AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Pausing in place with a surprised arch of her brows, the queen stared at the king a moment before slowly saying, “I was up in the East Salon, taking in the sunrise. Why, darling? What’s wrong?”
He scowled moodily. “You weren’t in bed when I woke.” Then he turned even gruffer, glancing conspicuously toward his sister before mumbling to his wife through gritted teeth, “I had need of you this morning.”
Immediately realizing what he meant, I grimaced. Eww. Had everyone in the freaking castle woken today with sex on the brain?
“Oh, you poor thing,” Yasmin cooed, striding to Caulder so she could cup his cheeks in her hands and press her lips to his. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you, my love. But I’m here now. At your complete disposal.”
He sniffed. “Except now I have Nicolette to deal with.”
“Why?” Yasmin asked, her voice dripping with sudden irritation as she glanced toward the princess. “What has she done this ti—Oh my God!”
Frozen, Yasmin could only gape at Nicolette’s mark.
The princess frowned back and turned slightly away from the queen so Yasmin couldn’t see the tattoo any longer.
“What….? When…?” Yasmin started, shaking her head. Then her eyes narrowed with rage. “How?”
Before Nicolette could answer, Urban strode into the room. “You called for me?” he asked Caulder, though his gaze strayed to me.
Suddenly remembering our dream from last night, I shifted, feeling all too warm and uncomfortable.
Urban skimmed his gaze over Yasmin and Nicolette before he settled his attention on the king. “What’s going on?”
I could tell he’d come straight from training. Not only was his face matted with sweat from his workout, but he was wearing the same tight pants, quilted vest, and sword belt as he’d been wearing the other day, with that same leather codpiece that seemed to catch Yasmin’s attention as fixedly as it had caught mine the first time I’d seen it.
When she went as far as to check out his backside and lifted her eyebrows in interest when he passed by, I narrowed my eyes, wanting to mutter something scathing about how I thought she found him to be too tall and brawny for her taste.
Realizing I was jealous of my own sister for merely looking at him, I glanced away, my face heating with shame and embarrassment.
Meanwhile, Caulder was glaring at Urban as he pointed toward Nicolette. “Did you know?”
“Know what?” Furrowing his brow, Urban glanced toward the princess in question, only to finally notice her mark. “Holy shit!” he exploded. “When did you get that?”
Nicolette bit her lip, risked a quick peek toward her brother, and returned her attention to Urban. “Last night.”
“My God,” he murmured, wandering closer so he could see the mark better. “I wasn’t expecting this.”
“It’s an outrage!” the king shouted. “No unauthorized magical people are allowed inside Donnelly. How could this happen?”
He looked right at Urban as he asked. But the prince merely frowned at him as if he’d lost his mind. “What? You’re asking me?”
“She has a permit,” Nicolette cut in, growing increasingly upset. “She got it to attend the wedding. She even showed it to me.”
“Wedding? What wedding?” the king boomed.
His sister blinked at him. “Umm, the only wedding that’s taken place in the last year. Brentley’s wedding…you know…to Allera.”
“Oh.” Then Caulder frowned even harder. “Well, what the hell was she doing there?”
Nicolette shrugged. “She said she wanted to bless their union or something like that.”
Caulder whirled threateningly toward Urban. “Your sister had a magical priestess attend her wedding to bless it? Inside my castle?”
Urban sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose as if he had a headache. “No,” he said, dropping his hand. “She didn’t summon one, anyway, if that’s what you think. Our priestesses in High Cliff are usually eager to bless royalty—for the health of the entire kingdom—without being called in. And they don’t typically approach us to do it, either. They don’t have to. She wouldn’t need to touch or even talk to Allera to bless her marriage. I’m sure my sister knew nothing of it. The priestess could’ve blended in with the crowd of guests and did her thing anonymously without anyone being the wiser.”
“Or she could’ve damned and cursed the marriage anonymously without anyone being the wiser,” Yasmin muttered.
Urban sent her an annoyed glance. “Ninety-nine percent of the time, that’s not the case with magic folk. At least, that’s not how it is in High Cliff.”
