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Chapter 7
Urban
“Grumpackers,” I murmured quizzically to myself as I stole down the hall away from the door to the chamber that everyone was calling the East Salon.
Allera might’ve told me to keep my distance, but she was insane if she truly believed I could actually follow through with such an idiotic command.
Because, really? Stay away from my one true love? Ha! The idea was pure madness.
And what the hell were grumpackers, anyway?
I didn’t have a clue but I was about to procure a shitload of them.
In the few hours I’d been in Donnelly, my life had taken a vast change in direction. A day ago, I had thought my biggest obstacle would be adjusting to life in a new kingdom and keeping my sister and myself alive. But today? Survival? Assimilation? Who the fuck cared about those things?
Today, everything revolved around her.
Lady Vienne.
After pleasuring myself last night before sleep and again this morning when I woke, that part of me felt appeased enough to help me realize it wasn’t even exclusively a sexual desire for her that drove me. I mean, sure, whenever we were in the same room together, I was pretty much in a constant state of arousal. Last night at dinner had been particularly…painful. We’d actually shared eye contact, serious, intense, I-just-fucked-you-a-hundred-different-ways eye contact. It’d been a trial to ignore the hard, pulsing heat in my trousers.
But when she wasn’t near, the yearning for her switched from a physical to a mental curiosity. I couldn’t just forget about her, because the tug from my mark refused to let me, always letting me know which direction I could head to find her, which I thought should’ve been irritating or intrusive but for some reason seemed to calm me with a certain kind of knowing, as if a sixth sense had been awoken inside me.
Whenever I was sick and temporarily lost my sense of smell, everything always felt crisper, clearer, and more vivid again when it finally returned. This was the only comparison I could equate to this new sensation I had. It was like a new door to the world had opened to me, and I was finally working at full capacity. Which was why I needed to know more about the woman who’d caused it.
I didn’t want to say I loved her, for that kind of claim felt all wrong. She was a stranger; I knew nothing about her. How could I love her? But I did feel lust toward her, a lust like I’d never experienced before. I felt an odd responsibility toward her and a loyalty that made no sense. And for some reason I couldn’t explain, I wanted to please her, which was just weird, but it remained an itching, constant craving that drove me, so… Grumpacker-buying, here I came.
Bounding down halls and stairs, I found my way to the exit of the keep, only to spot a familiar face across the bailey, milling among the workers, as soon as I stepped outside.
“Prince Brentley!” I called, actually relieved to see my future brother-in-law. Maybe he could assist me.
He looked up and immediately loped over. “Oy! Prince Urban. How are you? Having a good day, then?”
I nodded as I met him halfway across the courtyard. “As well as can be expected, I suspect. And please, feel free to dispense with all the prince jargon. I answer to simply Urban just as easily.”
The prince nodded, sighing as if relieved by the request. “Then I bid you to do the same for me.”
“Done.” When he looked as if he were going to head in the opposite direction, I rushed to dodge into his path. “Say, before you go about your business, is there perhaps a marketplace nearby you can direct me toward? I’ve a purchase I’m hoping I can make.”
“Certainly.” Brentley bowed before me. “In fact, I’d be honored to escort you there myself, if you want. There’s a…” He looked suddenly uncomfortable. “Actually I have a delicate matter I’d like to discuss with you.” Glancing around, he added, “In a more private setting than out here in the open, if you please. Maybe we could talk on the road.”
“Of course.” Curious as to what had him so uneasy, I splayed out a hand. “Lead the way.”
He cleared his throat, then nodded and started off. I stayed at his side as we crossed the bailey and headed toward the stables. After waiting for a stable boy to saddle our horses, we were up and riding side by side out through the front gate and over the moat before Brentley turned us toward the right, entering a path into the woods.
For some reason, I had thought putting distance between me and my one true love would dampen my urge to go to her, that it would ease the restless knowledge of her proximity. But the moment the warning of her nearness died away and I moved out of her range, an almost panicked alarm of another sort gonged through my chest. The reassurance my soul felt that she was close enough to reach in a crisis suddenly wasn’t so reassured. It wanted me to turn back until I could feel the sharp awareness of her again, so I could know she was okay. I felt unsettled, almost as if I were…lost.
I kept glancing back toward the drawbridge as the gate was being lifted into place behind us, wanting to return to the castle with a need that wouldn’t shut up.
Growing irritated with the nagging sensation, I muttered under my breath, “Stop it. She’s okay. She’s fine.”
Brentley glanced at me. “Of course she’ll be okay. Never fear, old mate.”
Startled that he’d not only heard me but that he’d responded and even knew what I was talking about, I swerved him an incredulous glance. Then I opened my mouth to sputter out some kind of… Well, hell, I’m not sure what I would’ve said. I just knew I wasn’t supposed to let anyone else but Allera in on the fact I was mated to the queen’s sister.
Was I supposed to lie and try to convince him I wasn’t really fated to her after all, or should I own up to the truth and pray he didn’t turn me in to his
brother to be beheaded? Would they behead me if they knew? I wasn’t certain—it wasn’t as if I’d actually done anything wrong—but I didn’t exactly want to personally find out how offended these people became when you bonded to their noble women without their knowledge, especially when they were already married to someone else.
