Page 144 of Settle Down, Princess

“What does the wolf say? The one that paces, paces, back and forth inside your heart. The one that comes alive in the wild places, if you let it. The one that hungers for his enemies’ blood, but not that of his fellow pack members. What does the wolf say!”

My voice echoed out through the entire courtyard, creating a quiet that was only broken by the sound of a beam being lifted free of the door and then left to thump down to the ground.

“That this is not the fight we signed up for,” the commander said with resignation.

He was shoved aside as the door was thrust open, but he found his feet quickly as the shifters streamed free of the barracks, arriving wild eyed and in battle form to survey the courtyard.

“You are leader here?” one massive grey furred fellow asked me, his green eyes burning as they locked with mine. I noted his insignias and slapped my hand on my chest, standing tall and straight as I saluted.

“I am, sir.”

“No need for that, son…” He looked me up and down. “Alpha.”

“I am not—” I started to say, the red haze deserting me only to leave a terrible kind of exhaustion.

“A wolf that takes on the biggest garrison on the Kheanian border and frees us?” His hand clapped down on my shoulder and squeezed. “What else would you call him then?”

“Alpha,” one shifter agreed with a nod, then another said the same. The title went up around the courtyard, repeated over and over, the sound growing louder as human and wolf throats shouted the same.

“So what the hell is going on, soldier?” the grey wolf shifter asked me.

“The king has broken the treaty,” I replied. “I have brought word to… everywhere I could reach.” I’d pushed my body too hard for too long, my body beginning to waver on my feet. “News has to be spread. Other males need to know… They threatened to burn down the packlands… The king…” My mouth was dry. No, my whole body felt like dust, ready to be blown away. People cried out as I dropped down to my knees. “The king does not rule with our support anymore.”

“Rest, lad.” The ground felt like the softest bed, exhaustion rolling over me like a soft, smothering blanket. “We’ll see your news is circulated and a plan is formulated. You men can either stay here or…”

I didn’t hear what offer he made, because I had to accept my own. Sleep would allow me time to renew, rejuvenate, because a fight was coming and I’d need every scrap of my strength for it.

“Jessalyn…” I whispered, a tear welling in my eye as I saw her in my mind, reaching out for me, lips moving.

Chapter 83

What am I going to do? My mind refused to move on from that question, my lips forming those words but my vocal chords not daring to express them, because I had no answer. Those garish bruises, worn like they were fine jewellery, on Giselle’s neck. My hands shook as they reached up, shaking, to form the same on my own throat.

“Don’t worry about that bitch,” Rose said, smiling when she broke the spell I was caught in. “She’s a twisted one, that one. The Raven had me train her to deal and take pain, like many of his girls, but her…” She shook her head sharply. “She was different. Some like taking it, some like giving it, but her? Something’s not right in her head. She gets lost in it somehow, so I recommended the Raven put her somewhere else.”

“So Father put her in the king’s bed.” Selene smiled tightly as she went to sit down behind her desk. “He thought she wouldn’t make it a night, but now look where we are? Six princesses dead and a madman on the throne. He says this is all part of his damn plan, but I fail to see the wisdom of it.”

“That’s why I’m here.” Rose’s cheery response was at odds with her actions, the woman drifting closer to Selene like a planet caught in the sun’s gravitational pull. She came to sit on the edge of Selene’s desk, barely a hand’s breadth between them. “The Raven sent me to collect that bag of tricks the princess brought with her.”

“The poisons?” I asked, clinging to that idea, to the message in my mother’s letter. “Why would he want them? Aren’t we to take them to Desiree’s?”

“Nothing so obvious,” Rose replied, twisting to look back at me. “What if you were stopped by a king’s guard? How would you explain your burden?”

“No guard stopped us on the way,” I replied.

“And none will me tonight.” Rose’s hand strayed to the hilt of her sword. “Not unless they want to wear a Cheapside smile.” She ran a finger across her neck. “No, I’ll take the stash to the Raven. He’ll have one of the kitchen staff put the relevant powders in the supposedly locked spice box in the castle pantry and you’ll direct the cook on what to do.”

She handed Selene a tightly wrapped scroll. The sister unrolled it and read through the contents swiftly, sighing as she set it aside, which drew me closer. I picked it up and scanned the words written there.

“Roseblood…”

“The king and his courtiers always like to partake after a meal, but apparently the stuff you’ve brought kicks like a mule?” I nodded sharply, remembering just how brutal that was. “Well, mixed in with a hallucinogen that will have him thinking his prick is a foot long, and hard enough to hammer nails with. He won’t mind that shit that he sees, as long as he finds a wet hole to shove his dick in. Well, that and be craving his favourite pastries.”

That’s what we needed to tell Desiree to make. She would use the drugs hidden in the locked spice box to flavour the tarts that only the king would eat.

“My father would be wise to watch the situation closely. Finding a strain of roseblood that actually has an effect on the king will be impossibly seductive. He has to take enough to fell a horse most times to even feel a slight flush. The king will demand more be found, then gorge himself on the limited supply he has.”

“You know your father,” Rose replied. “He’ll have the situation in hand. We just need to play our part.”

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