Page 18 of The Princess's Chosen

"I think you did right," Owen said, a soft smile growing as he stepped forward, an arm wrapping around my waist and pulling me into his chest. I swooned into the embrace, nibbling and kissing gently on his offered lips.

"I have concerns, but I'm inclined to agree with Owen," Wendell said, leaning in and kissing my shoulder briefly. "Maybe I am too optimistic, but I can't imagine any dangerous goal he might have being able to stand in the face of the sanctuary you just offered him."

"We will plan for the worst," Thao said firmly, touching us both.

"And hope to be rewarded with the best," Cosmo agreed, nodding, and then he released a long breath. "Even with him here, I feel like the palace can breathe again."

"We'd better open all the windows just in case," Wendell mused, before flashing a smile down in my direction. "And I think we ought to take our darling girl up for a very long, restful day in bed. To make up for the sleep she lost last night."

"Restful?" I teased, grinning back at him.

Wendell leaned in, nipping at my bottom lip. "True. Some restingwillbe in order. Perhaps after more important matters."

I squealed and giggled as Owen lifted me from the floor, throwing me over his shoulder, one hand cupped gently on my bottom as he took the stairs two at a time.

6

Aric

The woods had changed in the weeks since I'd traveled up the mountain to the Winter Palace, and the transformation was almost terrifying, too good to be true. There was magic in the trees, every bit as much as the bird song was richer. It called to me, heavier even than the pebbles in the capital or the roses in the garden of the Southern Palace.

Magic had been growing in whispers for the past couple weeks. I'd thought I felt some in the storm the night of the harvest festival, but nothing like this.

I'd never excelled at catching magic right out of the air like some of the better mages claimed to do, but I knewfor certainthat at this moment, I could've waved my hand through the air in the woods and caught threads of power like fishermen hauled their catches out of the sea. The mountain was ripe, and I was tempted to stop and soak it up like a glutton.

But first I needed to speak with my—the princess.

You like her. It was Charlotte's voice in my head—the strongest scrap of the woman I loved still left in my memory was her voice. Dry, always teasing, husky and coaxing until you annoyed her and then brittle as a winter twig.

I do, but—

And I waited for the objections to rise.

But I was the King of Thieves. I had a duty to my court as well as a distinction to maintain. No thief would trust a king who'd taken up a place as a princess's Chosen.

She was too young.

I was younger when you bedded me,Charlotte answered.

"No, you're talking to yourself, fool," I muttered, nudging my horse a little quicker up the road. "And I was a great deal younger at the time too."

A breeze stirred through the trees and carried a feminine laugh with it, my eyes widening. It wasn'tquiteCharlotte's voice just then, but it was close. I needed to be careful. These were no longer the woods I knew. My own penchant for magic was liable to let this new environment play tricks on me.

A better objection than age or our positions was the pattern of our friendship. Bryony was coming into her own, and I might be too strong an influence over her. She needed to stake out her ground for herself, learn how to command and direct. Men like Cosmo and Owen were good for her, would shore her up without trying to steer her.

She likes when you take the lead.

My thoughts were sadistic today, and they conjured up the vision of Bryony laughing in my arms, light and gentle, and flying with me through the dancing crowds at the festival.

I needed to turn back. My head was full of her, and I seemed to be missing my usual restraint. If I went to see her now and she gazed up at me with those great dark eyes of her, lips parted and begging to be kissed…

She had a snake in her court, that was why I was going. Not to let her flirt with me while I soaked it up like the trees in these woods were lapping at the magic on the air, statues thriving quietly on the force that fed them.

I clucked encouragingly to my beast as the road grew steep and we turned the corner. The palace looked bright today in the sunshine, old gray stone almost gone peach in the hazy glow of the day. It was cool out, fall promising a coming shift in the weather, but brilliant and beautiful. I frowned at the palace as I came up to the gate. There were guards stationed there, unfamiliar faces, but they seemed less concerned with my approach than their game of cards.

The last time I'd been here was on a gray day with Griffin, and we'd come up through the woods to the old monolith of a palace. The walls had been cracked, the windows shuttered and blackened with age, the massive steps up to the front door crumpled.

Where's she found the money for this? The labor? I wondered, eyes wincing as sunlight glanced off golden window frames. The palace was not only healed, it was…

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