Page 49 of To Charm a Dark Prince

It was a lovely thought. And maybe it was something she could honestly have. “You’d get sick of me underfoot and pestering you with a thousand questions a minute.”

“It has been silent here for a very long time. We could use a little chatter.” After a moment’s hesitation, he pulled his hand from her shoulder. “Please be careful this morning. Lancelot is a kind man, but I will remind you that he is not to be trusted.”

“Can anybody be trusted around here?” She gestured at Eod. “Besides the dog.”

“No one.” He reached down and scratched the animal’s head. “Besides the dog.”

“Have you lied to me?”

“Well, for one, if I were to lie to you, why would I confess it now?” He walked over to the chair by the fireplace and sank into it. “And two, no. I have not. I have told you, perhaps too bluntly, the truth as I have it.”

“Thank you for that. That’s all I’d need.”

“What, for the tyrant who is keeping you his prisoner of war to be feeding you lies as well? Yes, I do suppose that would make things more inconvenient.” He snorted.

“You’re making fun of me again.”

“Not in the slightest.” He smirked.

Silence stretched between them for a second. She let out a breath. “Can I ask you for a favor?”

“I may not grant it. But you may ask.”

“Would it be possible to bathe later today?” She tore off a small piece of the food she was holding, making sure to avoid the fruit, and gave it to Eod. She was not above bribing an animal for affection. Not in the slightest.

“After we train this afternoon, I will see what I can do.”

She winced. Great. More training. “Just promise not to kick my ass again.”

“I will make no such promise. It is very easy to ‘kick your ass.’ I may do it unintentionally.”

She glared at him.

“And you wanted me not to lie to you.” He huffed. “How quickly their minds change.” But he was clearly fighting a smile.

“Jerk.” She also couldn’t help but smile again. “C’mon, Eod. Let’s go find Lancelot. Maybe they have squirrels in Avalon. You wanna go chase a magical fucked-up squirrel? Do you? I think you do!”

Judging by the way his ears perked up, yes, they did very much have squirrels in Avalon. Whether or not they were magical or fucked-up remained to be seen.

She heard Mordred quietly laughing as she left the room.

He was a confusing bag of problems. But she’d deal with things one at a time. And right now, she had a knight waiting for her and a dog eager to chase squirrels. She’d better not keep either of them waiting.

FIFTEEN

Gwen was smiling as she walked into the stables. She shouldn’t be. She had been sucked into a magical world full of monsters and her life was in danger. But weirdly it didn’tfeelin danger. Honestly, that might be because everything still felt like she was stuck in a dream. She wasn’t really surrounded by strange, magical suits of armor. Or men who had been alive since before the Middle Ages and who had fought with King Arthur. It was all a dream.

She’d wake up in the hospital, covered in burns—or maybe she was in a coma and she’d never wake up again. Or maybe this was her messed-up version of an afterlife. She didn’t know. It just made it easier to ignore all the insanity if she refused to accept, deep down, that any of it was really happening.

She wasn’t about to go on a nice little countryside ride on a horse with the actual, honest-to-God, one and onlyLancelot.Nope. Just lying in a hospital bed somewhere, dying of severe burns. Which would explain the whole “lol, I’m made of fire” portion of her delusion.

Didn’t it?

But, hey. She had an option. She could either devolve into fits of hysteria and screaming…or she could embrace the adventure. She finally had a chance at what she had always wanted—to go somewhere, to do something, tomeansomething. Even if that was right smack into the middle of some otherworldly drama, it was at least better than being stuck on a farm in Kansas.

And this morning there were horses. The stable was full. And most were even normal-looking horses. There was one in the back that she justhadto assume was Mordred’s. It was made entirely out of armor, and its eyes were glowing the same eerie opal-white as all the rest of the magic in the world.

And it was scary-looking as all hell. She chuckled as she saw it, shaking her head in disbelief. It was almost as tall as a Clydesdale, with jagged, pointed panels of armor. When it noticed her looking at it, it snorted and kicked its hoof against the wooden gate.

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