Page 108 of Settle Down, Princess

When Magnus demanded I present myself, I went to rise to my feet, only for Roan to tug me back down.

“No, don’t,” he hissed. His eyes were wide and golden as he stared into mine. “I can’t save you from him.”

I fought his hold when Magnus grabbed Fern, then one of the other girls. My teeth locked down as I saw the red marks the king’s hands left, a biting retort on my tongue, ready to be hissed at my mate, until I saw the soldiers come forward.

Carrying burning brands.

I knew what they were for. My father’s men had left the castle to set fire to the fields one year when a blight tore through the crops, but there was no wheat growing stunted and gnarled right now. Only people sitting down to eat, to celebrate what bound them together.

And that’s when I understood Arik.

One look at him and I saw it. Fear and anger made uncomfortable bedfellows, but there was no surprise at all. He knew this would happen, and he tried to warn us, but we’d all complacently assumed all would be well within the confines of pack territory.

And I was the most complacent of all.

“Get your hands off her…” Creed was the wolf shifter, and his beast was pushing hard for dominance, but that snarl came from Arik, not Creed.

He jerked himself to his feet, slapping his hands down onto the table to get his brother’s attention. Magnus turned with a theatrical slowness as he jerked a girl dressed in one of my gowns closer. Her mates threw themselves forward, but the knights brandished their brands like a farmer might to scare predators off his land. They jerked their faces away but only for seconds. Hands became claws, fur prickled across skin, and they readied themselves to protect their mate, and that’s when I felt a pang of guilt.

I’d gifted my jewel-coloured dresses to each woman to make her feel like a queen, but it’d just made them a target. His target. The knight waving the brand around chuckled in the face of the wolf shifters’ ferocity, his eyes jerking up to the roof above us, made of dried logs cut and lashed together, the gaps filled with highly flammable pitch.

“NO!”

I jerked myself free of Roan’s grip, standing to my feet as I injected all my mother’s command in my voice. Everyone else froze as they were, all but Magnus. He let go of the girl, and there was something regretful about that. Like a cat denied its quarry, he would allow that to happen, but he would not be happy about it. So when he turned to me, his eyes burned with hatred, even though he’d never spoken two words to me. Disgust was there too, as evidenced by the way he looked me over, but most of all, triumph. Now the truth was out, he could use that against us.

And I had to believe that there was a way around that.

“You asked Arik and his men to escort me safely to Khean,” I said. “They did just that.”

“Shut up, Jess…” Arik hissed.

“Did they, indeed?” His eyes slid to my mates, and I wanted to jab red-hot pokers in each of his sockets for having the temerity of doing that. “Did they keep you safe, princess, satisfying your every need?”

I knew exactly what he was inferring. Every royal man seemed preoccupied with the idea of virgin brides, even as they shoved their pathetic pricks into every willing or not-so-willing hole they could find. I wasn’t sure of the state of my hymen after what I’d been through, but I had to hope it was still present.

“Your men looked after me, kept me in one piece…” I added emphasis to the last two words, to make my message plain. “Something your healers can no doubt verify.”

“Jess, no…” Arik growled.

“Something to say, brother?” Magnus asked. “And why would you be calling my wife, the future queen of all Khean, by a pet name?”

Arik didn’t answer his impudent question, cutting straight through to the heart of things.

“What does it matter?” I’d never heard such pain in a man’s voice as I did then. “None of this does. It never has. You didn’t want Ariel, nor any of the princesses.” He thumped his chest. “Just me. I’m the one you want to torture and kill, but you’re too much of a fucking coward to actually do it.”

Gods, this was not the right track to take. Magnus reared back as if slapped, his cheeks flushing bright red.

“If you want to take anyone from here, take me.” He shoved his hands forward, as if readying himself for the irons to be fastened to his wrists. “Leave the women and take me.”

I stared at him, studying the proud profile of Arik’s face and tried to see it. The lazy-eyed prick, the arrogant bastard, but there was none of that now. He looked… regal. I could see the king he would’ve been if the fates had aligned. He knew what fate awaited me, and he put himself forward to be its victim.

Though I appreciated his sacrifice, I couldn’t allow him to make it.

While he was being all noble, I turned to walk around the table and towards the king, because I had an idea. If the previous princesses were used to torment Arik, perhaps one could spur him forward, force him to accept his destiny. But when I went to leave, Arik stepped in my path.

“No, Jess.” That big bloody idiot blocked my way, something that had me hissing in frustration. “You don’t need to do this. He wants me, not you. Every princess, she’s just a means to brutalise me and make clear the countries around us should never think to rise against us. I’ll go, lass.”

I watched his hand rise, ready to touch my cheek, and I remembered what it was like the first time. His caress had seared my skin, branding me right at the moment when I most wanted to be free, but I didn’t knock it away, even though I should’ve. At the very least to make a show for the king and his men that I was as good and pure as my father would’ve told him I was. I leaned into his palm, taking the small comfort that came from that temporary harbour and my eyes fell closed before I forced myself to turn on my heel and march off the other way.

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