Flames of Auriel (A Caeles Adventure Book 1) (19 page)

The rumors of Queen Marie trying to marry off her son had been confirmed by a servant from the palace when they passed him on their way to Gavinston. The servant had said the queen had thrown a grand ball for all the visiting princesses. Zoe had tried to press him for more information but he did not know if the prince had been happy to see them or not. He did say that the prince had looked pretty comfortable with the Princess of Sabbathia on the dance floor.

The news had caused Zoe to see red and her jealousy threatened to manifest itself. The thought of her prince with that tramp of a princess, Genevieve, had only fueled her pool of rage. She could not believe he would let himself get caught in her web. Everyone knew that Genevieve loved to take what was Zoe’s, especially Asher. The camp had avoided her for the rest of the day while she seethed. Rebekah had finally convinced her that Asher was not the type to fall for some pretty face easily.

Her companion’s question caused all of Zoe’s previous insecurities to resurface. Would he really move on so easily? She wondered if there was really any chance for them left.

Zoe closed her eyes and whispered half to herself. “I hope so. I really do.”

“Ugh, look at that repulsive man!”

Asher rolled his eyes at the Princess of Sabbathia. The journey to Gavinston had been a trying one. Genevieve had talked nonstop since they had left the palace and she had practically glued herself to his side. She had made sure to wear her lowest cut gown that day and he feared she would spill out of the front at any given moment. Asher was lucky she did not spend as much time trying to get him sleep with her as she did on criticizing those around her, otherwise she would have found her way into his breeches before they had ever left the castle.

The current gentleman she was picking apart was a poor stall vendor. The man’s ragged beard and clothing was almost as pitiful as the items he was trying to sell. Asher felt sorry for the man and as if to apologize for the princess’s rude words, he left a handful of silver coins on the man’s counter. The prince gave a small smile to the man as he attempted to pull Genevieve away from the stall.

“Oh, let’s do that!” Princess Genevieve pointed her finger at a table further down the aisle.

Asher groaned to himself as he let her pull him toward an elderly woman sitting behind a table. He glanced at the colorful skirts of the woman and inwardly cringed at what the princess could possibly say about her attire. He just hoped she would be more tactful in her criticism here.

The fortune teller looked at the approaching customers; the wrinkles around her face crinkled as she smiled at the sight of the prince. Her eyes never moved from Asher as she gestured for them to take a seat at her table. When they finally sat down, she held out a hand to him. The prince moved to give her his hand, but before he could place his into her aged palms, Genevieve jumped in and placed hers.

“Read mine first. Asher here doesn’t mind do you, dear?” Genevieve’s face said she was delighted to have her fortune read, but her eyes held a small amount of disgust at having to touch the elderly woman’s hand.

Asher pulled his curious gaze away from the old woman and nodded at Genevieve. He had given up on trying to get her to stop calling him terms of endearment. Ever since the ball she had taken up the habit and seemed relentless on getting him to return them.

Genevieve turned her eyes back to the woman, her face plastered with a smile. “See, he doesn’t mind at all. Well, get on with it.” She nodded her head in the fortune teller’s direction. “Tell my fortune.”

The old woman slid her eyes from Asher’s face and down to the dainty hands before her. She traced the lines of her hands and turned them this way and that before she cleared her throat to speak, her voice scratchy from what could have been a cold.

“You have always found yourself privileged –”

The princess scoffed, “You don’t have to be psychic to tell me that. Just look at me!”

She went to pull her hands away from the woman’s, but the old gypsy would not be swayed. The woman’s eyes focused on the hand before her, almost as if she was looking through it. The words flowed out of her mouth in almost a chastising manner.

“– but you will not always be.”

Genevieve rolled her eyes at the woman, her mood becoming more fool by the minute. “Enough of that nonsense. Will I marry Asher or not?”

“No,” the older woman looked up to the prince and smiled a curious twinkle in her eyes, “he is already promised to another.” She turned her gaze back to Genevieve. “Your journey has yet to begin….” She closed her eyes for a moment and started to hum. After a few moments she stopped and her eyes focused back to Genevieve’s hands. “You will give up your crown for the love of another.”

Before she could say anymore, Genevieve abruptly stood from her seat and threw the old woman’s hands off of hers, “What complete and utter rubbish!” She glared at the old woman and turned to Asher. “I’m bored. Let’s go watch the performers.”

Asher sighed and gave the woman an apologetic look. He seemed to be doing that a lot today. He laid some money down on the table before he stood to follow Genevieve. Before he could get too far the woman grabbed his sleeve and gave it a sharp tug. Asher looked down at the woman’s hand trying to reign him back in and wondered how a woman of her age could be so strong.

The elderly woman gestured for him to come closer with a quirk of her finger. Asher glanced toward Genevieve, who had already started complaining to one of her maids about what had happened, before he leaned down to her. What could it hurt?

The old woman’s eyes scanned their surroundings as she cupped her hands around his ear to speak into it. “The one you seek will be staying at the Pigloft Inn tonight.”

Asher jerked backward, startled by her words. “How do you know that?”

The old woman chuckled, “Everyone knows that, your highness.” She flicked a hand at him, “Off with you then. She won’t be back until after dark and you have plenty to deal with before then.” She gestured her head toward the princess who was still causing an uproar in the middle of the street.

Asher frowned at his troublesome company and then glanced back at the woman. He quirked the corner of his lips at her amused look before he headed toward his companions for the day. The prince’s desire to flee from them was growing more by the second.

Though the fortune teller’s words had been strange and Asher already knew he would not be caught dead married to the Princess of Sabbathia, he was just happy that someone else had confirmed his thoughts. It made him feel as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Hopefully the old woman’s words would discourage any further advances from Genevieve that day, but he doubted it.

He drew his shoulders back and resolved to get the day over with as soon as possible. He only had to figure out how to get through it without Joe encountering his tenacious admirer. He did not see that meeting going well for either parties, himself included.

***

Rebekah could not stop laughing. She clutched the stitch that had formed in her side and used the other hand to lean against the cart’s side pointed away from the dispersing crowd. She laughed even harder when her friend glared at her in return.

“Get ahold of yourself, Becka. It wasn’t that funny.”

Zoe rolled her eyes at the hysterical girl as she tossed the box of props into the cart door. She slammed the wooden door shut and jumped down from the steps. She leaned against the cart wall next to her partner’s laughing form.

“Oh come on, Joe. You have to admit that was kind of funny.” Rebekah ignored the older woman’s obvious displeasure and smacked her on the arm.

Zoe’s glare only hardened further at the girl. In the future, Zoe would probably look back at this day and think it was as hilarious as her young companion, but at the moment, she felt embarrassed. This had to be one of the most humiliating days of her life. All of their stunts had gone as planned, except for when they got to the finale.

The princess had to pick someone from the audience to put the blindfold on her, but after the incident at the river she became more choosy about who she picked to volunteer. She tried to stick to the lads that kept their eyes on the target and not on one of her body parts. These kinds usually were either too shy or too honorable to leer at her in public and were far less likely to take her flirting seriously. This time she had thought she had picked a good one.

The bashful lad she had picked was one who had stood off to the side by himself the entire performance. His face had turned beet red when she had offered him her hand up to the stage. He had even tried to run off a couple of times before she could even get him into position. Eventually, Zoe finally convinced him that it was alright, all she was going to do was guide his hands to put the blindfold on her. Though he had been sweating buckets and was a nervous wreck, he had nodded his consent.

Zoe had turned her back to him, pulled his arms around her and placed the ends of the black cloth in his hands. She had taken pity on the boy at the feel of his shaky hands in hers, and instead of her usual act of sliding their hands along her body, she tried to keep his hands as far away from her as possible. The lad had finally tied the cloth around her eyes, but on the descent down her body she accidently let him brush against her breast. The lad jerked back at the contact of his hand against the side of her breast, which made him trip over his own feet, causing him to crash into the prop box. He eventually fell off the stage in a heap and the crowd erupted into thunderous sounds of laughter.

Zoe felt bad for the lad and wanted to move to help him, but if she had moved from her position she would lose the alignment needed to keep Rebekah safe. So instead of moving to help him, she had pressed her lips into a pout, threw a look over her shoulder to where she had thought the boy had landed and reprimanded him.

“You know how much I adore your touch, darling, but I can’t have you ruining my show.”

She smiled to herself when the audience’s laughter had turned into cheers for the lad. Satisfied that she had saved the poor lad’s pride, she finished her show. She could have cried in relief when the lad had not hung around to see her afterward.

Zoe threw Rebekah’s hand off her shoulder, “I don’t think he thought so.” She crossed her arms and snorted. “I’m just relieved he didn’t take me seriously. Last thing I need is another admirer.”

Rebekah chuckled and rolled her eyes. “Oh yes, because that would be the end of the world, wouldn’t it?” She bent over to adjust her boot laces. “I’m about to go back to the camp, you coming with?”

“I have to at least eat dinner with you after all the trouble you all went to.” Zoe shook her head at the insistence of the gypsies. They were kinder than they were given credit for.

The camp had wanted to thank her for all the extra money her performance brought in by using part of it to give her a normal night at an inn, instead of sleeping on the hard ground with the rest of them. She was grateful and touched at their gift, though she felt a little bad about it. In the end, her desire for a hot bath outweighed her guilty conscience.

Zoe poked Rebekah in the side. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay with me? I don’t even know if I could fall asleep without my bedmate there.”

Rebekah rubbed the sore spot on her side before she laughed and pushed the princess away from her. “If I didn’t know any better I would think you were afraid to be alone?”

The princess snorted and closed her eyes to lean her head back on the cart. “Hardly.” She tugged a knife from her corset and let her fingers flip it around in her hand.

“It’s just – I don’t know.” Zoe grew silent.

She knew why she could not sleep at night, but she was having a hard time expressing it to the girl who had come to be one of her best friends. How do you tell someone you cannot sleep because of a man without sounding completely pathetic? She never would have thought she would be in such a position.

Rebekah grew worried as her friend’s tosses became erratic. “What is it, Jo? You know you can tell me anything.” When Zoe did not respond the young girl grabbed her wrist as she caught the knife once again. “Joe?”

Zoe tightened her hand around the handle and growled. The girl was too perceptive for her own good. She stabbed the cart with the point; the sudden movement caused Rebekah to jump a bit.

“It’s him.”

Rebekah did not need to ask who ‘him’ was. She knew very well what man plagued her princess’s thoughts. Ever since Zoe had found out about the prince’s growing list of could-be wives, Rebekah’s friend had not been the same fiery woman she was before. It was like the spark inside Zoe had started to flicker and Rebekah was afraid when it faded her friend would never be the same.

“Don’t worry. You are still the one in his heart. I just know it. This is probably all his mother’s idea, you know that. I don’t know why you beat yourself up about it so much.”

Rebekah scanned the alley which their cart faced to make sure no one noticed her friend’s unusual break down. Satisfied by the lack of witnesses, she turned back to her friend who was in the process of removing the knife she had lodged into their cart. Rebekah reached her hand out to pat the older girl on the arm.

“You’ll get him back. You just have to be patient.”

Zoe dislodged the knife and glared down at the point. She felt as if part of her was being chipped away bit by bit and she hated herself for her weakness. She wanted something to release all of her anger and hurt into. The sound of approaching footsteps pulled her out of her self-loathing, but when she looked up she had to force back a nasty grin. She was about to get her wish.

Rebekah adjusted to a proper stance at the approaching royals. She glanced over at Zoe and her eyes widened at the look in the princess’s eyes. She placed a hand on Zoe’s arm and forced the princess to lower the knife she was clutching.

“Your highness, how good it is to see you again. Who is this lovely woman accompanying you?” Rebekah forced a smile toward the gorgeous blonde next to the prince. Based on Zoe’s tightened grip, she could tell this was not going to be a pleasant encounter.

Asher had failed miserably at keeping Genevieve from seeing Joe’s performance. She had become increasingly difficult ever since the fortune teller and had demanded to see one performance after another, usually leaving in the middle of it with a rude remark. When they had come upon the knife throwing duo, he had braced himself for the worst. Asher knew that not only would she not like the performance, but Genevieve would want to make sure the girls knew exactly what was wrong with it.