Page 190 of Settle Down, Princess

“That’s what I was hoping you’d say,” he replied, his voice feeling so slimy and unctuous I had to fight the urge to brush his words from my skin. A small pipe was produced and a dart placed within it, but before he raised it to his lips, he stared at me. “No tricks now. I’ve got a good number of men planted in this camp and it’d be a real shame to kill a lot of honest soldiers for your sake.”

I didn’t want that, but I didn’t want to go with this man either, so I nodded, even as my body trembled with tension. Once he shot the dart into Creed, once he revived my mate, I would…

The man turned then and shot the dart, not into Creed but me. There was a sharp sting then nothing as the world dropped away. Soft and formless, that’s how I felt as I was swept up and carried like an old rag doll. My head bobbed, too loose on my shoulders, and then I lost awareness of that too.

Coming back to consciousness hurt. My head throbbed in time with my heartbeat, sending great pulses of pain rocketing through my skull, but I shouldn’t have let out that little moan. I caught their attention, the two men moving closer. First as blurry shapes, my eyelids flickering rapidly to try and clear my vision.

And then I wished I hadn’t.

The man with Silas’ face swum into view, wearing that same sly smile, but the other? I jerked back with a hiss of fear as I saw Magnus standing before me. Not the same coolly confident man who invaded the packlands, this one stunk to high heaven, still clad in the stained clothes he’d had on during the stag hunt. His hair was greasy and sat flat against his skull, his eyes wild and bloodshot.

No, reddened with roseblood.

There was no white left of his eyes, only an irritated, inflamed looking pink.

“There she is…”

Magnus looked me up and down and that drew a little whimper from me, because I didn’t want him staring at me at all, but when I went to pull away, my awareness widened. I jerked my eyes up to see that my wrists were bound above my head, tight enough so I was never going to get free and neither could they.

Desiree was in one piece, thank the gods, but her look of terror was a mirror of my own. No bruises on her, no marks other than the smear of dirty fingerprints across her cheeks, that and a swollen and split bottom lip. Along with that and all of her glorious hair was now cut close to her scalp. Selene, however, stood perfectly still, the enveloping robe she always wore having been stripped away, leaving a woman wearing the form fitting attire of an acrobat. The black garment revealed every line of her body while also covering her from neck to toe. She stared ahead stonily, not moving for a second. Both women were tied up just as I was.

“My thanks for bringing my playthings to me, Raven,” Magnus purred, looking us over like we were sides of beef strung up at the butcher’s, but his focus shifted to the man with Silas’ eyes. “Apologies for including your daughter in this, but while your offer to retrieve the princess for me was a kind one, I needed some insurance to guarantee we continue to enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship.”

“Of course, Majesty,” the Raven of Khean said with a slow nod. “Who else understands the need for hostages like the prince of thieves.” He gestured to himself with a little flourish. “As long as nothing happens to my Selene, you’ll find me a willing participant in your scheme.”

“Nothing happens to me?” Selene spat. “Silas will kill you for this. Gods, fuck him, I will. I’ll wreath my brow with your blood, take the title of Raven and then proceed to destroy every single part of your empire—”

“Women.” The Raven shot Magnus a world weary look. “Always more trouble than they’re worth. Don’t have daughters, that would be my advice to you, Your Majesty.”

“So let me deal with her.” My eyes swung left to watch Giselle step forth. Her eyes glittered like sunlight reflected off ice crystals, though twice as cold. I stared into them right now, even as I felt the urge to look away. “I admit I looked forward to seeing you choke the princess first,” she said, her lips curving into a vicious smile. “You know how it affects me.” Her hand landed on Magnus’ shoulder as she snuggled into him, the gesture a grotesque parody of the moment Creed and I had shared. It wasn’t content to stay where it was, her grin widening as she trailed it across his chest, ignoring the state of his tunic to slip her hand in through the unbuttoned front. “I’ll make the same sounds when you fuck me, Your Majesty, but if we need to start with the Guild princess first—”

I wasn’t sure what she expected. In some ways it was reassuring to see another woman act more recklessly than me for once. Magnus twisted around so fast he was a blur, his hand going to her throat and squeezing. No matter what she told me, I saw it then, the fear, the worry that this time, this time would be the one where he squeezed the life out of her, because it was long past time for her body to be dropped into the midden.

“They aren’t to be played with… yet.” His grip loosened a little, and Giselle sucked in breaths greedily. “Each woman will serve her purpose first. One woman brought my brother to his knees and forced him to forget his seditious urges, so what will three do?”

When his focus shifted to us, I didn’t welcome it, because while it was easy to dismiss him as a madman, there was the same kind of cunning you would find in a rat’s eyes right now.

“Bring Arik to me and I’ll free your daughter.” Magnus nodded, his head moving faster as he stared at the Raven. “The old kings killed a stag to take the throne, but I…” I flinched at the sight of his cracked teeth and bloodied gums as he bared his teeth. “I will kill a bastard who dared to think he could rise above his lowly station. A new crown will be formed, not of the antlers of some dumb beast, but of a reckless, unworthy one.”

“Drugged, of course, Your Majesty?” the Raven asked as if inquiring if the king wished pepper ground onto his meal. “You wish for me to weaken the prince.”

I watched the prince of thieves stroke the same pipe he’d used to dart Creed, my whole body tensing against the ropes that bound me.

“I wish him to be humbled.” You could see the evidence of Magnus’ breeding, his heritage, in the way his spine jerked straight. He peered imperiously down his nose at the Raven, but the majestic figure he sought to cut was undermined by his state. It wasn’t just the fact he was filthy and his clothes were ruined but that urine dripped from his front like a leaky tap. “Ensure that Arik comes to a duel with me suitably prepared and your daughter will escape Giselle’s attention.”

The king’s mistress stared steadily at Selene, something I would never have dared, because the Raven’s daughter met her gaze and more. Giselle was disordered, some part of her brain destroyed by the need to survive the king, but Selene? She was like a knife’s blade, honed sharp enough to cut you deep, it taking moments for you even to register it.

“Of course, Your—

The Raven’s reply was interrupted by a sharp knock at the door, forcing the king to walk over and wrench the door open.

“Sire…” The guard’s eyes shifted restlessly, like a mouse before a wolf. “I mean, Your Majesty, we’re…”

He couldn’t get the words out, the clarion call of a great horn blasting beyond the capital gates announcing what was happening.

“Under attack…” Magnus barely breathed that out, but if I thought him cowed by the news, I was wrong. That awful grin was back. “And so it begins. Send the town crier out, send ravens to all of the great houses of Khean. Let them know that the Bastard Prince commits treason against his king. Let everyone know exactly who is creating chaos here.”

“But our defences—” the guard tried to say.

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