Page 3 of Degradation

I looked up as he and Darian ducked through the doorway.

“Princess, you cannot go about your day in less than pristine condition.” Darian plucked the towel from my grasp with a mischievously innocent look. “People will believe we don’t care for you well enough, and then there will be men lining up, asking for a place in your harem.”

I splashed water at him.

He laughed and reached into the water to pluck my foot free. I remembered the last time he’d washed me and opened my mouth to question his intent. However, what they currently felt stopped me.

Their worry, which they’d carried since Brandle helped break the spell, had changed. Their fear that I would leave them had grown immeasurably while I’d spoken with Brandle. They feared what Eloise might be enduring. They feared I would question the same and leave.

My focus shifted from Darian’s smiling face to Liam’s.

“Tell me,” I said. “Why do you fear for Eloise?”

Liam’s shock rippled through him unchecked. Darian’s was quicker to fade.

“You read us better than Brandle does.”

“I feel you more acutely than I did before. Not your thoughts; simply what you’re feeling. It’s hard to explain. But I do know it’s Eloise you fear for. Why?”

“We found the remaining tracker in the woods,” Liam said. Something in his tone gave away what they’d found, and I patted his hand.

“I felt him die before her arrival. I know what Maeve does. She drains them and leaves husks behind. With me here, I don’t believe she’ll do that to Eloise. I think she needs my sister and me alive.”

“You knew?” Liam asked.

“I did. If I’d warned you, you would have stayed at my side and likely met the same fate as the tracker.”

Darian slid the cloth along my calf. “Unlikely, Princess. The charms we wear are not decoration. The strongest caster’s spell cannot touch us.”

“So long as you’re wearing them,” I said. “She is devious, Darian. She caused the cave-in. Wearing your amulet wouldn’t have saved you from being crushed. You put too much faith in the protection you wear. Use your head.”

He lifted my foot and lightly bit my toe. My core clenched, which created an unpleasant ache.

“Stop that. Wash me quickly so I can dress, or leave me to wash myself.”

His grin returned, and he nodded to Liam. I was thoroughly scrubbed clean in less time than it took for the water to cool and dressed without too much petting. Unsure whether to feel disappointed or worried, I pushed aside both emotions and followed the pair out to the yard.

My intent to join the others and reassure them disappeared when I felt Father’s presence to the east where the early morning shadows were still the longest. Liam and Darian stayed close and didn’t question why I strode toward the trees, but I could feel their tension when I stopped at the edge of the barrier.

“Father, are you well?” I asked.

He appeared in the shadows, his clothes looking more ragged than before.

He growled several words that I couldn’t understand. But I could feel his fear that the human he once was was fading.

“Father, do you trust me?” I asked.

He bowed his head toward me, and I moved to enter the woods.

Darian caught my arm. “Princess, it’s too?—“

I met and held his gaze. “I am not the same person I was a day ago, Darian. Trust me. Please.”

“It’s not you we mistrust, Love. The father you once loved is waning.”

“I know. That’s why I need to give him what little help I can. I need him, Liam. Everything Eloise has suffered will be for nothing without him.”

“Brandle is going to kill us if your father doesn’t first,” Darian muttered.

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