Page 43 of The Princess's Chosen

"Challenge completed!" the bartender roared, and the room screamed with a chorus of cheers, but I didn't tear my gaze away from Emory, didn't let him retreat, following him every tiny fraction of flinching, keeping him pinned.

"Cress!" I shouted. "Lock him up!"

It wasn't Cress who came and hauled Emory away, ripping his blade from his hands and dropping it to my feet, but a crowd of the unmoving audience from moments ago, Emory thrashing but not escaping their hold. Figures surrounded me, unfamiliar faces barring Aric out of sight in front of me, and my Chosen unable to break through. Two men reached for me, ignoring my sudden squirms as they bent to their knees and hauled me onto their shoulders.

"Oh! Scrapper! What's happening?" I cried out. "Aric? Aric, are you all right?"

"The king is fallen!" Scrapper cried, squeezing his way through the melee to stand near my feet. "Long live the king."

"The king is fallen! Long live the king!" the room answered.

15

Bryony

“Idon't understand what's happened," I shouted to Scrapper as a raucous celebration kicked up all around me. It made the scene I'd walked in on earlier a funeral by comparison, which was maybe not far from the truth.

Speaking of which, I couldn't find Aric anywhere in this mass. I'd been set back on my feet after the chanting, but I'd completely lost track of any familiar faces but Scrapper's.

"Emory came for Aric's crown. He won it in thechallenge," Scrapper answered with a crooked shrug, emphasizing the last word in a way that made my skin prickle. "But thenyoucame. And you stole it from Emory! Congratulations, Your Loveliness. YourMajesty."

I blinked at Scrapper until a woman came up and grabbed both my cheeks, tugging me to her and pressing kisses above each of her thumbs before pulling back and yanking a necklace from around her neck, dropping it to the floor where Emory's knife still remained.

"About fucking time," the woman said, and then she marched away and a man took her place.

He leaned in, about to repeat her performance, and I pressed up a hand between us, making him grin and laugh. "Fair enough, Your Majesty," he said. Then he took the hand, the one on which I wore the ring Aric had sent to me, kissed my knuckles and dropped a coin to the floor.

"I'm the…I'm the king," I said numbly as another man took his place, quick to take my hand, to kiss my knuckles. He dropped a feather to the floor, and it fluttered down slowly, nearly kicked away until I caught it with my skirts. The feather prickled with something that reminded me of Aric's magic.

"Yes," Scrapper said.

"Why am I a king specifically?" I asked, frowning.

"Kimmery already has its queen, Your Loveliness," Scrapper said, shrugging. "The king sits at the other end of the scales. That, and no one's ever bothered to change it."

"Where isAric?" I gasped.

"I'll go and find him for you, Your Majesty." And then he too kissed my hand and dropped something thatlookedlike a coin, but I suspected was just a rather nice button.

One by one, the occupants of the room approached me, leaving scratchy kisses on my hand and trinkets at my feet as I tried to catch my breath and sort my thoughts. I came to one conclusion—Scrapper had set me up. He'd been the one who called it a challenge first, making my attempt at rescuing Aric something a great deal more significant.

A hand rested on my shoulder as another woman kissed my cheeks and left an earring at my feet. I glanced behind me and sighed as I found my Chosen at last. Cosmo was closest and most amused, and I glared at his crinkled eyes and twitching lips.

"This isn't funny," I said, lowering my voice as I leaned toward his ear. "I've accidentally made myself King of Thieves."

"Yes, you have. And it looked very deliberate too, from where I watched," Cosmo said. "You taunted Emory and made easy work of him."

Cresswell had taken off the jacket of his uniform, standing in only a pale blue shirt that I decided suited him nicely. He eyed the crowd warily, but he stood less stiffly than Thao, who was tucked safely between Cress and Wendell. I searched for Owen and found him mingling with the crowd, grinning and laughing and drinking a mug of ale. He met my eye and winked, and I relaxed a little further.

"What's the likelihood of this not spreading to the council's ear?" I asked Cresswell.

"We left everyone else at the palace, but this isn't the most trustworthy lot and I don't think you've gone unrecognized," Cresswell said, moving to stand close at my back with Cosmo.

There were stares from around the room, gazes weighing me, and I understood their suspicion. What kind of thieves' court would want a member of the royal family as their leader? If I took my role here seriously, where did that leave my own loyalties to the crown?

"I have to find—Aric!" I gasped as I turned and he was there, appearing as the last man in the room kissed my knuckle and left a coin.

His face was clean, his swollen eye calmed to a well-faded bruise, his lip only bearing a faint cut, and no sign of his other wound. His shirt was still ragged and torn, the only real evidence of the battle he'd just lost, but otherwise he looked healthy, unharmed, beautifully alive. He stood straight, directly in front of me, a hint of a smile on his lips and steel gaze blazing.

---