AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Because you never have to fear anything from me,” I fumed. “Now, can we get back to how pissed I am? You could’ve gotten caught…and hurt. Not to mention, you left your daughter alone in the castle while there’s dark magic—”
“She’s not alone. I left her with two maids and three guards.”
“But she’d basically become an orphan if anything ever happened to you,” I went on, feeling the need to rant. “We already know how Soren treats his motherless children. Do you want that fate for Anniston, too? Because whatever you were doing out there today could’ve put you in the direct line of fire with the bearer of dark magic and gotten you killed. How do you think that would affect your child? How it would affect me?”
She studied me a moment longer as if looking deep inside my soul. Then she murmured, “What if I had been the bearer of dark magic? What would you have done then? Would you have turned me in, like you should? Or would you have protected me?”
Running my hand through my hair yet again, I turned away, unable to face her. “I don’t fucking know,” I confessed moodily. “Don’t ask, okay.” Then I whirled to her. “I would’ve gotten you help. I would’ve done whatever it took to get that shit out of you. I would’ve saved you.”
She just stared at me, her eyes wide, without replying.
Growling out a curse, I wiped my hand over my mouth and muttered, “Are you going to tell me what you were doing out there or not?”
“Yes,” she whispered, slowly nodding her head up and down. “Yes. You almost took a lashing to protect me. You made yourself look incompetent in order to let me escape. You kept my secret. I know I can trust you with anything.”
I heaved out a sigh and threw my hands into the air. “About fucking time.”
“The truth is I was doing the same thing you were doing,” she said on a rueful shrug. “Trying to find the bearer of dark magic. That house… The woman I was going to meet…”
“Yes?” I nodded, listening.
“She was my nanny from childhood. Nanny Wynter. She came here years ago from Lowden to escape the Graykey family’s terror. They were murdering anyone with magic in them so they could steal their powers. She’s a good person. I trust her, so I was going to meet with her this morning to ask if she would sneak back into the castle with me and help trace the darkness here. Because you said yourself it takes magic to find magic, right? So…”
I lifted an eyebrow, fascinated. “So you were going to find the dark magic,” I deduced. “And you didn’t care that Caulder had forbidden more magic people from entering the castle? Even the good kind?”
She snorted and rolled her eyes. “Caulder’s being a damn fool about that. The fear from his own parents’ death has blinded him to the point it could put us all in danger. Honestly, I don’t know what he’s so afraid of, but bearers of good magic wouldn’t hurt us; they could only help.”
Nodding, I grinned at her. “Agreed. I’m just impressed you were willing to break the rules to do it.”
She sent me an irritated glance. “I’m surprised you hadn’t done it yet yourself, Prince.”
My smile turned to pure naughtiness. “That’s only because I don’t know anyone nearby with magical powers I could trust, and I certainly didn’t know how to sneak anyone with such abilities back into the castle without getting caught. But now that I know about your old nanny and that nifty little tunnel you have…”
Vienne winced. “You saw the secret entrance, then, did you?”
“No,” I admitted, shaking my head. “But I know you know where it is, and that’s all I need. Your old nanny escaped, by the way.”
Her lips flickered with a small smile. “I don’t doubt it, what with the way you were holler
ing and carrying on outside her cottage.”
I chuckled. “You don’t seem all that worried that we could’ve caught her for questioning. Are you that certain she wouldn’t have ratted you out as her secret contact from the castle?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. She might have, but I knew you wouldn’t have caught her in the first place, so… It didn’t matter.”
I lifted my eyebrows. “So confident of her ability to escape my men, huh?”
Vienne rolled her eyes. “She does have magic powers.”
“Truth.” With a sigh, I shook my head. “Do you know how to find her now? If we’re going to sneak her into the castle to sniff out this dark magic bastard, then we need to—”
“Wait!” Her eyes widened with shock. “You’re going to help me with my plan?”
I frowned, surprised she could even be surprised about this. “Of course. You’re the one who said we have the same mission.”
“Oh, Urban!” Lunging at me, she hugged me hard around the neck and slapped a happy kiss to my cheek. “Thank you.” She began to pull away but I pressed my hand to her back, keeping her breasts smashed against me and her hair in my face a bit longer, filling me with her scent and softness. “Thank you, thank you, thank y—Urban? Are you going to let me go?”
“Maybe,” I said in a raspy voice, pausing to breathe her in deeply and closing my eyes to remember this moment for all eternity. Then I groaned. “Or maybe not.”
