Betrayal (9 page)

He faltered a smile.  “Yes.”

Oh my!  Was he betrothed once too?  I choked on the words I had to ask, “Were you betrothed before me?”

The words were acrid on my tongue like a poison trying to make me stop breathing.  It hurt to ask it even.  He grew severely silent making a lump grow in my throat and swallow, choking back empty air.

“I was.  Once.  She died.”  Just then, not before, he looked at me.  My face was probably scaring him.

“It’s not what you think,” he hit the table.  “She died when I was very young.  An equivalent age to a five year old.”  The thin line of his jaw hardened into a gnarled twist of agonized pain. 

My voice jumped a touch with a sound that wasn’t a word. 
What?

“She died trying to see a human she’d become consumed with.  My mother had her killed.”

How horrible.  I wasn’t sure what I could say or if I should.  Obviously, she was older.

“This same girl was betrothed to Pike just five years before.”

Now that’s disgusting.  “That’s just—just—”  My brain and mouth weren’t cooperating with each other on the subject.

“It is the Fey way.  Remember what I told you, the Fey do not love like you do.  And now you know why Pike hates me so.”

And maybe that is why he was so against another betrothal.  And he was wrong, Ian loves more than any human man she has ever seen.  And Bane and Sarah too.   “Ian,” I sprang towards him, “it’s the past.  You couldn’t help that it happened.”

“You don’t understand—“

“Ian, don’t patronize me,” I inhaled deeply.

“I’m not,” he said a little too loudly.  He realized it and softened, “you don’t understand Pike.”

Or men!
  “Fine, but it’s still not your fault.  So why did you never have another betrothed until me?”

“I asked Lazyra to wait.”

And luck was on our side.  Or...a prophecy.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I just knew I didn’t want anyone telling me who I had to love.”

Which is why he hated the idea of me for so long.  I will leave well enough alone for now. I paused a second to move us out of this discomfort zone by clutching my gown at the sides feeling it slide around my shoulders loosely.  The easiest, and hardest, topic was the other pressing issue as of today.

“So King Sane wants to share some family history with me.  How bad could it be?”  I thought about a long ago memory, “Wait a minute.  I stunned Coach Stanton in class.  If that was King Sane, I have some mojo over him.”  Now, what to do with it?

“You have no idea what your tangling yourself into, Grace.  It is best that you keep your distance from him and his court, but I see all to often that you only dive right into danger at the slightest chance.”
             
Always have
.  “Like when I chose to follow you into a make-believe world where magic is real and I’m the queen of it all.  Swimming in danger seems to be my middle name.”

“Kinsler was right.”   Ian said simply and like it was easy to say.  I doubted that highly.

My face paled.  What could he possibly admit Kin could be right about? “About what?”

“You are a gem.  I just want you to remain untarnished and beautiful.  With Kinsler’s father, I risk the chance of something happening to you or worse, losing you.”  A wave of guilt washed over me.  I couldn’t deny the possibilities so I smiled and kissed his cheek.  He chuckled.  That wasn’t what I expected, but when did he ever do what I expected.

“I get more than that my queen.”  He attacked my mouth full on.  Yum!

He never mentioned the ridiculous overuse of power I abused over the three of them with my persuasion mojo bowing episode.  He has still not mentioned my visits to spy on Kin.

He also never told me what the king intended to say or what he knew about my father.

I learned of a new pastime that entertained Ian and Pike when they were not at the range.  Apparently while in the human world, Pike had become quite the expert at playing poker and cheated many out of hundreds and probably more than that with magic, no doubt.  How that differed than defensive measures against the winter king in the ethics department was debatable, but I would save that bit of information for later.  Just like the avoidance of what they knew about my father.  According to Danella, he is safe.  It’s just the secrets of the past that will hurt. 

My jealous heart wanted to know where Ian was going otherwise worried he was meeting Kin or fighting secret battles with secret enemies I was sheltered from.  Yes, poker was the scheduled event, but were there other places on the sly?  No, I had no reason to doubt.

So!

One of the nights when they were busy at it long into the night and I was supposedly asleep, I found Sarah and took the opportunity to pry. 

“Who are the past girlfriends of Ian?” I asked Sarah.

“Do you really want to know that information?”

No!  “Yes!”

“Sarah and I wouldn’t know, but Cyly would,” Tren relayed for Sarah when she didn’t answer quickly enough.

I turned to Cyly who was pouring her second cup of coffee for the late night.  Caffeine didn't seem to take effect for anyone here, including myself.  I was soon to be on my third if the conversation went well.

“Are you going to hound me if I say you shouldn’t ask?” Cyly placed a hand on her hip.

No!
  “Yes!”

“Gemma and Tinia both eat with you every day.  Gemma is the one who snorts fire at you daily and watches you like she’s contemplating which end of the fork she might stab you with first.  Jealous little thing she is.  Mania is away at another court.  Jem is in the kitchen more than out.”

So one was gone.  Good!  The other two are near me on a daily basis and I never knew.  How was that for irony?

“Are you going to do something irrational?” Sarah asked.

“Oh, nothing like shave their heads bald or force their hair to turn orange.  That’s juvenile and, well, I know I have Ian without a doubt.”  I kept my composure serene and nonchalant.

Tren’s face fell paler than a white sheet.  Cyly didn’t miss a beat.  “Serves them right for the way they follow him around the court all the time.  And Pike too, though he’s dated most of them and then some.”

What?  “They did?” My radar was on full alert now.  I’ll tackle the Pike past at a later date.  He wasn’t in my radar.   Devil Grace was plotting fast totally ignoring angel Grace taking a nosedive into the deep end of
turnabout’s fair play
!

Sarah sighed heavily, “They both act like he’ll turn his head back to them.”

“But it’s been like almost twenty years for them,” Tren piped in.

These little details aren’t something I’m likely to forget, so I’d just have to make sure my claim was even better known. Silly, but gives me some feasible human-like drama to keep my mind off the disturbing supernatural concerns around me.

“Time is as important to being young as humans.  You will see soon we don’t go by the same guidelines.  However, Ian seems to just ignore their advances and gives an occasional smile that to me, eggs them on.”  Cyly realized her mistake the second it was out.

“Does he now?” I was extremely intrigued by this very un-humorous development.  “Well, we’ll just see what happens when—”

“Grace, don’t do anything rash,” Sarah warned.

“Not intending to.”  I knew Gemma.  I’d tried to play nice and invite her to the library once since we work together in the records room.  She seems sweet, just jealous.  I still think she might be nice.

“What about this shaving and hair coloring?” Cyly asked.

“I was only joking about that,” my finger moved to my cheek, “I’m thinking of something much better.  Not towards the ladies, but to my flirtatious man.”

Tren cooed and beat the pillow against the sofa, “Ohhhh, I want to be there.”

Sarah drew her eyes in.  “What about the episode floating around about you kissing said winter court princes?”

I blushed and attempted to defend myself. “That was a good will gesture that I assure you I will never, ever let happen again.  Ian was...well, you probably heard about that too.”

“Oh, we heard.”  The girls exchanged looks.  “We just wanted to hear it from you.”

“Well, I learned my lesson about men.”

“Yeah, no kissy-kissy with other princy-princys,” Tren giggled herself into a fit.  Sarah joined in. 

I ignored them both and asked the less dramatic for the moment friend to my left a question about Ian’s roadies.   “Where does this happen most of the time?”

“Around the court before dawn, on the way to the meeting room, while he checks on the guards, etc. etc.”  Cyly was basically telling me this
happened every single day.

“All the freaking time?”

“Well yeah.”

Well yeah!

***

The way to solve this previous girlfriend situation was proving difficult.  I practically ran the grounds to find these girls who were nearing my claimed man.  I stood at the doorway just inside where I knew he’d walk through and at last, found them right outside it.  I heard more than four or five female chirping voices though.  They were waiting for
MY
man.

Getting a hint that he was near with my keen sense of smell, I didn’t anticipate any other scenarios.  Ian snuck up behind me in my snooping and grabbed my waist making me jump.  I squealed and turned fast in his clutches. 

“What are you doing up so early my love?" He kissed my cheek.

“Um, waiting for you.  I never get to see you off to work in the morning honey,” I whispered low in his ear because I didn’t want the peeping toms to see just yet.

“Captured.”

“Do you have a few minutes for me?” I pouted low and smoothed out the blush making the rest of my skin too pale in the light for sure.  I wanted to pull out some mad skills with my mojo, but I was more apt to hope for real smoking hot “can’t live without Grace” fire in his eyes.  I wanted to stick it to those girls.

He buried his nose in my neck, “Always.”

I pulled his fingers into mine and said a little louder this time, “Come sit with me in the garden before you head out then.”

I heard the sniper females scoot their feet away and hidden from view just as I thought they might. 

He wrapped a hand around my waist again folding his fingers into the waistband and felt a surge of tingles as his fingers brushed my skin.  It was rare I wore a top and skirt rather than a gown.

I giggled appreciating the touch.   
              “Oh, ticklish today are you,” Ian pushed his entire hand into the fold of my shirt and tickled my side.  I gave the needed reaction and giggled a lot more now.  Once we were beside the fountain, he yanked me down to his lap.  Whoa!  That was new.

Suddenly I wondered who was the one in charge.

He kissed my neck and then my jaw.  My little noises seem to make him do more on the places I whimpered and such.  I’d never really played “tease” before and it was kind of fun.  With the right person.

He held me sideways in his lap and moved his mouth to mine.  His hands landed on both my cheeks and cupped both sides.  He deepened the kiss and broke only to say, “Grace, there is no one but you.  If this little show goes on any longer, they are going to get more than they bargained for.”

I breathed into his face, “You knew?”

“You’ve never met me at the door before.  I knew you were up to something.  I know you.”

I squirmed in his lap.

“That’s helping a lot to get me focused, let me tell you.”  His face warmed.

I wiggled some more.

“Grace!” 

It was a warning.  I kind of wanted to find out what it would get me.  I decided afterward it was worth the embarrassment, but I would not have done it if I knew what he’d planned.

I wiggled my bottom on his legs one last time and he leapt up into the air with me in his arms, tossed me over his shoulders, and carried me through the exit to the trampoline.  He threw me down onto the top of it and appeared beside me with his magic that I didn’t see too often.  He kissed me full on, locked my hands over my head, and whispered into my neck, “You are the only one I want and it will always be that way.  Quit this unless you mean it just for me and me only, not a show.  I’m not sharing you with anyone and that’s that.”

I breathed too loud.  He climbed off, no magic.  He left me there his eyes swirling in every direction with my favorite Ian driven emotion.  The best part, he saluted the girls hidden in the patch of brush and wished them a good morning just to be sure I knew they knew.

That man is so....wow!

From that day, the two girls who were self-proclaimed previous girlfriends were the nicest of them all.  Gemma and Talia became loyal friends after that.  They wanted every detail of the girl who captured the one and only Prince Ian, which was weird.  Weirder, I still didn’t see him completely as the prince.  He had always been the same to me.  My drop dead gorgeous hot headed and stubborn sweet man of many colors Ian. 

What was awkward at first turned into something way better.  They made me uncomfortable at first with questions about our kissing and such for which they’d seen firsthand.  They both said he never ever kissed anyone like that before.  That made it all better.

I was crazy mad at Sarah.  She was among the standing watchers that day so I confronted her.

“What?  I wanted to see it firsthand.  I knew your plan and I wanted to know what he did.”

I asked her suspiciously, “Did you know he knew?”  Confusing question.

“Not until he picked you up.”

I sighed for several reasons. 

“He’s far from ugly Grace, give us a break. He’s gorgeous.”  I gave her a glare.  Of course I knew this.  She kept on, “I will tell you this because you are my friend.  He is so gorgeous every girl in this court has fantasized about him, including me.  But you don’t see the way we see him look at you.  The way he stops everything when you come in the room.  The way his eyes pop when you speak the first time to him when you approach.  It’s how he breathes too, Grace.  He seems to hold his breath until you are close enough for him to touch.  He is completely and utterly in love with you girl.”

I closed my eyes.

“And every single girl in this court knows it.  So quit with the insecurities that were gone long ago just because you found out who the ex’s were.  Let some of us dream about finding that same kind of love someday by watching you two.  He is the fairytale prince and you snagged him.  We are jealous of you, not him.”

Ohhhhh!  “He
is
gorgeous.  You’re right.  I was just having a moment.  Bold and about to be married to the greatest man in the world Grace is back.”

And that has become my mantra for surviving the undulated power he holds over not just me, but anyone he comes in contact with.  We both giggled and talked for an hour about how oh, so lucky I was.  And I knew it.

***

I revisited my ideas of finding out what Ian was really up to with these poker nights. He’d hinted once to Bane at dinner that he was close to the prize with his cards, but I also had a bad habit of inventing ideas that he was sometimes talking in code.  Isn’t that what we girls do?

I also came to the conclusion there could never be another girl with the simple fact that he was so possessive of me and my time let alone the display in the garden from the morning stake out although I knew this and didn’t need the reassurance.  It was just a momentary lapse of judgment and pure girl stupidity.  He was so insistent on my affection and attention towards him, there is no way he could ever want another. 

I made a point to stop by the well tended garden to check the damp earth around my flowers to see if they needed a drink willing a bloom open to enjoy.  I’d checked them daily and today’s morning routine had been altered—in a good way.  I could smell the fresh pine of the trees growing all around the court mixing with the stale water that refused to saturate fully.  No watering needed. 

The air was pregnant with something else entirely.  Pike and I happened to “run into each other” after one of the famous poker nights once before, but this one wasn't a nod and go.  I was really intending to run into Ian and surprise him, but Pike found me first. 

He wadded up something in his pocket and smiled the uneven boy toy smile that sent the shivers down any girl’s spine at the sight of him.  He caught my averted attention and ran with it.

“So, out for a little stroll,” he drawled in a low voice.

“Pike, I—“