Page 63 of The Stolen Princess
Right now, Drake’s only problem was her.
Myka
Myka had been lockedinside all day. She paced back and forth for what seemed like hours. She didn’t know when Kase would arrive with her father’s response, but she couldn’t do more days like the one she’d had today. The isolation was depressing, and she needed to find a way to escape. She decided to go into fight mode, scouring the shack for something she could use as a weapon. She had no intention of killing Drake. She just wanted to take him down long enough to run away. She crawled around the floor of the house, lifting boards up to search for loose nails. That was a waste of time. After more than an hour, Myka sat down on the edge of the bed, disappointed and defeated. Her eyes drifted to the curtain and the tiny metal rings that were fastened to the pole. She grabbed a chair and walked over to the drape, standing on top of the chair to get a better look. The rings weren’t exactly rings. They looked like bent metal that had been pushed together over the pole. She held the tip of her finger up to the edge of the hook. The jagged edge was enough to cut, despite how thin and flimsy the metal was. The hook wouldn’t do a lot of damage, but it was definitely the sharpest thing Myka had found in the room.
She looked over her shoulder at the door, then back at the curtain. She began bending metal hooks off of the pole. She only selected a few—whatever ones seemed the sharpest. Then she pulled the curtain tight so that Drake wouldn’t notice the sections without hooks. Myka placed the metal pieces in the pocket of her jacket, and smiled to herself, happy to have some sort of a weapon, even if it was small.
Drake
“Are you going toleave her in the shack or bring her out for dinner?” Grady asked that night as he leaned over the fire, skewering chicken.
Drake had left Myka alone all day in his house. That wasn’t his original plan, but the woman was impossible. She got under his skin unlike any person ever had. One minute he wanted to tackle her to the ground and wrestle her and then the next minute he wanted to brush her hair back from her face and see what it would feel like to kiss her sweetly. There was a big difference between those two activities, leaving Drake feeling completely confused and grumpy. That’s why he had locked her in the shack all day. He needed distance from Myka.
“I’ll grab her in a second,” he said between bites. He was stalling, because even though he’d spent the day away from Myka, she was all his mind had thought about.
“Well, boys.” Portlend tipped his cup to the other men. “We made our first move. We kidnapped the princess, made it safely back to camp, and Kase should be back soon with the king’s reply.”
“Hopefully, that girl gets us what we want,” Dawsick said.
“Do you really think Adler will give the weapons up for his daughter?” Grady asked.
Dawsick shrugged. “She’s a pain in the neck, so I could see her father not caring that she’s gone.”
Drake’s jaw tightened. He hated how Dawsick pretended to know Myka. He’d barely spent a few minutes with her, and part of that time he’d spent trying to grope her. “The Council wouldn’t have decided to kidnap the princess if they didn’t think she was valuable to her father,” he said. “Adler will give up the weapons for her.”
Mykawasa pain in the neck, but Drake had noticed her fierce loyalty and love for her father. Surely, Adler loved her too—enough to give up the weapons.
“Yeah, but he’s been building and hiding those weapons for eleven years,” Portlend said. “They mean everything to him and his reign. I can’t picture him giving all of that up for Myka.”
“Defending her father is all she wants to do,” Drake said. “If he doesn’t trade the weapons for her, she’ll be devastated.”
Dawsick scoffed. “I couldn’t care less if she’s devastated.”
Drake probably shouldn’t care either. He needed to be rock solid—a hardened man who didn’t care about his prisoner.
“Drake thinks he can get the princess to trust him and tell him all of her secrets,” Grady said with a challenging smile as he lifted his drink up to his mouth. “He bet on it.”
The other three men turned to look at him.
“How do you think you’re going to do that?” Dawsick asked.
Drake gave him a pointed stare. “I wouldn’t expect you to know how to charm a woman.”
“So you’re going to pretend to like her so she’ll confide in you?” Portlend asked.
It wasn’t that hard to pretend.
Winslow stoked the fire in front of him. “That’s a terrible idea. The princess will see right through it.”
“Not if it’s done right,” Drake defended.
Dawsick laughed. “And what do you think she’ll tell you. The location of the weapons?”
Drake shrugged. “You never know.”
Portlend shook his head. “If she does know about the weapons, then she’s one of the best liars I have ever seen. But I actually don’t think the bet is that bad of an idea. She’s a woman, and all women want the same thing from a man. A little attention and a little love. It might actually work.”
“Then you better bring her out for dinner, or you’re never going to win this bet,” Grady said, making the other men laugh.
