Page 22 of Settle Down, Princess

That. It was that insolent smirk which had me striding across the ground towards him, my hand raised. Silas grinned as he watched me approach Arik but made no move to intercept me.

“Don’t!” I snarled. And, as all the ugliness still simmering inside me came rushing up, my hand whipped back and I slapped him right across his face.

I’d never dared do such a thing before, but the rush I felt, of pleasure and vindication, as the man’s insolent face went snapping back was something I wanted to experience over and over. At this moment, when I was at my weakest, I suddenly felt strong, and I lifted my hand back to give him another slap. Instead his hand shot out and wrapped around my wrist.

“You get the first one for free,” he told me, seriously. “After what happened last night, it stands to reason I deserve a good slap.” Then his grin was back, twice as brazen. “Pretty sure I would’ve paid a far higher price if you’d demanded that instead of just ‘more.’”

“You dare—?” I snapped, trying to pull my hand free but learning just how pointless that was. His grip was like iron, and just as unbreakable. I tried to twist my wrist, straining against his hold, but all that did was make my arm ache… and make his point clear. He outmatched me utterly. He grabbed my other wrist and snatched my arms above my head as he stepped in close.

“There’s not much I wouldn’t dare, Princess,” he said, his eyes no longer mirroring the summer sky, but now like the coldest of winter ice. “I cut the corset off a princess, removed that stupid veil, then led her into the stews of her own city. I fed her the beer of commoners, let her drink down roseblood for the first time, and then sent word to my men so they could come and enjoy the experience of a highborn lady rutting like a bitch in heat.”

I’d slapped him with my open hand, but he had no need for physical force to reciprocate, not when he could use words. Every single one of them hit me right where it was supposed to, but as they did, I made a discovery… If he’d said anything like that to me the day before my betrothal, I’d have been in tears, unable to hold them back. I’d been trying so hard to be perfect and pure that to be accused of such vile things would’ve broken my heart.

I’d discovered that it had become a different matter once I was actually guilty of those crimes.

What had never been mentioned in all the discussions about women falling from grace was that it was a gloriously dizzying feeling. Losing your virtue, your assured place in polite society, even your moral centre, were all things that I would have thought I’d miss. Instead… I’d been freed. No matter what he thought of what had happened there, I’d been free in that sordid little room of his—overheated, wanton, and lost in pleasure and able to take whatever I wanted. That made me smile viciously at him.

“You are not to call me princess,” I said in carefully clipped tones. “Your Highness, Your Majesty, gods, perhaps even Your Eminence, but never princess. You and I both know that the only way forward for both of us is to pretend the other night never happened, so you will use my proper titles—”

“Go in the bushes, Your Majesty, and have a bloody piss because we can only stop in places we know are safe. There are bandits, rogues, and wild animals that will prey on the unwary if they linger in the wrong place.”

I went to wrench free at the same time that he released his grip, resulting in an ungainly stumble backwards until I found my feet. Silas watched everything with eyes that danced with laughter, even if his face was now schooled into a neutral expression. Creed stepped forward, as if to add something, but I swept past them both. Roan, however, followed my every step.

“And what’re you doing?” I snapped once it was clear he was trailing me.

“Making sure you don’t try and run,” came his reply.

“So, you’re going to watch? While I…” I gestured wildly, faced with the indignity of not being able to describe what my bladder was demanding I do, even though I’d plastered my nether regions over his face last night.

“Watch? No. Not one to shame a man for his kinks,” Roan said, calmly peeling more of his apple, “because I know some like the sight of a woman relieving herself, but it’s not for me. I like…” When his amber coloured eyes met mine, they were filled with devilry. “Well, you know what I like.”

I let out a growl of frustration, stomping further into the trees, looking for somewhere, anywhere, with just a modicum of privacy.

“So, don’t worry yourself, princess. If you’ve got a shy bladder, I’ll give you my back while you do what you need to.”

His voice was nowhere near as grating, and when I turned to look, he’d shown himself a man of his word. He stood by a tree, focused entirely on slicing the apple up and eating it bit by bit.

Which gave me an idea.

I cast my eyes over the landscape anew, not to look for a place to relieve myself, but to try to get a sense of the environment I was in. They’d talked big about wild animals and bandits, but, of course, that was what a brace of guards would do. It was the fear they preyed upon, some of the lords at my father’s table had said, extracting exorbitant prices for their protection.

But what if that were true? If I didn’t need the four of them for any other reason than to get me safely to Khean. I had no intention of arriving at court, so what then? I looked at my pretty slippers, instantly mourning the thought of pawning them off, but perhaps I could use them… Then I remembered the gold these idiots gave me last night! It was stashed safely in the bag Mother and Grandmother had given me. If I could get to the nearest town and buy myself the services of other guards—

“Don’t take too long. Anything more than two shakes and you’re playing with yourself, Princess. At least, that’s what we say in the barracks.”

My head whipped around, like a deer’s might at the sound of a predator. Not here, not now—the guards were all too alert and aware of what they were doing, but tonight, after a long day’s riding. I could make them some tea using some of the roseblood Mother had given to me…

I shuffled behind some nearby bushes, doing what I had to, then looked around in alarm when I realised I had no means to clean myself. Deciding leaves could be used in a pinch, I straightened and flicked the dust from my skirts, stepped away from the mess, and then took several steps further into the forest. Roan seemed preoccupied with his apple and I… came to a halt as I looked up and all around me.

The great green stillness of the trees couldn’t hurt me, could it? I’d grown up with tales of girls falling victim to what lurked within a forest, but I’d been lied to about everything else, so why not that? I’d be able to slink through the trees in the dead of night, following a river… Yes, that’s what I’d heard the scouts advise if you got lost on the land. Water always led to some kind of human settlement. I’d walk until I found other guards for hire and—

“Going somewhere, Princess?”

Chapter 14

Silas

Gods, was there anything more arousing than a beautiful woman holding a knife? If there was, I’d never come across it, and the sight had my cock thickening so fast it hurt, which had me hissing in pleasure. When I heard branches cracking as the little princess walked out into the forest, obviously having finished her business, I thought I would amuse myself by tracking her. I hadn’t expected this. For her to respond to my question by diving her hand into some clever slit made in her voluminous skirts to yank a knife free and then brandish it wildly in my direction.

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