Chapter Two

Seth ducked lower, scrunching his body behind the tree as the chattering of the women grew louder on the other side of the trunk.

“I thought I saw him in this area,” said the first. He recognized the voice, Lady Isa – no, Ire – well, it began with an “I”. Nice enough, but her family was so desperate for a match that they pushed her to act beyond the bounds of propriety.

“He has to be around here somewhere,” said the second. Now her, he didn’t like. Lady Deva treated servants like dirt underneath her shoes. Father said he had to be nice to her since she came from a very important merchant family, so he gritted his teeth and smiled at her at formal functions. That didn’t mean he had to put up with her at any other time.

“Ladies, what are you doing standing around the garden?” And this voice was the dearest to him in the world and welcome any time he heard it.

“Kira, how nice to see you. We thought we saw His Highness and wanted to ask him if there was something special he desired for his twenty-fifth birthday. Now I’m sure he is here somewhere, since you wouldn’t be far from his side, would you? You always were so close to the prince. He’s lucky that you see to his every need.” The tone was subtle vileness, but before he could stand and make his way to the women, Kira’s arm snaked around the trunk of the tree, the forefinger pointing at him, the demand of Stay where you are undeniable.

He was busted. Might as well sit back and enjoy the show.

“Lady Deva, my charge is and always will be His Highness and His Highness alone. I am not as fortunate as you in the ability to spread myself and my favors to anyone who desires it.”

And the tension was palpable even back here. Seth cocked his head in anticipation of the next volley, but the winner was Kira as Deva backed down, saying, “We will find His Highness later. Please inform him we were looking for him.”

“I’ll be sure to do that,” Kira responded in her driest tone. There was rustling, footsteps fading, and then Kira’s voice sounded again. “It’s safe, Your Cowardness.”

He poked his head around. “They’re all gone?”

“The scary girls are no more.”

“Are you mocking me?” He looked up, up, and up. She was probably the tallest woman in the kingdom, and thank heavens he was taller than her by a couple inches or he might have had some inadequacy issues being her best friend. “How’d you get so tall? Your dad is short.”

“It’s because of how you dragged me behind you when we were kids. My legs had to stretch to keep up.” The wind picked up then, the strong wind ruffling Kira’s ponytail and whipping the red strands around her face. She smoothed them back, using the movement to cover the fact her eyes were taking in their surroundings, assessing for any possible risks or potential enemies.

She should never have been made his bodyguard. His father had been wrong to make that decision.

To keep his mind from going down that well-worn argument yet again, Seth stood and ruffled the hair she’d straightened only moments ago. “Hey!” she cried, batting at his hands and glowering at him.

“Any particular reason you are here, or is it you just don’t like sharing me with the other ladies?”

She snorted. “If they got to know you, they’d give you back in five minutes, tops.” After her hair was back to its former sleek appearance, Kira lowered her hands to her hips, her right hand resting lightly on the hilt of her sword. “As it happens, I’m here to collect you for your father.”

Great. His father and he had not been getting along recently. There were a couple obvious reasons – his father’s decision to make Kira his bodyguard one of them – but most of it was a subtext he could not decipher and could not erase. “Any possibility of you saying you couldn’t find me?”

“Sure, the same amount of possibility that Deva is going to be the next queen of the land.”

“Why do you like him more than you like me? I thought I was your best friend.”

Kira grabbed his hand, dragging him the way he so often had dragged her. “Come on. Get it over with, and I’ll let you complain to me the rest of the day about it.”

“Fine. But I’m going to be extra-grumbly.”

Behind the large desk, his father looked almost too regal, the perfect actor to play the character of a king. His hair was pure white now, the lines around his eyes and mouth ever-present, but his hair was thick without a hint of balding, and the lines did nothing except emphasize the bright blue of his eyes and the white, even teeth. His father may have been getting older, but to dismiss him even now was a mistake.

“Father,” Seth said, giving a small bow. King Thomas did not look up from the correspondence he was reading. “I was told you needed to see me.”

“I wish to discuss your birthday celebration. Many notable dignitaries will be there, and I want to make sure you know what to tell them when certain questions are asked.”

Add another reason for the increased friction – his father’s inability to let go. Seth was a prince, trained since birth to care for his kingdom once his father passed on. And yet his father sat there ready to instruct him like an obedient schoolboy on how to answer questions. “What questions worry you?”

“Many will bring up your succession and-” Seth’s father paused, discomfort painting itself over his face. “And your engagement.”

Two months. Two months until Rosamund turned twenty-three, the deadline for the curse to be fulfilled. With the end in sight, he had expected his Father and King Matthias to start making wedding arrangements, but the status quo remained.

For his whole life, it had been that way. His father always sounded uneasy whenever anything to do with Seth’s engagement was mentioned, but he also would never hear of it being broken – no matter how tempting the offer. Seth knew of several more powerful kingdoms that had proposed an engagement, and his father could easily use the excuse of the curse to end his betrothal with Rosamund, but the king had never taken that avenue.

Not that Seth would have allowed that. He had made a promise, and he would keep it. But it was best that fight had never happened.

“What would you have me say if anyone should ask about either of these things?”

The discomfort left his father’s face, and only the regal ruler remained. “You are to deflect the questions however you deem best. These events are not to be discussed.”

This was the perfect moment to bow to his father and leave. Their interaction could end on a civil note, and he could spend the rest of the day with Kira, reading in the library or practicing their archery.

Instead, roughened pride demanded retaliation for being spoken to like a child. “And what if I would like to know what the plans are for my succession and for my marriage? I should think I have a right to know such things.”

His father, who had just returned to his correspondence, paused but did not look back up at him. “We will talk about those things later.”

“Rosamund will be free of the curse soon. We should have the wedding planned so we can be wed right after.”

“That is not your concern, boy.”

Boy. He loathed his father using that word against him. He was not some slack-jawed idiot, nor was he one of those reprehensible creatures who did not assume the mantle of their responsibilities and instead wasted their people’s money and trust on selfish pleasures and pursuits.

Seth was the future king, and it was his right and his duty to make sure he cared for his kingdom in all ways and at all times. This careless attitude his father treated him with, especially concerning such vital questions, prevented him from fulfilling his duty.

And he would not let that happen.

“I’m afraid it is my concern, sir . We are talking about my future wife and the queen of this land. This is not an area where we can afford to be thoughtless.”

He not only had the king’s full attention now, but his father rose from his seat so they were eye-to-eye, the large desk keeping them separated – at least for the time being. “You forget yourself. I am the ruler of this land, and I will make the decisions regarding my subjects, of which you are one.”

“Then why have an heir at all, if you find me so untrustworthy that you cannot be bothered to tell me how my own marriage will proceed? Since you are king, why not just proclaim yourself immortal and you won’t have me as a problem anymore.”

They were both breathing hard as they stared the other down. Through his haze a constant tugging on his arm brought him back to awareness. Kira.

From the doorway, a man was loudly clearing his throat, the sound completing what Kira had started, bringing him back to awareness. His father’s royal advisor stood there, waiting for an audience.

“My son was just leaving,” his father said, eyes never leaving Seth’s face. “Weren’t you?”

“Of course, Your Majesty. Thank you for the enlightening discussion.” He turned on his heel.

“Seth,” his father called. Seth didn’t turn back but cocked his head to show he was listening. His father continued. “Because of safety concerns, I must insist that you stay within the walls of the city through the duration of your birthday celebration. I insist on this, and all the guards have been given this instruction.”

Without another word, Seth left the room. He didn’t speak until he and Kira were clear of the palace, out on the grass and well on their way towards the stables. Only then did the diatribe start. “I’m a prisoner in my own kingdom? The highhandedness! He just gave me a blanket order!” A thought zoomed through his mind and he turned and grabbed Kira by the shoulders. “You didn’t know about that order, did you? Is that why you began babysitting me?”

Kira arched her eyebrow at him and blinked her eyes twice in a slow and steady rhythm. Her thin lips flattened, and the words You’re an idiot practically wrote themselves across her face. He took in a deep breath and released her shoulders to jam his hand through his hair.

“Yes, I’m an idiot. I’m sorry. I should never have said that. The man drives me insane.”

“You’re forgiven, but do it again and I will deck you.” Kira’s face softened with compassion, and she reached up to rub the nape of his neck. “He’s under a lot of stress. He’ll realize how unfair he’s being and he’ll apologize. Until then, we’ll figure out something. We always do.”

He leaned his head forward so she could reach easier. “What does he mean, safety concerns? I’ve never heard him expressing such thoughts before.”

“We need to ask my dad. He’ll be under orders not to tell us, of course, but when has that ever stopped him before?” Her other hand came up to join the first and she added more power to the massage on his neck. “How can your neck be so filled with knots? This isn’t healthy.”

“It’s where I carry my stress,” he shot back, and though his eyes were closed, he as good as saw the smirk form on her lips and heard the thought What stress? cross her mind. “I am a very important person, you understand. My life is nothing but stress.”

“Oh indeed. Learning to dance for a ball? Epic in its torture.”

“It is when you must dance with Lady Tremeil.” He opened his eyes as he raised his head a fraction.

Seth’s face was inches from hers, so close the brown ring shading the green of her irises was visible. He could count each individual eyelash and eyebrow hair, both darker than the hair on her head, a touch of brown added to the true red.

With her red hair and fair skin, she should have freckles, but she didn’t. What she had instead was a wide mouth that had a perfectly formed top lip and a too-thin bottom lip, but those two combined created the most glorious smile he had ever beheld on anyone.

That was Kira in a nutshell, dazzling in her slight imperfections. Blessed with quick wits and battle skills only men usually possessed, and far more feminine than any lady who dedicated herself to gossip and fashion.

“Kira, Your Highness, come to ride today?”

Seth jerked back the same way a child with his hand in the cookie jar would. Kira’s father stood before them. Taren’s eyes narrowed as his gaze went between the two of them, and a roiling, nauseated sensation grew stronger in Seth’s stomach the longer the man stared at them. He cleared his throat. “No, Taren. I’ve just finished a – discussion – with my father. I think I’ll retire to my rooms before dinner to relive the words of wisdom I received.”

The phrasing worked as Seth hoped. Taren was no stranger to his recent disagreements with his father, and the captain’s face went from suspicion to vague sympathy. “Of course, Highness.”

Seth looked back to Kira. There was color in her cheeks and she was deliberately not looking at him. “We’ll meet up later,” he said, just to have something to say, because for the first time in his life, he was unsure exactly what to say to her.

And with her nod, he fled from his best friend.