AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Will you have me at your side?”
I blinked. “What?”
“The next time I see my niece,” he said gruffly, “I want to be able to say thatyes,I do have the honour of protecting you from those who would do you harm, my prince. Will you accept me as your guard?”
“Parvan, I…”
I blew out a breath and ran a hand over my face before hauling him to his feet. He uncurled from his deferent position with surprising elegance considering his age, muscles straining under his shirt and his eyes flickering around intently to assess for threats even in the midst of making his plea. If his apology was genuine, he’d make a good ally, but…
“If this all goes as planned, I’ll be living in Máros,” I told him. “Are you sure you’d want to be so far away from your family? It’s not easy being a northerner in Quareh.”
“I will endeavour to learn the language, Prince Nathanael,” the man said stiffly.
I raised an eyebrow. “And if you’re at my side, you’re going to see me and Ren kiss. You know that, right? Maybe worse.Probablyworse, knowing him.”
Parvan bowed again. “So is that a yes, Your Highness?”
I gave a low hum of assent. “Only if you find yourself a sense of humour.”
“I’ll start looking immediately, my prince,” he said, and although the words were uttered in the driest tone of voice I’d ever heard, his lips twitched.
I snorted.
He trailed me through the corridors until I reached my own room, only to be nearly bowled over by Ren bursting out of his. I watched Parvan closely, looking for any indication of disgust, but found none.
The prince cheerfully looped his arm through mine and gave our Mazekhstani guards a look that dared them to comment on it. “Panarina has asked for us,” he told me, steering us in the direction of the throne room. “That was about half an hour ago, but you were busy and I was…not inclined to make the effort. Now seems as good a time as any to wander down.”
When we arrived, my attention was immediately drawn to the Quarehian with the frizzy hair and wide grin, who was wedged between two of Astrid’s guards.
“Starling!”
“She is one of yours?” asked Astrid, rising gracefully from her throne.
Ren squinted at the healer. “Never seen her before in my life.”
Star threw him a rude gesture without looking his way.
“That answers that,” Astrid said resignedly, and motioned for the guards to step back. Starling brushed off the shoulders of her coat as if their presence at her side had all been a terrible inconvenience.
Ren, who I was sure secretly approved of the dramatics, gave a disapproving tut, but when I glanced at him his gaze was soft.
“What happened?” I asked her, worried. “Why are you here? Did you not get the message I sent?”
“We got it,” Starling assured me. “Lilia and Zov are fine,” she added, “and appreciated knowing you were too. But I expected you were having far too much fun without me in this big old castle, and wanted to come see what the fuss was about. So I asked the girls to show me the way to...” She faltered, glancing at the queen. “…to thefront gates of the castle, where I happened to find another entrance in all by myself.”
Astrid clicked her tongue, far too dignified to offer the scoff that she clearly wanted to make.
“I know your friends helped you inside,” she told me wryly, “and I’m in the process of having that entrance sealed. Thankfully I took the precaution of ordering the area guarded after your own unexpected arrival.”
I let out the breath I’d been holding. If she’d known who aided us all this time and still hadn’t taken any action against Zovisasha and Lilia for it, I figured that meant nothing worse was heading their way.
“Will you come with us?” I asked Starling. I’d been thinking of reaching out to her, but I should have known she’d make the first move. “I know you and Ren talked about you coming back afterwards, but we could really use your help now with...”
I fell silent, not wanting to speak it out loud in company even if we were already conversing in Quarehian. Astrid silently gestured for her guards to leave the room.
“With a Hearken,” I said after the doors creaked shut, and Star’s eyes widened.
“What the fuck?”
