Flames of Auriel (A Caeles Adventure Book 1) (6 page)

Zoe was knocked out of her thoughts by Alice’s horrified gasp. “Zoella Aine Seraph! Where did you learn such a word?” She clucked her tongue at her with a shake of her head.

The princess bit her lip to hold back the laughter that threatened to spill out at her ever proper nurse’s obvious displeasure. “From Sir Walter of course, he called Uncle Armanel a prick. I’m not exactly sure what he meant by it, but I have an idea and if it describes Uncle Armanel, it’s not even close to bad enough to describe
him
.” Zoe pulled a face and adjusted the gown so she was not spilling out of the top.

“Your uncle may be a prick by all accounts, but it is not proper for a princess to say such things in or out of private company.” She pulled the princess’s hair over her shoulder to clip her necklace on.

“Well, if my betrothed wasn’t such a
prick
and a bit more like Garrett, I wouldn’t have to refer to him as such. Garrett is kind and generous, and so…” She sighed, her eyes gleaming at the thought of her bodyguard. “…charming.” Garrett had only been with them for a few days and already become enamored by him. Zoe turned accusatory eyes on Alice. “Why is it acceptable for you to say it, but I’m not. Are you not a lady as well?”

Her nurse only rolled her eyes in response, “You only say such things about our boy Garrett because he’s the one behind all your pleasure.” She finished pinning Zoe’s flame-kissed hair up and took a step back to go over her work. “
I
am a silly senile old woman and nobody cares what I say. You on the other hand have an image to maintain.”

Zoe rolled her eyes, “And what image would that be exactly? It’s not like he hasn’t seen me every summer for the last eleven years. He’s seen me at my worst; I doubt that he will ever think any better of me now.”

Alice ushered her to the door and tried to reassure her mistress. She wanted nothing more for the young princess than for her to be happy. “That is what we want to change. He needs to see you as the beautiful young woman you have become, not the gangly little girl with whom he grew up.” She pointed at Zoe’s chest. “No matter how much of that girl is still in there.” She looked her charge in the eyes, “He will love you and you will keep both your countries safe, and Auriel’s wrath on anyone who stands in your way.”

Zoe gave a soft smile to her stand-in mother. She hoped she was right. Her and Asher’s relationship was anything but simple. Zoe knew that eventually one of them was going to have to take the first step in changing it, but her pride demanded she not be the one to do it.

“Go, go. Have a wonderful dinner.”

The princess cringed at having her betrothed and bodyguard in the same room. They had not really given a reason for his presence. Though she wanted to keep it that way, she had a feeling that Asher would not have any of it. She could only hope that he would not catch on to Garrett’s real reason behind his sudden appearance.

A dark figure stood in the shadows of the alley near the palace gates. His eyes darted back and forth as he searched for any signs of being followed. The guards would not find the body until morning, but he planned to be long gone before then.

He pulled a dagger from his sleeve at the sound of fast-approaching footsteps. Maybe the guards found the body sooner than he thought? Poised and ready for an attack, he caught himself just as the intruder’s face came into view. Good, it was him.

He settled his gaze on the man before him. The dark figure tried not to wince when his rough voice caused his words to come out harsher than intended.

“Where’s my money?”

The man before him, a small balding man with a nervous twitch beneath his left eye watched the shadows for the owner of the voice. The small man hated dealing with these kinds of things. He was sure he had lost at least a few years from the stress it had caused him. He glanced up at the cloaked figure standing in the shadows.

“It’s done then?”

“I wasn’t aware I needed proof.”

The short man balked at the dark man’s response, “No, of course not.” He pulled a purse from his cloak. Handing it to him, “Here you go. One hundred gold pieces as promised.”

The dark man weighed the purse in his hand, when satisfied with the weight he put it in his bag. “Tell the prince it was a pleasure doing business with him.”

Already preparing to run away, the small man nodded his head up and down, “Of course. Of course. The kingdom thanks you and you will have a place here as soon as the rest of the plan is completed.” He bowed to the dark man, “Camael guide you.” When he looked back up the man was gone.

The balding man shook his head. This was getting dangerous. He did not know what the prince was thinking.

He had met the younger brother of the Aurelian king a few years back. He had been on duty when the prince was caught spying on the capital. The fact that the prince had even found the capital in the midst of the desert showed how much skill he had. That skill was the only leverage he had to bargain with when he stood before Dederic.

Self-preservation was something the man knew well, but it surprised even him how easy it was to get the prince to turn on his own people – his own family – but the prince had made it clear that there was no love lost between them as he had always resented his brother for backing the weaker kingdom to the east.

It was no secret Aurelius was one of the strongest, if not the strongest, of all of Caeles. Not only were they skilled in battle and strategy, but they had the fire starters at their beck and call. Armanel felt they should have been trying to conquer the other kingdoms, not helping out the weaker ones.

When his brother’s actions caused their own patron to turn against them, he had had enough. He could not see himself ever going back to Aurelius. Not crippled as it was. Not even as their prince. So, when Dederic offered him the chance to take back his kingdom, maybe get back what was taken, he jumped on it.

The nervous man did not think it was right – killing your own blood. Not even the angels would forgive him for this.

***

Queen Marie was becoming nervous, not only for her kingdom, but for her son’s future happiness. She wished she could blame it all on her son, but it was partly her fault as well. Ever since Asher’s father had passed in the Celestial War, her son had felt like he needed to be the man of the house. Unfortunately, he did not have a lot of good role models to tell him how a man should behave.

Yes, he had Sir Algart to teach him how to be a good king and soldier, but that old coot was more of a womanizer than her son. While she was not worried about her son’s ability to woo a woman, she did not think he knew how to be charming without the end goal being the bedchamber.

She slammed her cup down on the table, causing the arguing royals to stare at her. She patted her frowning lips and glared at the tables occupants. Something had to be done.

“Mother?” Asher gazed at her with concern in his eyes. “Is something wrong?”

“Yes Asher, something is wrong.” She fixed her eyes upon the two before her. “I worry about you two. You have done nothing but argue and fight from the moment you have laid eyes on each other.” She held her hand up when Asher tried to argue. “Now, I don’t know what it is and I frankly don’t give an angel’s wing about how it started. Just fix it. Fix it now.”

“But Marie –” Zoe pleaded with the queen. “– you don’t understand. I’m not the one with the problem. He is.” She glared down at the fuming prince.

“I’m sorry dear, but that isn’t good enough anymore. Now I’m going to retire to my chambers. Use this time to talk. Get to know each other for once. You’d think growing up together would have made you know more about each other, but I doubt you even know each other’s favorite color.” She smiled when they both looked down at their plates. “That’s what I thought.” She walked over to the dining room’s door and addressed the guard. “Make sure they stay in here until it is time to retire and if they don’t –” She narrowed her eyes at the horror on the table’s occupant’s faces. “– report back to me.”

“Yes, your majesty.” The guard bowed, holding the door open for her.

“Good night, my dears.”

Zoe slumped in her seat as the door closed behind the queen. Well this was just perfect. There went her plans to spend the evening with Garrett. She would much rather be getting more aquatinted with her new bodyguard than the prince.

She had two choices. Zoe could either claim she was tired and opt for bed early, which would no doubt get back to the queen, and she would rather not have both of the Aldabelan royals hating her, or she could suck it up and talk to her betrothed. She peeked up at her said betrothed from under her eyelashes. His face was scrunched up in concentration as if he were fighting with the same thoughts.

The princess sighed and sat up straighter in her chair. It was not like she hated the man. He was more frustrating than anything. Their strained relationship was as much her fault as it was his, leaning more on his side as of late. She had spent most of the time they had known each other trying to prove she was worthy of being his bride rather than trying to get to know the man himself, and it had shoved a wedge between them. The least Zoe could do was try and if he bit her head off – she could blame it all on him.

“So…” She trailed off, her voice jolting the dark head to gaze up at her. “…it hasn’t rained as much this year.” Zoe winced at the lameness of her statement.

Asher leaned back in his chair and quirked an eyebrow. She was asking him about the weather? Of all the things she could have said she chose that? He was surprised that she was even going to follow his mother’s demands let alone be the one to start the conversation. He could not very well let her be the bigger person. If she was going to try than he certainly could.

“Yes, the farmers aren’t too happy about it. The crops haven’t produced as much this year.” He eyed her, waiting with a hint of amusement in his eyes.

“You’d think with a patron known for giving life you’d never have to worry about things like that.” Zoe stated, ignoring how his face lit up. She knew he thought she did not give a damn about history. That all she knew how to do was wield a sword, but Zoe actually loved to debate with the scholars back home about the different patrons and their affinities.

“Not so.” Asher leaned into the table, more interested in the conversation. “We don’t just stick some seeds in the ground and pray the Dark One will make them grow. It does take a certain amount of skill. Now if we were in Cabilis, we could just throw some kind of magical fertilizer on them and be done with it.”

Zoe placed an elbow on the table, leaning into her hand. “But if we were in Cabilis we wouldn’t be in this mess, now would we? The Camelian King wouldn’t be hell bent on revenge and you wouldn’t need a political marriage to defend your precious green lands.”

“It is hardly all our fault that Dederic’s family couldn’t let it go.”

“Well, you did exile his great-great-great-great-grandfather into the desert.” Zoe smirked at the irritation building on Asher’s face. She knew he would not last very long. She would still have time to spend with Garrett. Maybe he would show her how to do that thing he does with his tongue.

“I don’t think it was that many greats and besides he was trying to take over the kingdom, you cannot blame his brother for kicking him out. What would you know of it anyway, you were a babe when Dederic attacked?” Asher growled.

“I know enough.” Zoe narrowed her eyes at him. “I know that hundreds of innocent people died to fight your war.”

“It was not MY war!” Asher stood up, slamming his hand on the table.

Zoe stood as well, raising her voice to speak over him. “I know that the other kingdoms pity us for our lack of communication from our patrons. Which is whose fault again?” She placed a finger on her face in thought, before pointing it at him. “Oh yeah, yours!”

“We didn’t start the war. You know this! Dederic was burning our fields. He didn’t give us a choice!”

“There is always a choice. Maybe if your father hadn’t jumped into battle rather than trying to talk it out than Auriel might not be punishing us for helping you. Maybe that’s why your harvest is suffering this year. Did you ever think of that? Maybe he is finally tired of fixing your problems. You certainly didn’t take him into consideration when you tripled his work load.”

“Oh that is rich, coming from you. All you Aurelians know how to do is fight.” He leaned across the table, his nose inches away from hers. “You wouldn’t know peace if it bit you in your pretty little ass.”

“And maybe if you had a father you wouldn’t be such an ass!” Zoe gasped covering her mouth with her hands as the words came out. Her eyes wide she watched the play of emotions on the prince’s face. Shock, anger, and then resentment.

“I think we’re done here.” Asher moved away from the table, walking toward the door.

Zoe chased after him, cursing her skirts for slowing her down. “Wait, Asher. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.”

Asher ignored her, glaring at the guard. “Move.”

“I have strict orders to report to your mother if you leave your highness.” The guard reminded him. The guards face twitched as he tried to remain stern in his defense.

“I don’t care. Tell her.” Asher shoved passed the guard into the hallway, Zoe trailing after him.

“Asher –” She started.

“Go away.”

“Would you wait?” She picked up her skirts and hurried after him.

He never stopped as he tossed a response over his shoulder. “Why? So you can point out more of my flaws? No, thank you.”

“I said I was sorry.”

“Good, you should be.” Asher paused at the end of the hall, blanking on where he was going.

Zoe grabbed onto the sleeve of his tunic when he stopped. “Please, wait a minute.” She held on to keep him from escaping again. “This isn’t as easy to run in as it looks.”

Asher scowled at her, his anger simmering beneath the surface. “You apologized. What else could you want?”

“I shouldn’t have said what I did. I’m the last person who has any right to judge. I know what it’s like to lose a parent, which is probably why it was so easy for me to hurt you. I know how it feels to feel inadequate. To think, what if I had grown up with a mother? Would I have been more lady-like?” Zoe’s eyes became distant.

Asher’s anger softened, remembering she too had lost a parent at a young age. It did not make the loss hurt any less, but it was nice to have a kindred spirit who knew what he was going through. His eyes fell on her turned down face, some of her hair falling out of its pins. Before he could catch himself, his hand brushed those strands behind her ear, causing her head to jerk up.

“We can’t be any more than we are. No use worrying over what could have been.” The hand that seemed to have a life of its own stroked the side of her face. He offered her a small smile. “Besides, I doubt having your mother around would keep you from being any less of a hellion.”

“Perhaps not.” Zoe fought the urge to lean into the hand warm against her cheek. She smirked up at him in an effort to change the solemn mood. “You’d be bored if I were too agreeable.”

Asher snorted, dropping his hand. “I could use a little agreeable in my life.”

“Admit it.” She pushed his shoulder, a teasing grin on her face. “You’d miss me if I was gone.”

“Of course I would.” Asher returned her grin, enjoying how her face lit up with surprise. “I get tired of winning at chess. Brom has become lazy in his strategies.”

“That’s not very nice.” Zoe growled, punching him in the arm.

“Neither is punching your betrothed.” Asher caught her hand in his as she lifted it to hit him again. He should know better than to antagonize her by now, but she was just so easy to rile up. When she did not immediately jerk her hand away from his, Asher had an idea. Locking his gaze with hers he raised her hand to his mouth.

If the redhead’s sharp intake was anything to go by she was not as unaffected by him as she liked others to believe. Maybe there was a different way to light the fire in his princess that did not involve him getting beaten to a pulp. Taking another chance, Asher placed a hand at her waist and took a step closer.