Page 94 of Settle Down, Princess

“Your boys are putting up a good fight,” someone said, turning our way.

I thought they meant Fern or some other female, but their eyes landed on me.

“I didn’t think humans would stand a bloody chance, but they’re holding their own,” another said, shooting me a long look. “They’re strong, smart, those boys of yours.”

They were not mine. Fern seemed to sense my thoughts, stiffening beside me when a woman spoke to her.

“Looks like you’ll be an auntie soon. That brother of yours will be mated and get some strong pups on his mate.” Her eyes raked up and down my body. “She’s a tiny one, but her hips look broad enough to bear a child without a problem.”

“Surely I have a say in that process?” It was my mother, the queen’s voice I heard right now, not my own. “Don’t I have to accept the bond?”

“Yes, but fate—”

“Fate will not decide my future.” I jerked myself to my feet. “Only I will.”

I was just about to walk away from this madness, leave the competitors to it, when I heard a cry. Ragged, male, it drew my attention when all the others didn’t. I froze where I was, trembling like a deer caught in the undergrowth as my eyes raked across the arena.

Roan fell to his knees, his eyes staring blindly, the whites now bright red. His hands jerked up to rub at them, but he stopped himself. The liniment… I felt a pang of guilt, remembering how my nanny’s used to make my eyes water when she rubbed it on my chest. That burn, it must have multiplied a million times over in his eyes. My own watered in sympathy as the crowd jeered.

“Weak bloody human!” one shouted. “Get off the field!”

“Is he crying?” a man chortled. “Must’ve wet his britches, facing down a real pack.”

Roan was annoying. Roan smirked and directed me to wash in a watering hole with little interest in my comfort. Roan let Arik lead our party closer and closer to the Kheanian capital where the king awaited me.

But he also smiled at me with all the brightness of the sun, and when the sunlight hit his hair, it turned as scarlet as autumn leaves. He’d thrown himself into the watering hole without thought, lopping off the catamount’s head and afterwards he’d hugged me close until I stopped shivering.

“What the hell is going on?” Fern asked. “Did someone throw sand in the human’s eyes?”

“Liniment…”

I turned to face her slowly, regret in my eyes. She took in my pained expression, her own quickly mirroring mine.

“Oh gods, no…” But anything we or anyone else might have to say was cut off as Marian rushed past, a leather satchel thumping on her hip. “Marian will help them,” Fern assured me. “She has to.”

“Of course.” I forced myself to smile. “She’ll know what to do.”

But if I felt that with any kind of confidence, why did I watch her progress across the arena floor with such interest? Wolf shifters pulled away from the healer, not daring to even ruffle the dust around her as she strode towards Roan and then cradled his head in her hands as she inspected him.

Did she feel the strong planes of his face as she did? Did she note the full curve of his mouth, seeing it was now thinned down to a hard line? I wasn’t sure, but I watched her apply some kind of eye drops to the man as Wren quizzed him.

“The elder will ask if they want to pull out,” Fern explained with an apologetic smile. “They don’t have to go through this…”

But they did, for my sake, that went unspoken, and what had started as a malicious prank became something far worse. I wanted them to hurt with every breath in my body, and yet when I was faced with an actual example of that, my resolve faltered. I didn’t want the big idiot’s eyes to burn in their very sockets. The universe seemed to sense that shift towards altruism, allowing me to see Roan’s rapid recovery, only for Silas to become its next target.

He was there on the outskirts, a tiny figure amongst all this mayhem.

“What the hell is Silas doing?” I whispered.

“What, Roan?” Fern followed my gaze. “Oh gods, no. You bloody idiot. A pack’s strength comes from sticking together, not wandering off to… What the hell is Silas doing?”

But I knew.

Silas’ eyes were just as sharp as his knives, and he moved quickly, dropping his body low to provide as small a target as possible.

But he still was one.

Thankfully the packs around him were preoccupied with finding their flags, not him, but it soon became clear that would not help Silas. He was searching for the same thing. His feet seemed to skim over the earth. It wasn’t that he was faster than the wolf shifters, but that his focus was different. The man searched in an entirely unique way.

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