Page 31 of Knight's End
Chapter Eight
Iignored the rude shite of a wizard and ran to Ryan. I embraced him, throwing my arms about his waist and burying my face in his well-defined abs. The hug came with a myriad of emotions that I hadn’t been expecting. Anxiety, fear, and relief all made me clutch him closer. I’d been repressing how terrified for him I’d been.
Ryan patted me gently on the back but didn’t really hug me in return. I leaned back and stared up at him. His eyes weren’t on me. He was studying Donaloo’s face. “Is this really Bloss? You're not just trying to embarrass me again?”
I pulled away from Ryan. I took a step back and looked up at him. "What are you talking about?"
"You're the third man today that Donaloo has tried to convince me is my wife.”
“WHAT?” I roared in outrage. My manly bellow filled the room.
Ryan crossed his arms as he glared at the wizard. “I nearly kissed the first."
Snickers erupted around the room. My other knights found it hilarious.
I didn’t. I turned to Donaloo and the urge to smack him across the face was tempting. But I resisted. Instead, I told him what I thought of him. "You bespawler."
Donaloo shook his head, his purple eye patch flapping. "And here I was going to do a kindness and turn you back. But you had to make a comment so foul and black."
Dini popped out of my sleeve at that moment, her red flower back in full force. “You nearly crushed me, you dunderhead!” she squealed.
At the same moment Donaloo yelled, “Dini!”
The flower swiveled to look at my wizard. “YOU!”
She dropped her hold on my arm and somehow was across the room before I could blink. Donaloo’s hands lifted in a spell but she was on him in less than a second. Her roots dug in near his ankle and she wrapped her vine around his entire body until he tilted where he stood. He would have fallen face first into the floor if Ryan hadn’t reached out a hand to steady him.
“You pompous, prattling pansy! As awful a sight as the taste of tansy!” Donaloo said.
“Take that back!” Dini used one of her leaves to dig into Donaloo’s ear and tickle it.
He shook his head, trying to get away. “Never! No matter how you nettle, you can’t defeat my mettle!”
My knights and I exchanged a look.
“What is going on?” I asked.
Dini answered as she grew thorns. “This saggy sack of skin and I used to court.”
It took me a minute to register that statement. “Court. As in you had a courtship?” A flower? Donaloo had courted a flower?
“That’s not what it was, you crazy bud, I watered you once, but you were a dud!”
“Oooh!” Dini squealed and started stabbing with her thorns.
“Is watered a metaphor?” Ryan leaned over and asked me.
“No. No, it’s completely literal. Because I cannot stand the thought of it being anything else,” I responded.
I watched as Donaloo hopped in place, squealing as Dini poked at his most tender bits. As amusing as it was, she looked intent on actually hurting my wizard. And he, unlike she, had used his magic countless times to help me.
“Dini!” I called out. “You are being disloyal. Donaloo has proven he’s a friend of Evaness. And you promised to be loyal to my country.”
“Is he your heir?” Dini asked. “A citizen?”
“Well, no—”
Dini blew a puff of pollen in Donaloo’s face that made my wizard wheeze. “I promised loyalty to your land, your heirs, and your citizens.”
