Page 51 of Burn

The princess expelled a breath as I hauled her into me. “You do realize you’ll be taking this off me later.”

“Then stop complaining, brat.”

“At your service, Princess.” I brushed a hot path across her lips. “Also, I’ve worn mud for you before.”

The first kiss. That Spring meadow. All the fucking gunk covering us. Seasons, I’d never loved dirt so much in my life.

We crossed into The Wandering Fields on foot. Briar led the way, her pace confident, having done this countless times. No need to worry about being consumed by delirium and getting lost here forever, for the fields only trapped dwellers whose intentions were malevolent. That alone should work in our favor before the court. The first part of the plan. To have the fields—paragons of nature and the Seasons—vouch for Briar’s character.

My mouth twitched because the more ground we covered, the surer the princess’s footfalls grew. Her pace increased, the castle’s prospect trampling her fear. Based on the woman’s straight shoulders, I would call it mettle.

Without stopping, Briar grasped one of the stalks. She raced her fingers up the kernels, collecting the batch in her palm and dropping them into the pocket of her wool trousers beneath the robe.

Beyond the fringed horizon of corn tassels and wheat beards, the castle’s silhouette loomed higher, its crenelations like bared teeth and its chimneys coughing smoke. We emerged from the fields unscathed, though I kept a grip on my staff, with a dozen blades also tucked beneath my outfit.

Despite the disguises, Briar had issued a demand. Should our group encounter a hostile welcome, we’d aim to incapacitate rather than kill. The last thing she needed was Autumn’s blood on her hands, in which case the people would call for a death sentence.

I’d stab myself before letting that happen. Though my restraint would last only if no one touched her.

In any event, my boots slowed at one point. My gaze scrolled across the ramparts, unable to locate a single outline. We had timed the night watch’s rotation, but still. To find no one up there was odd. Moreover, improbable.

Deftly, I maneuvered in front of Briar. At this late hour, the lower town was easy, the denizens retiring early in Prudent Autumn. And although navigating the alleys without getting gutted or fucked was far less likely than in Spring or Summer, I took zero chances.

The maple pasture came next. Copper and red foxes darted through the grove, their frothy tails swishing and titian eyes glittering like cut gems. Otherwise, all was silent and vacant.

Yet the moment we located the right tree with its camouflaged entrance, Briar stalled. “No.”

In unison, the three of us whirled toward her just as the princess yanked off the fabricated robe. This revealed a long knit shirt and those slender trousers tucked into her boots. She unbound her hair, the red tresses cascading around her shoulders like a red flag. “No. I won’t.”

“Won’t fucking what?” I snatched her shoulders, ceasing her motions. “Briar—”

“I will not hide.”

“This isn’t hiding. It’s the fucking opposite.”

Briar inched back and folded her palms over my tense knuckles. “In the treehouse enclave, when that leaf clung to my finger, you said it proved who I was. I must remember that and show myself authentically to Autumn. We value honesty here.” My thorn’s chin raised, her gaze lingering on my frantic one. “Poet, I won’t enter my house in disguise, like a criminal. I will enter with my head high, like a ruler.”

My teeth flashed, but she draped her fingers gently over my mouth, silencing a hundred obscenities and protests. Her eyes tracked my own, awareness softening those irises from sterling to mercury. “You won’t lose me again. I promise.”

With a groan, I seized Briar’s mouth, devouring the noise that curled from her throat. My lips spread hers, my tongue dashing inside her. We barely had time for me to swipe against her once, twice more, before I wrenched myself back. “Impossible woman,” I grunted against her lips. “Such an impossible woman.”

A feminine huff interrupted. “So either this gets pornographic for my sake, or we keep moving,” Cadence drawled, wiggling out of her own councilor’s robe, which had been layered over a flouncy shirt and pants. “I’ve been living in squalor among marsupials and insects for three solid months, and I don’t have all day to commit treason, so—”

Briar dragged herself from me and flung her arms around the lady, shocking her into silence. Cadence’s arms extended midair, stilted and frozen. Nevertheless, the princess drew her in tightly. “Thank you.”

The words held the weight of more than today. As Briar pulled back, Cadence fought to speak. Eventually, the lady collected herself and nodded awkwardly.

Briar and Eliot threw themselves at each other next. I glanced away to give the pair a moment, grateful their friendship had remained intact after what happened in Spring.

Afterward, Briar spread her fingers and pressed them against a constellation of minuscule knots in the maple trunk. With a dusty grunt, a rift cracked in the facade, and a door swung inward. Briar and I had once passed through a similar threshold in The Forbidden Burrow, to meet with the Masters.

Remembering that time, I swerved in front of her. “Jesters first.”

Because much as I fancied the notion of watching her skulk ahead of me, with her ass outlined in those luscious trousers, her life took precedence over my baser instincts. Ignoring Briar’s objection, I flipped out a dagger, braced the staff, and sauntered down the steps. The rest of them trailed in my wake, each of us dumping our disguises on the tunnel’s brick floor.

Darkness enveloped the conduit. The serpentine cavity dug into the earth, roots threaded into the walls, and the dank scent of soil coated the air.

An eternity later, the ground sloped upward to another hidden door. My shoulder bumped open the partition, and we spilled into a compact lawn. I identified this sector of the troops’ dormitories and training grounds, the latter vacant and banked in torchlight.

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