Page 59 of A War of Crowns

Aldric’s lips twisted. Shewaspretty. Too pretty.

But, yes, that had been odd.

Never had a woman pursued him—in either a figurative or a literal sense—and demanded he give his name.Desperate. She had beendesperate to know who he was. So desperate, she had actually touched him.

He couldn’t remember the last time a woman had touched him without a blade in her hand.

“Are we still going to go through with it?” Calix dared ask.

“What other choice is there?” Aldric spat.

Edmund hadn’t exactly given him an opportunity to refuse the current mission. But the fact that his brother had summoned him to deal with such a non-threat was a grave insult.

His glaive was tempered in the blood of Kunishi warlords and shieldmaidens. For fifteen years, he had held Blackrun. He should hold it still. How many Kunishi might yet slip through the cracks in his absence?

How many more Kunishi might yet flee from the threat of this mysterious…Bonesinger?

A low snarl escaped his throat as they finally broke from the treeline. In the near distance, a fire crackled in the center of their little camp, and the scent of roasting fish wafted through the air toward him. His stomach rumbled.

But a deep frown etched itself onto his lips when the firm earth beneath his feet shifted to treacherous sand. The uncertain terrain slowed his already stunted stride even more.

He hated sand.

“And when are we going to tell the others, Your Highness? About the plan?”

Aldric sighed through his nose. He missed Beck.

Beck wouldn’t have asked so many questions.

“They’ll know whenthey need to know.”

He wanted his men to think they were there for the sake of appearances. He wanted them to think they were there to flaunt Drakmori prowess in the tourney on the morrow.

The stench of their uncertainty whenever he approached was bad enough now that he had been reinstated as the Prince of Drakmor. He didn’t want to see what might happen once they learned the true reason they were there.

Leif was the first Son to notice their approach, but the older man’s sharp, warning whistle swiftly alerted the others.

Aldric waved a hand, signaling they should all go back to their business. He had spent long years with these men. He had bled with these men.

He wasn’t going to endure them awkwardly bowing to him now.

Rakon stood by the fire, tending the fish which dripped their juices into the spitting flames. The big man asked, “How’s the competition look?”

His Sons thought he and Calix had been off waiting for the Elmorian ships to land so they could inspect the "warriors" they were to face in the tourney.

In truth, he hadn’t noticed anyone at all beyond the queen herself.

It had been difficult to see anything else, with her standing so close.

Her fingers tangledin his shirt.

Clearing his throat, Aldric moved closer to the oppressive heat of the fire while Calix declared with all of his usual theatrics, “It’ll be easy winnings tomorrow. I didn’t see anyone to be worried about.”

Leif tongued the gap where one of his left molars had once resided. “Of course you wouldn’t, Mother. Not participating tomorrow, are ya?”

Calix scowled. “Neither are you,oldman.”

Aldric ignored them both. “Who’sactuallycompeting tomorrow?” he asked instead.

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