sections. “But left this part free--” She pointed to another section. “And wrapped this around here--” She circled the back of her head. “I think it would be beautiful.”
Bristol and Kallia stared as if trying to imagine it. Dante could. And he thought it would look pretty the way Prim suggested.
If she wanted him to be a hairdresser, he would be a hairdresser.
“Do you have any flowers?” He’d twisted flowers into Marnie’s braids often, and the girl always seemed to love that.
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Bristol and Kallia stared at him, but Prim rose from her seat and kissed his cheek before exiting into the entertaining suite. He turned Kallia around and began sectioning off her hair. When Prim returned a moment later with a few floral arrangements that had adorned every surface of the other room, Dante weaved the princess’s hair the way they’d discussed, adding the flowers as he went.
All three women stared at Kallia’s reflection as she twisted her head left and right.
“I had to teach Dante this lesson this morning, and it seems you two need a reminder. I. Am. Always. Right,” Prim sang, bumping him with her hip. Then her face fell. “Shit. I need to get to my lesson. You know Helena won’t accept incoming Lanhami as an excuse to skip.”
Dante’s chest tightened. That must be the gift lessons and the terrifying woman Blukke told him about.
Prim kissed Bristol’s cheek, then Kallia’s. “Your hair looks beautiful. I’ll come straight back after I see Helena. I can miss my training with Jacques and I’m guessing your lessons are canceled whilst the Lanhami are here?” When the princess nodded, Prim continued. “We’ll finish getting you ready together and Egan is going to sully his pants at the sight of you.” She turned to Dante and gave him a lingering kiss on the lips. “I guess you’ll still be here when I get back, too, since you’re stuck with this one.” She nodded toward Bristol.
Kallia laughed. “Don’t be silly. I never intended for him to escort Bristol. I was just fucking with you.” She stood and walked out the door, the robe hugging her figure so tightly Dante was a bit concerned about the smiles and pointed looks Blukke would no doubt be aiming at the princess in a few minutes. He better get it out of his system before her betrothed arrived.
The other two handmaidens followed her out, and Dante followed them, pulling Prim back for one final kiss before they left the privacy of the bathing chamber, squeezing her ass in the process.
Kallia stood in the middle of the room, holding her robe closed with both hands. She looked pointedly at Sarasha and Blukke. “Please escort Lady Primrose to her afternoon lesson, then bring her straight back to me.”
Prim shook her head, smiling to herself as she walked toward the two guards. Dante didn’t understand.
Then Kallia held up a hand. “Wait. Blukke, you’re an avian shifter, right?” At his confirmation, she nodded. “Right, right. Actually, I will have you with Tuck and Dante will join Sarasha. It would be best for each of my handmaidens to have an aerial guard rather than one having two and the other none.” She looked at Dante and nodded toward the door.
Dante supposed he understood where Prim got her scheming tendencies. Or perhaps the princess had learned them from her.
Blukke fell back to the wall, practically glaring at Dante for the chance to not only leave the wall for the bathing chamber, but again for Prim’s lessons. As he passed his friend, Dante whispered, “At least now you won’t have to see that scary lady.” He was teasing, but Blukke actually did look relieved at that realization.
That made Dante even more anxious to meet her.
Dante walked next to Prim, Sarasha a step behind on her other side. He said nothing as they walked down the corridors flooded with frantic servants cleaning and carrying decor from one place to another, though put a hand around her waist once to pull her out of the way of a man carrying a too-large vase that had him bumping into everything.
Sarasha, however, did not stay quiet. “You did a good job on her hair. The flowers were a lovely touch.” The words were directed at Prim.
“That was all Dante,” she answered with a smile, the back of her hand brushing his purposely.
The woman blinked. “Is it common for guards to attend to such duties?”
Prim laughed brightly. “No. But Dante isn’t a common guard.”
Prim stopped in front of a door with a guard positioned in front of it. She greeted him by name, and the man unlocked the door for her. Dante and Sarasha followed her into a large, empty, windowless room. The guard at the door followed, too, but only to light the wall sconces, then he returned to the hall, closing and locking the door behind him.
“What is this place?” Dante asked. It was creepy, and the terrifying woman wasn’t even here yet.
“Where I have my lessons.”
“What lessons?” Sarasha asked.
Dante flicked his eyes to the fae. He didn’t like the riddles she spoke in earlier, and he didn’t like her asking so many questions. He hoped Prim had the sense not to answer.
Luckily, he didn’t have to find out, as keys clanged in the lock and the door opened to reveal a small dark-haired woman holding two large baskets. There was a kind of ageless quality about her. She could just as easily be sixty as thirty.
She looked over the trio. “Absolutely not. It was a mistake to let that one remain. They will wait in the hall.”
Neither escort moved.
The woman stared at them a moment longer, then entered the room, dropping the two baskets at the front. Dante couldn’t see inside; they were covered by cloth. Prim’s mentor approached Sarasha, staring intently at her for several long moments. The fae’s face paled.
“You will wait in the hall.”
This time, Sarasha quickly exited the room.
The woman now turned her attention to Dante. He let her look into his eyes as she had with Sarasha, but he did not back down, even as he felt some kind of dark energy emanate from her, aiming directly at him. He focused on his breathing, on Prim watching him. He would not leave her.
The woman stared at him far longer than she stared at Sarasha, but when she finally blinked, she said, “Fine. Stay. But keep your eyes on the wall the entire time.”
Dante stared at the wall as he listened to the woman make vague instructions and threats. As Prim grunted with effort or frustration. As she whined about doing certain things and made nonsensical comments like But he likes me and This one’s still good—can I eat it instead?
When Helena announced they were done for the day, Dante turned around. “What are you doing to her?”
The woman didn’t answer as she gathered the baskets, and Dante moved to block her way to the door.
“Move, boy.”
Dante did no such thing. “Gifts are innate. They can’t be trained. So what are you doing to her?”
Prim quickly stepped between them, facing her mentor. “Helena, he’s new. He doesn’t know the limits of the protection he’s expected to provide.” She turned to give him a pointed look. “He doesn’t know that you’re not a threat to me.”
Helena slid her tongue over her teeth behind her lips, staring at him in that intense way again. Dante again held his ground, taking a step closer to Prim.
“Then perhaps you should teach him,” Helena finally said.
Prim wrapped her hands around Dante’s arm and attempted to pull him out of her mentor’s path, but he didn’t let her.
“We’re not leaving this room until you tell me what you’re doing to her.”
It wasn’t Helena’s sharp tone that had Dante second-guessing his insistence on an explanation, but Prim’s. “We’re leaving now and if you have any questions, you can refer them to me.”
Dante peeled his eyes from Helena to find that fire in Prim’s gaze. Shit. He clenched his jaw, but stepped out of the way.
Helena walked past, keeping her eyes on him, and knocked on the door. “I’m doing the same thing you are,” she said coolly as the door unlocked and she padded out.
Great, another strange woman talking in riddles.
The door remained open, revealing the guard at the door looking forward and Sarasha peeking in after giving Helena a wide berth as the mentor casually walked down the hall.
“What the fuck was that?” Prim hissed.
He furrowed his brows, not understanding why she was mad. “This is not normal, Prim. Whatever she’s having you do can’t be good for you.”
Prim braced her hands on her waist, jutting her chin out. “It’s normal for me. Helena’s been giving me daily lessons since I was a child. You have no right to question her.”
Dante controlled his urge to scoff at that. “You’ve been doing this daily since you were a child and have made no progress yet the lessons continue? And you think that’s normal? Have you ever questioned her?”
Movement caught Dante’s eye, and he noticed Sarasha had stepped fully into the doorway, leaning against the wall and crossing her arms over her chest as she watched their interaction.
Before Prim could respond, he amended, “We can discuss this later. I have many questions I’ll be referring to you.”
She huffed a breath through her nose. “Hopefully I’m not too stupid to answer them.”
Prim turned to walk away, but Dante reached out to grab her arm and turn her back to him.
That’s why she’d gotten mad. She was under the impression he thought she was incapable of handling herself. That she was too stupid to see she was in danger. She’d accused him of that before when they’d been traveling and had looked just as mad and hurt then.
“Bear…” Some of the fire banked in her eyes at his soft voice and use of her nickname. “I know you’re smart and I know you can take care of yourself. But sometimes we can become blind to the truth after living with a lie for so long.”
Her face softened completely, knowing he was talking just as much about himself as her. He slid his hand down her arm to grasp her hand, then quickly released it, that nosy fae woman still watching. Prim nodded and the three returned to Kallia’s chambers in silence.