Page 36 of Iron Unicorn

“We were thinking you’d date your Montana princess, actually. You know, the one that has been cuddling up with you every night for about two weeks now? It’s not a ransom. It’s a reward.”

I blinked. Me? Date Olivia? “Pardon?”

“You’re a dual empath, Terry. You’ve blinded your concentrated talent, and because you’re always exposed to empaths in distress,yoursymptoms are being hidden by the symptoms of others. I was sacrificed to have this talk with you. We have been notified by our monarchs that the issue ofyourconcentrated bond is to be dealt with. However, as you’re absolutely dense, we’re changing our approach. Subtlety is clearly not working. According to our contacts in Montana, your princess has been utterly head over heels in love with you for years, and you have rocks in your head. I mean, in your defense, I told them you were the ultimate professional RPS agent, which meant until you went to New York, you were not available for such a relationship. They even acknowledged that they understood this was the case. However, now that you’re attached to the New York RPS, youareavailable for her enjoyment. And we are taking the side of the princess.”

I narrowed my eyes. While I’d gotten to know the agent somewhat during my stay in Texas, we hadn’t had many heart-to-heart talks, especially not on the subject of empathy—at least not in the context of concentrated bonds. However, I knew the man’s reputation, and he wasn’t the kind to joke around about something like that.

But to claim Olivia lovedme?

Only a blind fool wouldn’t love Olivia for everything she was, and that was before her nose had undergone major alterations. I, on the other hand, had more than a few failings, especially when it came to women.

Sabina had made the first move when we had met. She’d understood I’d been married to my work.

Not only had she understood that, she had wanted what I could offer her. As such, I’d ridden two horses. I liked to think I’d handled being married to both Sabina and my work well, giving the loves of my life equal attention.

But Sabina and I had never been bonded, not with magic.

We had suffered through fights, but we’d always talked through them. Sometimes, she resented I hadn’t backed off my RPS work even a little. In some ways, I had.

I’d passed over many an opportunity for overtime for my wife’s sake, although I’d failed at communicating this to her.

Olivia understood the world I lived in. She’d seen it from the other side, aware of the sacrifices we made for her family.

I’d never thought there might be any more to our friendship than that.

Montana always sacrificed a member of the royal family when an agent had a need, including support following the death of a loved one. That wasn’t something most royal families did. From the day of the accident, Olivia had been there, making certain I was able to muddle through life without Sabina.

As Carl had gotten a good fire started and the smell of coffee promised a warm drink, I joined him. Not quite ready to face any potential bond with Olivia, I asked, “What makes you think I’m a concentrated empath?”

“You’ve been monitored by the Montana RPS for quite a while. New York has also been monitoring you, although your records are being updated through Montana. They were afraid of rocking the boat. It’s been decades since New York has had a stable RPS, and nobody wants to stop you from handling the reformations you’ve been doing. We Texans are masters at rocking the boat, and our monarchs have determined now is the time for you to get chucked into the deep end. Frankly spoken, you have been vexing the agents responsible foryourwellbeing. Princess Olivia has had symptoms for quite a few years now, and after trial and error, it was determined you’re the source of her symptoms. You tend to have daily communications via text or call, and you both express improved moods following exposure. When she becomes upset or stressed, you are known to become the Iron Terror rather than the Iron Unicorn. It’s quite a classic set of symptoms, really. We suspect Princess Olivia is the creator of the bond with your empathy talent enhancing her abilities. That’s why we used you to lure her here for the operation. Because she’s bonded to you, it was a guaranteed way to get her to Texas. Her reactions matched what we expect from a bonded empath perceiving a threat to her partner.” Carl reached down, grabbed a mug, poured a cup of coffee, and handed it over. “His Royal Majesty of Montana wants his sister married, to you, immediately.”

I accepted the coffee and used it to buy myself time, although I was unable to keep my eyes from widening. “Who wants me to do what?”

Carl chuckled. “His Royal Majesty of Montana wishes to attend his sister’s wedding, and there’s only one candidate to be the groom: you. And this can’t happen until we remove the blinders you happen to be wearing. Now, I get why you wouldn’t even consider pursuing the princess. She is, after all, a member of the royal family you were serving. As a member of the New York RPS, this is no longer a factor. And frankly, your talent is royal ranked and we’re just pretending you’re an elite for your peace of mind. Princess Olivia would be permanently attached to New York as Montana’s diplomat, and you will remain the head of the queen’s detail. As Montana’s queen is a New Yorker, nobody is going to think twice about the arrangement. The issue is stabilizing your bond with her, and I’m of the opinion that the true trouble will be Princess Olivia. I can trust you to approach this sensibly. With the princess’s surgery, we would be fools to expect mental stability during her adaptation period.”

Everything the man said made a disturbing amount of sense. I needed more time to process everything, so I opted to handle the one subject that I could readily accept: the change to my rank.

“I’ve always been borderline, Carl. And usage and refinement very probably will result in an evaluation of being royally talented. There is a reason I am conveniently busy whenever one of the talent evaluators comes calling.” Heaving a sigh, I added, “If Princess Olivia requires equality, I can pursue the rank evaluation.”

If Carl read between the lines, he would discover my acceptance of the theory he provided.

Maybe I wore blinders, but I understood a selection of simple truths. I’d cherished Princess Olivia as a friend for years. I’d always found her to be beautiful, her crooked nose and all. The operation had revealed what I’d known all along.

She shined.

“You would receive a significant pay increase with a new evaluation,” Carl reminded me. “We can handle the paperwork here. It would be a good swipe at the New Yorkers.”

Texans loved picking on New Yorkers, and it would only be a matter of time until they targeted me with their jabs. “It would also screw with my queen’s budget.”

“Your queen’s budget is a masterpiece, and I assure you, she has room to handle the increase to your salary. You’ll also draw in other metalweavers to New York. Youarethe best of the best in your field.”

I wrinkled my nose at the reminder I had a rare and powerful talent. “I’d prefer making statuettes.”

“And your statuettes are masterpieces. You have the talentandthe artistic ability. Your statuettes are also part of how it was identified there is a probable empathic bond between you and Princess Olivia. She becomes abeastif her statuettes rust.”

What? She hadn’t mentioned anything being wrong with the statuettes I’d made for her. “They’re iron. They’re supposed to rust.”

“Her iron is not permitted to rust. His Royal Majesty has every one of them specially treated to protect them, as she becomes distraught if they’re at all damaged. It goes beyond what’s normal. As such, it’s important we address this. But we need to address this in such a way that’s healthy for Princess Olivia. Her dysphoria is rather severe, and ideally, she will be the assertive one. However, we need you to display subtle hints that her advances are welcome. Considering that you had quite a hold on her this morning, forcing her to wiggle free, we feel that this will not be much of an issue. Essentially, you need to play stupid, but when she does become assertive, accept her advances without much of a fuss. We know you Montana types like to fuss, but she is demonstrating an unfortunate number of tendencies indicating that she feels undeserving due to her physical appearance.”

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