Page 12 of Knightfall
Connor mussed his brown curls and shook his head at Quinn, as if asking why the spy master had bothered to bring me home. Then he turned and stalked to a shadowed corner of the room, outside my line of sight.
That dismissal pulverized my heart, smashed it into tiny little bits of dust.
Connor! I cried out in my head.
But I hadn’t been raised to be queen for nothing. I kept a mask of calm on my face. And turned to face the other two men.
Ryan was a tall, dark-skinned god of war. Some women at the inn had liked to compare men to drinks of well water. “He’s a half-dipper.” Or “he’s a sludgy sip.” Most of the comparisons were insults. But once in a while, they’d say a man was a sweet sip of ale. Frothy and fizzy and fun at night. If they’d have seen Ryan … he would have been a glass of wine. His looks made women sway like drunks.
He had deep chocolate eyes, lashes women would kill for, and a goatee. The man was also six foot five and stacked. His muscles had muscles. Part of his heritage as a part-giant, I suppose. Giants were known for their strength. Ryan’s human side accounted for his brains. And with the combination, it was no wonder he’d worked his way up to be a general in the Evaness army.
Before I’d run, I used to sneak into the back of the practice arena and watch him from the shadows with my lady-in-waiting. He had always practiced without a shirt. And when I’d been a gawky teenager, he’d already been in his mid-twenties. He was eight years older than me. He’d been the cause of my sopping underthings on more than one occasion.
We hadn’t really known each other. He’d been called out on patrols, or to supervise the borders, or whatever else. I’d been stuck inside the palace. And eight years was a lot when I was eighteen. I hadn’t known what to say to him. Ever.
I discreetly scanned Ryan as he glared at me with crossed arms. He stood in his traditional breeches and boots. He’d clearly just tossed on a white shirt as he’d come in from the practice yard. Four years hadn’t diminished his physique. If anything, he looked bigger. Definitely meaner. Or maybe that was simply the emotion he hurled at me.
“Why are you here?” he got right to the point.
Of course, he would. Ryan had never been one for niceties. That had been Connor. Ryan was more likely to punch you than talk through issues.
Of course, he was also a bit of a braggart. Before I’d left I’d heard talk he’d gotten my name tattooed onto his body after we’d been intimate.
I stared into his brown eyes as memory of that lie flared.
“I came to check on your tattoo, darling.”
“Frigid witch,” he stormed forward and yanked me away from Quinn.
He pulled me up against him, and though I could feel the violence shimmering in the air, I also felt the heat of his body and see the beads of sweat pouring down his muscles from whatever workout my arrival had interrupted.
His scent made my throat go dry. It was wood shavings and male musk. If he’d been a god of sex, I’m pretty sure I would have volunteered to be a virgin sacrifice.
But he wasn’t. He was a man who led our army and dealt out death in daily doses to the kingdoms nearest.
My stupid female hormones would do well to remember that, I scolded myself as my feet dangled in midair.
“Why the hell are you back, Bloss? Why now?” he growled.
I licked my lips. “I came to warn Avia.”
Ryan dropped me. I fell onto my crown. It stabbed me in the hip.
“Ow!”
Not one of the men moved when I cried out.
I deserved that.
I pushed the crown aside, leaving it on the floor. I wasn’t here for it, anyway.
“I overheard a plot to kill my sister.”
My eyes flickered from one man to the next. Their only response was silence, though Ryan’s chest heaved like he wanted to attack me.
“A plot?” he scoffed.
“Yes. They are planning to send a beast after Avia. The group was after me. So was Quinn. I thought him the lesser evil. So I let him catch me.”
